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Nicole huffed and looked to her boss. “Ezekiel? Did hismother want him to become a weird cult leader?”
Christa shrugged. “It’s fitting and honestly, Grim is, too.I love Jared. My best friend took him in years ago, but there’s still adarkness about him I don’t know will ever go away.” She sighed as one of theline cooks announced an order was up. “That’s all the maternal warning I’mgoing to give you today. I think that’s Jimmy’s chicken fried steak. I wish hewould eat a salad every now and then.”
“I’ll take it.” Salads weren’t big at the café. She grabbedthe plate and started for the dining room floor.
Just a few weeks more and she would start a new life.
Chapter Two
Grim brought the big truck to a stop. Even from theparking lot he could hear raucous music coming from The Barn. At one point intime it had been run by the Sandbergs, but they’d retired a few years back andnow their daughter owned the place. Tally Sandberg was roughly his age, andshe’d brought a youthful flair to the only honky-tonk in a twenty-mile radius.
Olivia leaned forward from her place in the back, reachingaround to plant a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks for the ride. I’m meeting somefriends, so don’t worry about me getting home.” She shifted and gave Josh thesame easy affection. “You two behave. And Josh, thanks for being such a big oldperv. I really do want to go to Bliss.”
Josh sent his sister a frown. “They’re there, aren’t they?”
Olivia slid from the back seat and shrugged. “I don’t know,but it might be fall break at MIT. We’ll see. I’ll be out at the Ghelping the olds figure out accounting software and watching the McNamara girlsmake their dads crazy. The last time I was out there Miranda was circlingaround Logan Talbot like a shark looking for supper. Everyone is afraid of her.It’s good drama.”
She waved and practically skipped into the honky-tonk.
“Well, my sister would know good drama.” Josh’s head shook.“We are not telling Dad about the fall break thing. I don’t want to miss goingto Austin.”
“Are you sure?” Their trips to Austin were a vital part oftheir lives and had been for years. The BDSM club was one of the only places inthe world Grim felt like he could be his true self. The club. The ranch. Theshelter he’d taken over and modernized. He felt like himself when he wasworking.
He’d felt like himself earlier when he’d caught sight ofthat waitress. That beautiful, sexy woman who practically called out to hisreal self. The part of him that needed to dominate.
Beyond feeding him and giving him a place to call home, JackBarnes had seen a need inside him, one that could have gone unfulfilled orcould have exploded at some point and wrecked his life. Instead, Jack had senthim and Josh to be trained, to learn to control their impulses, so they couldgive the women they shared as much pleasure as possible.
A brow rose over Josh’s eyes. “You don’t want to go toSubversion?”
“I do, but I saw how you looked at her.” He didn’t have toindicate who he was talking about. They both knew.
“Nicole.” Josh sat back. “I’ll admit I’ve been watching her.And Pops is wrong. She’s fine. I haven’t figured out her last name yet or Iwould look her up on social media. I would ask Aunt Christa but the minute I doshe’ll talk to Mom, who will start making wedding plans.”
Abby was hungry for more grandbabies since the ones Josh’solder sister had given them lived hours and hours away. And were teenagers.Abby wanted a baby to cuddle, but that wasn’t happening any time soon.
“I don’t know. Mr. Fleetwood has good instincts.”
Josh shrugged. “If she has a problem, then we can help hersolve it.”
So Josh thought she was in trouble, too, but he didn’t wantto bring it up until after they’d slept with her. The man might not share DNAwith him, but Josh knew Grim as well as any brother. Grim would want to solvethe problem first, and that had cost them sex on more than one occasion.Sometimes when a woman’s problems were solved, she went back to her fiancé.
Josh groaned. “Fine. Yes, I think she’s probably got sometrouble. Maybe financial or something.”
“I’m sorry about Kerry Thompson, but she really was in lovewith her fiancé.” She’d also been too submissive for them. He needed a sub inthe bedroom, but he wanted a woman he could count on.
He often wished he didn’t need Josh as his second half. Itwould have been easy to fall in love with Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood. She was theright mix of crazy bitch, loving woman, and submissive, but she’d become hissister so long ago.
And he did need Josh. They fit, somehow, and he’d given upthe thought of dating without Josh. Though mostly he slid into bed for sexwhile Josh escorted the woman around since not a lot of ladies wanted to betreated the way Abigail Barnes-Fleetwood had all her life.
Josh waved that off. “I have a feeling about this one.”
“Have you even talked to her yet?”
A shrug gave Grim his answer. “Don’t need to. You know Idon’t have this feeling often. I’m sure I’m right. Knew it the minute I sawher, and so did you.”
He didn’t trust his instincts the way Josh did. “Then why doyou want to go to Austin?”
“I kind of thought we might invite her with us,” Joshreplied. “If it works out. And if it doesn’t, then we can drown our sorrows inall those pretty, sweet subs.”
