stuff he’d been learning these past few weeks, including the party in Florida and talks with Marcus, were all good. But there came a moment, just like with what Daralyn was facing, when a person decided to be all-in on what he knew he was, what he wanted to be, and how he wanted to express it.
When she’d come down the stairs with that pale face and the slight tremor to her hand on the banister, that resolve went into full lock. So, though a few weeks ago it might have felt like a shirt he’d just tried on and was figuring out the fit, tonight it had fit as perfectly as the suit Marcus had made him get.
These past few weeks had been the measuring, the trying on. Tonight he wore the mantle of a Master, and he wasn’t backing away from it.
Daralyn was his heart and soul, his submissive, his woman, his best reason for being his best self. As he introduced her to people she didn’t know, he met her gaze frequently, and whenever he was stationary, he kept his hand firmly upon hers on his shoulder.
There were things he didn’t have as much power over, because he was in a chair. But with his voice, his will, when he fully embraced the power of being a Dom, it was something true and real a submissive recognized, that didn’t have a damn thing to do with his mobility. He knew it in his heart, and it was reinforced by how Daralyn reacted to him.
She knew he was with her, every step of the journey.
As Rory had to introduce her to too many people she didn’t know, Daralyn reminded herself there were a good many she did.
Like the one in front of them now.
“Well, look at that. When you hose the horse manure and turkey feed off him, he manages to clean up right nice.”
Brick had extricated himself from a gaggle of women Daralyn assumed might be former female classmates, eager to reacquaint themselves with him, and made his way over to Rory and Daralyn. He swallowed Daralyn in a warm, easy hug before pumping Rory’s free hand.
“I’m betting you still had to pay a woman to be your date,” Brick observed, shooting Daralyn a wink. “Charge him double, Daralyn. I know what a pain in the ass he is.”
Though Rory had grumbled it defied the laws of anatomy, Brick had filled out even more since he’d been the high school team linebacker. His friend had steady gray eyes, dark hair he kept short, and a close-cropped beard. Before he’d gone away to college to major in fire science and engineering, he’d been a town volunteer firefighter. He was currently working in Richmond as a deputy fire chief and arson investigator.
Les said he’d traveled to California and Australia to help fight fires as well. Rory’s sister always claimed to have no interest in him, that her crush on him had been short-lived, a schoolgirl thing over one of her brother’s idiot friends. However, she always seemed to know what Brick was up to, something the irrepressible Julie never failed to point out.
Rory made a show of looking around Brick’s large bulk. “Apparently there wasn’t enough money in the world to convince a woman to put up with you, even for one night.”
“The spot on my arm stays open for one very special woman. I’m sad she couldn’t make it tonight.”
“Yeah, she was, too.” Rory shot him a look. “But that was because of missing the award thing. Had nothing to do with you.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
As the men teased one another, they moved toward the table that had been assigned to Rory and his family, close to the awards stage. Daralyn was relieved to take a seat next to Rory that backed up to the wall, while he flanked her on the outside. She could listen but not have to constantly engage as she managed all the stimuli around her. Fortunately, Marcus and Thomas arrived with Elaine shortly thereafter, and Thomas sat on her other side, completing the reassuring sense of being enclosed by family.
As usual, Marcus made women, servers and guests alike, turn to stare, risking tripping over their feet or running into tables. Especially tonight, when he wore a tailored suit, his dress shirt open at the throat.
Thomas was a good-looking man himself, just like his brother. With Elaine in her blue evening gown, they made a handsome group. But as Daralyn looked at all of