“I’m sorry they had to go through all that trouble. Brady is such a nice man. We talked a lot, and I think it helped him and me.”
“How did it help you?” Now he was really curious. Brady was good guy, but he was a sub through and through at the club.
“By talking about the relationship he had with Sage and how he feels when he’s with her. He helped me realize the part of me that was missing was the playtime I could have with a Dom I trusted.”
“And you trust me?” Damon was humbled.
“If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be here.” Tessa rose up, using her hand on his chest as a brace. “Damon, if I didn’t trust you on a basic level, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. And I wouldn’t have let you spend the night in my apartment.”
“I remember when you didn’t like me.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
She grinned. “That was more about you being an overprotective Neanderthal than dislike.”
“Neanderthal? Those are fighting words.” He rolled her onto her back.
Tessa chortled. “I like this fight.”
Damon covered her lips with his.
CHAPTER NINE
Damon pulled up to Max’s house, unable to stop smiling. Last night with Tessa had been really good. She’d taken her punishment, such as it was, and they’d spent the night in each other’s arms.
He should be worried that this couldn’t last, but he wasn’t. She hadn’t run when he said he made adult toys, and she’d never questioned where he got his money. Usually that was the first thing women asked him upon seeing his home.
Lord knows his ex-girlfriends had, and none of them could deal with his dominant side. He rang the doorbell.
Max opened the door. “Hey, Damon. We’re out back by the pool. Beer?”
“Yeah.” Damon slipped off his shoes and made his way toward the patio. “Hey, Jordan.”
“Hey.”
Jordan was already sitting at the patio table with his laptop open. Damon had pen and paper; it helped him think when they had these meetings.
“Here you go.” Max set a bottle of beer in front of him.
“I can’t believe we’ve got such a nice day in March that we can sit out here,” Max commented.
It was nice today. He’d commented on the weather to Tessa this morning when he walked her to her car, given her a hard kiss and instructions to not go too crazy with Sierra and Crystal.
“I like it,” Jordan commented.
“Shall we get business out of the way?” Max asked.
“Yeah.” Damon looked down at the notes he’d made on his phone. “I think maybe the first thing is we’re going to need more help at the club.”
* * * *
“So what happened last night after you left the club?” Crystal was curled up on one end of her sofa.
“Was Damon mad you disobeyed him?” Sierra asked.
Tessa took a sip of water. “He wasn’t mad. I think I disappointed him on some level, but he understood why I did it. As for what happened, a nice spanking and cuddle time.” Her cheeks warmed.
She didn’t know why. She really wasn’t embarrassed. These were her friends. Heck, she’d seen Sierra half undressed last night.
“Nice,” Sierra commented.