rested his head on my shoulder. “Do you really like him?”
Why couldn’t anyone else have asked me that?
I could’ve ignored the rest of them, but Wade was a romantic. “Yes.”
He sighed, still smiling. “Like falling head over heels for him?”
“I think so.” I wasn’t sure what real-life love was supposed to look like, but he made me all tingly and when I pictured us in my head, we kind of looked like the other guys did with their Doms. Was that love, though?
That got me another sigh from Wade. “Have you told him?”
Wade needed to be just a little bit meaner so I could be an asshole to him sometimes. “No, I think that should wait until we actually decide to date.”
Or until we had sex.
Tristan was dragging his fucking feet on that one. Every time I even thought about bringing up the topic, he’d find a way to blow my mind.
He liked my letter opener a lot.
Wade’s head popped up. “You’re still not dating. Oh no, that’s not good. You have to date if you love him.”
“But…” I couldn’t find a good response.
The booze evidently killed it.
He looked so sad, I couldn’t tell him no. “I’ll try.”
“Why haven’t you dated yet?” He curled back into me, looking confused.
“It hasn’t really come up yet?” Snorts came from around the room. “Honestly.”
I was too sober for this conversation.
Yay, more booze.
Jonah was so helpful.
“Um, we talked about submission first and getting to know each other.” What else had we said? “I like having a Dom, but he said he wasn’t going to take over my life.”
It’d gone something like that.
Wade huffed. “That’s stupid. You’d love someone to take over your life.”
“I would? I mean, I like the way he manages it. I always have food in the fridge and Jonah doesn’t have to do as much.” I thought I was being polite, but Jonah laughed.
“Jonah doesn’t have to babysit.” Jonah’s giggling was nearly uncontrollable.
“I’m not that bad.” I probably was, but I wasn’t going to admit it. “Besides, Tristan likes controlling things. It makes him happy.”
And I liked making him happy.
Austin waggled his eyebrows, still tilting his head back and forth oddly. “I bet you do a lot of things to make him happy.”
Snorting, I ignored him. “I’m not…I mean, I’m not…”
Shit. There was some kind of phrase about blowing smoke and asses…where was a sober editor when I needed one?
“I’m not lying.” That didn’t sound nearly as good.
Johan was still grinning as he nodded. “He always looks happy to see you. It’s so cute.”
We weren’t cute, but Tristan was kind of cute.
“No, no, no…we have to use another word. Cute sounds too young.” I thought it was reasonable but giggles rolled around the room and Austin laughed so hard he finally tipped over.
Righting himself, he looked around wide-eyed at Wade. “Your floor is moving now.”
I was entirely too sober for these nuts.
Chapter 12
Tristan
I’d almost given up on getting a phone call when it rang.
Ha. I really was part of the group now.
Answering, I kept my voice neutral because I didn’t want to sound like an idiot. “Hello?”
Dakota huffed and sighed dramatically. “I have somehow become quite…there’s a word…not drunk, a bigger word…something that sounds foreign…what word do I mean?”
This was even better than a horny drunk Dakota. “Um, inebriated?”
“Yes, that’s a good word. Better than drunk. Drunk sounds like we’re college frat boys instead of real adults who’ve taken in…consumed…no, there’s a better word…what’s a better word for drunk—the drinking kind of drunk, not the other kind…it sounds weird too…”
I was never going to let him forget this phone call.
What word meant consumed but would sound foreign to a writer who was completely wasted? “Imbibed?”
“That sounds much better…oh…but is it im or em or something else…oh, what about in…how do you spell that?” The best part was that he was so serious and reasonably articulate for how drunk he seemed to be.
Since I wasn’t going to get into a spelling discussion with a drunk man…especially with words I didn’t use very often, I changed the subject. “I thought you weren’t planning on drinking that much.”
That was what he’d said, anyway.
“I wasn’t.” He sighed again and it was so funny I had to hold back my laughter. “They were driving me crazy, though.”
And that meant more alcohol than normal was required?
“Why were they driving you crazy?” I had no idea what to expect at that point.
“It’s constant questions…Does he have a big penis? Why haven’t you dated? Do you love him? One