hungry. You mentioned you felt a little weak. He chucked all his plans and got food here as quickly as possible.”
He’d been at her side the entire time, not letting go of her hand. He’d even insisted that Kyle drive while he’d sat in the back with her.
It had been easy to let Hutch take over. She was still scared, still confused, but there was a core of strength she’d found because she hadn’t been alone. He’d taken charge and she’d let him. And she’d stood up to him when he’d wanted her hauled to the hospital.
Her mind went back to that moment in the parking garage when Hutch had made Kyle back off. Wasn’t that what she’d been looking for? It was hard to find a guy who didn’t see her as weak but also acknowledged she needed help from time to time. One who let her set the pace she was comfortable with, but also challenged her when she needed it.
“So give it some thought. Like I said, he’s a good guy, but he’s got some issues.” He sat back again. “When are you going to tell him where you’re going on Thursday? Unless you’ve changed your mind about Sanctum’s training program?”
She glanced at the door, hoping Hutch wasn’t close. “How do you know that?”
“I’m supposed to start on Thursday, too,” he admitted. “If you’re still going, I can go. If not, I’ll join the next class, no problem. Naturally, I snuck a look at the list. Your name is on it. If you’re interested, they did not put the two of us together. You’re with some dude I don’t know named Jeff.”
She felt an odd rush of relief. A man named Kai Ferguson put partners together. She’d had an interview with the man who ran the Ferguson Clinic, a therapy and wellness center that was next to Sanctum. The way the process had been described to her, she would be placed with a Dom in training and they would go through the course together. They could have as much or as little physical contact as they liked, but sex was absolutely not allowed in the club until the process was done. Nothing said she couldn’t see him outside the club. In fact, they would have homework they would have to do together. Her aunt had talked about how much fun she’d had during those weeks—though not around her husband because he had not been her training Dom.
Suddenly that didn’t seem like something she would likely do. Only the night before she’d been lying in bed thinking about the fact that she might be attracted to her training Dom and they might agree to sleep together for the training period. Just have a good time and explore the lifestyle. It wouldn’t be a big deal. It wouldn’t be some crazy love affair. It would be sex and fun and mutual interest.
How could she possibly entertain the idea of sleeping with a guy when she was interested in another man? Or maybe she should realize that feeling this close to a man in such a ridiculously short period of time was a big old red flag.
Hadn’t her dad known pretty quickly he was crazy about Lila Daley? It hadn’t taken more than a couple of weeks for him to ask Lila to marry him. Shouldn’t she give that a chance?
Or she should accept that she was lonely and he was lovely and kind and he made her feel safe when she’d so recently found out she was in danger.
She couldn’t trust this feeling. Not at all.
“So you’re not going to tell him?” Kyle’s question reminded her she wasn’t alone.
“He’ll find out soon enough.” Or maybe he didn’t have to at all. “Why does he have to go with me? If you’re there he doesn’t have to. I certainly don’t expect him to spend every minute with me. He should have a life.”
“I think he’s going to want to go.”
The door came open and Hutch walked in carrying a large pizza. “All right we’ve got half meat lovers, and half sausage with peppers and onions. There’s a salad in the fridge. The chicken will keep until tomorrow night. There’s wine, too. I didn’t know if you would like red or white. Unless you don’t drink.”
Kyle groaned and pushed himself out of her comfy chair. “I’ll drink whatever she doesn’t.”
She could use some wine. She stood and her back seized up. Before she could fall to her seat, Hutch was there.