Page 37 of The Dom with a Safeword

“She doesn’t seem like the type to take shit.”

Sabrina turned-on Jude, putting a little bite in her voice she told him, “Q is the nicest person I’ve ever met. She would never hurt somebody’s feelings on purpose.” She turned back to face the porch. “She’s too nice. I tell her so all the time.”

“And you’re not?”

“I don’t have those concerns when it comes to people I don’t like.”

He chuckled. “You made that quite clear with your little threat last week.”

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “It’s still true.”

“I’m very intimidated,” he said, not sounding the least bit intimidated. “But you don’t have to worry about me hurting Q. I have no intentions of hurting either one of you. At least not in ways you don’t want me to.” A glint of humor hit his eyes.

“Huh?” Did he say hurt?

“You protect each other,” he continued, ignoring her bewilderment. “It’s sweet.”

She shrugged. “She’s one of my only friends. I don’t want to lose her.” She thought of their summer plan. Not many people could remain friends after trying something more. Was she doomed to lose her best friend?

No. Q had promised. They’d be friends, no matter what. “I won’t let anything get in the way of our friendship,” she muttered.

A strong hand came under her chin and lifted it. Warm blue eyes stared down at her. She sucked in a breath, letting his scent fill her. Masculine yet sweet. It made her want to wrap herself in it after a long day.

“You won’t lose her, Sabrina,” he said with a heart-stopping smile. “She’s very attached to you.”

Attached? That made her feel as warm and fuzzy as Jude stroking her cheek with his thumb did. Crushing on two people at the same time? She squeezed her eyes shut. It was too much to handle.

Jude let her go and she opened her eyes. He’d stepped back, as if sensing her confusion. “So how did you two meet?”

She inhaled a deep breath, pulling herself together. “An art class at college. We have the same silly sense of humor.”

A wide smile crept onto her face when she remembered their very first conversation. They’d both ended up in the same PhotoShop class. Sabrina noticed Q swearing under her breath while learning how to make subtle changes to body parts. She had a knack for the program, which was how she turned out majoring in graphic design. So she offered Q some help. After looking at Q’s project, she burst into a laughing fit that left her almost crying. Q had managed to make the model’s nose look like a dick. When she insisted it had looked like that before she started the project, they both erupted into giggles and Sabrina knew she’d found a kindred spirit.

Sabrina cleared her head and looked up at Jude. “We clicked right away and have been inseparable ever since.”

He nodded. “You make an interesting pair.”

Pair? She opened her mouth to correct him but Q interrupted her.

“Sorry,” she said with a remorseful expression then looked at Sabrina and smiled. “Don’t pout, gorgeous. I’m done now.”

Q turned her phone to show Sabrina she’d shut it off. It frustrated her that Q didn’t even understand what Sabrina was upset about. She let Q protect her, fight her battles at times. Sabrina wanted to do the same for her once in a while. But she couldn’t force Q to look after her own heart. Sabrina would just have to be there to put it back together when it broke again.

She sighed. “Let’s just get started.”

The dining room was in a sad state of affairs. Similar to the rest of the unrepaired rooms, cracks ran the length of the dank and stained walls. A long sturdy-looking table sat in the middle of the room, three mismatched chairs around it. It wasn’t ideal, but it would do.

Sabrina pulled a sunny yellow table cloth from her bag and placed it on the table. It didn’t quite fit, but it was better than nothing. She searched for the sage bundle and lighter next.

“What’s with the florescent table cloth?” Q asked with a grimace.

She fumbled with the lighter before it lit, setting the sage aglow. “Spirits are attracted to bright colors.”

Jude coughed as she waved the smoking bundle. “Good thing I didn’t install smoke detectors yet.”

“It’ll protect us from any spirits who want to harm us,” she explained. After burning half the bundle she blew it out and placed it back in her bag. “And these candles,” she set three pink candles on the table, “will attract the good spirits because they like heat and light.”

“Should we put out a lava lamp too?” Q said with a smirk. “Maybe we’d channel some hippie ghosts.”