despite his stern expression. “Me?”
“Yep. You. You smell good. You feel good. You’re here to get me. It’s all your fault I interrupted you—”
I gave a little mental fist bump when he claimed my mouth this time, stopping the flow of words. I didn’t care where we were parked or where we had to go, I was thoroughly enjoying this right here. When he nipped at my lower lip and then dragged his teeth over it, I sighed.
Yep, this was a good spot to be.
Chuckling, he stroked his thumb in circles over my pulse. “Hi, Angel.”
“Hey,” I greeted him with a smile. “I hope what I’m wearing is okay for tonight.”
He didn’t once look away from my eyes. “It’s perfect. You good? Not too tired? I know Archie probably had you up half the night.”
I laughed. “No, we did actually sleep, I promise. And I feel pretty good. We weren’t busy today, not really. I’m also kind of excited about tonight, even if I only have the vaguest idea of where we are going.”
He slid his hand up to cup my face, then to my hair, where he tugged the ponytail holder gently. “May I?”
“It’s going to be a little poofy,” was all I warned. I’d braided it for work and it had come out of the braid in a wild kinky array, which kind of fit the theme for the day, now that I thought about it. With a delighted smile, he tugged the tie free and then combed his hand through my hair.
“I love it when it looks like this. You look like you just rolled out of bed.”
I wrinkled my nose, and he kissed the tip of it.
“Also,” he said, “you look perfect. But you always do.”
“That is so not true.”
“Uh uh. Tonight has rules, Angel, and the first rule is you don’t get to disagree with me.”
I leaned back a little and stared at him. “Seriously? Have you met me?”
He grinned. “I have and I love you, but that’s why we’re discussing it here. Tonight, I want you to trust me. Let me make the calls and the decisions just for tonight. I want you to watch, to listen, and absorb every piece of the evening, then we can discuss what we like and don’t like after.”
Not an unreasonable request. Excitement fluttered through me. “Can I ask a question right now?”
His eyes softened. “Yes. It doesn’t really start until we get there, so we have time to discuss anything you think I need to know.”
I let out a little squee and did a bouncing dance in the seat. Ian leaned back, laughing at me. Maybe laughing with me.
You know, it didn’t really matter. I’d been reading, a lot. I had all kinds of questions. “We don’t get to talk about this as much.”
“I know,” he said. “Thank you for not bringing it up around the guys.”
“I don’t mind protecting our privacy.” Some things were just for us, just like some things with the others were just for them. Not once had Coop really gone for truth or dare with Jake there, so I got it. We each had our moments.
This was for Ian and me.
Especially since he hadn’t shared it with anyone else. No way I’d betray that trust.
“It’s not that I care if they know eventually,” Ian promised, and when a car honked behind us, he grunted and shifted to move us so we left the parking lot of Mason’s as he added, “By the way, I meant to get out and let you drive,” he told me. “This is your car.”
“I don’t mind if you drive it,” I promised. “If you’re making the decisions tonight and I’m trusting you with me, then I think I can trust you with my car.”
His smile warmed me from head to toe. “Hit me with your questions, Angel.”
“Can we get coffee?”
“We can get anything you want.”
“Tell me about where we’re going?” I asked after I had my hot mocha and he had his own.
“We’re going to a gathering. There’s a fetish club in Dallas that I’ve gone to a couple of times.”
Wait… “Didn’t you go with your dad to Dallas?”
Ian burst out laughing. “I promise, Angel, I went to the club when I was there with him once, but not with him.”
Relief had me sagging, and I shot him a grimace. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” he soothed, rubbing my thigh. “I’d done some research and it was far enough away, I thought it was a good place to go and