she and Kyle were at Genedyne, but he didn’t talk about it much.
Laurel sent the redhead a dirty look. “She’s new. You do not have to expose her to the sarcasm level at this stage.”
Erin shrugged. “She should get used to it. And seriously, it’s Hutch she’s thinking about.” Erin frowned suddenly. “Unless she’s into Kyle. Damn, girl. I don’t know that’s a good idea. Hutch is a great guy and he’s totally solid. Like we know Hutch isn’t going to explode at any moment.”
“It’s not Kyle,” she spat out and then realized what she’d given away. Well, there was nothing for it now. “I like Hutch, but I don’t know that it’s real. He’s intense, and I worry that he’ll figure out it can be hard to be around me.”
“Hard?” Laurel asked. “What does that mean?”
“It means I can’t take the stairs most of the time. It means I have to plan how I’m going to get around. I can’t simply walk into a building and go wherever I want to go. I know it seems like an easy thing to deal with but it’s not. What you take for granted, I have to spend time planning.” This wasn’t exactly why her other relationships hadn’t worked, but it was a part of it. There had been other factors, but somehow her legs exacerbated things.
Except Hutch didn’t seem to care. When they’d had sex, he hadn’t treated her like she was fragile. He’d fucked her hard and trusted her to tell him what she wasn’t comfortable with.
“I’m married to a dude who forgot most of our lives together at one point. He didn’t remember how our son was conceived,” Erin replied. “He’s still got long-term memory issues. I know it’s not the same, but when you find the right one, you do what you need to do. You also find a rhythm, you know? Like what seems odd in the beginning is perfectly normal ten years down the line.”
“Erin’s right. I married a guy with a whole bunch of issues, and we found our way through. I still have to work around the fact that it’s hard for Mitch to deal with his environment changing, but we get through it,” Laurel admitted. “You can’t know until you try, and Hutch is a great guy. He’s such a sweetheart and he’s good around kids.”
All around her the other women were gathering. She’d expected they would all be her age, but there were a variety of ages and races and yep, there was a pretty woman there with a prosthetic arm.
The men were showing up, too, and like the women there was a glorious diversity to them. Big and scarred or a little on the softer side, the men all looked excited to be here, too.
“I know he’s a good man. But I want to take this class, and that seems to be a real sticking point for him,” Noelle admitted.
“Oh.” Erin looked to Laurel, who nodded as though she understood. “He’s worried he’s going to lose you in all of this.”
“Training is pretty intense,” Laurel acknowledged. “The good news is it’s not forever, and you could get through it and still want to see him on the other side.”
Would he still want to see her? Or would he resent her for going through with the class? Would he always wonder if she’d slept with her training Dom and let jealousy come between them? She’d known guys like that.
“Hey, Noelle.” Kyle strode up beside a stunning man with vibrant green eyes and black hair. He wasn’t as big as Kyle, but he was fit. “I wanted to introduce you to your partner for the class. This is Jeff. Jeff, this is Noelle.”
Jeff was drop-dead gorgeous, but there was something cold about him. She’d placed her right crutch against the wall after she’d gotten to the dungeon floor. She could make it with one on the even surface. She held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
He shook it and gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You, too, Noelle. I look forward to getting to know you.”
“I look forward to getting to know how Kyle got hold of the partner list.” Erin stared a hole through Kyle.
Kyle gave her a grin that made him look younger. He almost always seemed serious, but every now and then he’d smile and it lit up his face. “I wouldn’t be good at my job if I couldn’t even figure out where