Page 109 of Masters of Secrets

“My mom was an only child and so was my dad, so no cousins for me. I have some second cousins that I met a few times. Or… cousins once removed?” Connor shook his head. “We just called them my cousins, even though they weren’t, really.”

“Were you lonely?” Considering what an introvert he was, her heart ached at the idea of a lonely little boy.

“Sometimes, but not usually. Somehow, I always got adopted into a group of friends. Someone always took pity on me and pulled me in to hang out with them and their friends.” He said it so matter-of-fact, but she couldn’t help noticing that he didn’t call them his group of friends. It was someone else’s group of friends he got to hang out with—an important distinction that explained a lot about why he’d been so nervous to tell his friends about his crush on her.

Did he think they weren’t really his friends, but actually someone else’s who he also got to spend time with?

“Who brought you into your current group?” she asked. Maybe it was Law, and that was why he was so protective.

“Asad.”

Well, there went that theory. But it was interesting. She wondered if knowing how protective Law was of him would help Connor realize that his friends valued him for him.

“Asad is definitely an extrovert. I feel like he’s done that with quite a few of his friends.” She smiled at him. “Olivia did something similar with me and Camille. She just decided we were going to be friends, and the next thing I knew, we’re having regular lunches together.”

He laughed, which made her smile widen.

“That’s kind of how it was with me and Asad and Law. Then Q started hanging out with us, too.”

“You know, Law was laying down the law with me before this evening,” she said teasingly, making light of it, but she wanted him to know that Law had been concerned about him.

“Laying down the law?” He blinked, looking up in confusion.

“About you. He wanted to make sure that I treat you right.”

Unfortunately, her joke didn’t quite land the way she intended it to. Instead of laughing or being reassured about his friend, Connor frowned.

“He thought you would treat me badly? You’d never do that. He shouldn’t have said that.” The defensiveness in his voice surprised her. On one level, she was pleased because she was happy that Connor would defend her; on another level, she really had been joking and didn’t want to cause trouble between him and Law.

“He didn’t really think that. He’s just protective.” She raised her eyebrow at him, smiling, trying to keep it light so he knew she wasn’t bothered. “I believe you experienced a bit of that when I was getting notes from a secret admirer. And I certainly didn’t need his protectiveness then, either.”

That seemed to be a good comparison because Connor’s shoulders immediately came down as he relaxed.

“Oh. Yeah, he does get a little overprotective.”

“Of people he cares about? Absolutely.” She wasn’t sure if it was a direct hit, but she hoped it was. “He also seemed a little concerned because I reserved the shoe room for us tonight. It was the one that was open, but… just in case, do you have anything against shoes?”

Connor considered the question, chewing on his mouthful of steak as he did so. She took a bite of her own dinner while she waited for his answer.

“I don’t think so,” he said finally. “I’ve never really done much with shoes. Or feet. I don’t have anything against them.”

“Good.” Speaking of feet, she slid one of hers over to rub against the inside of his calf. Connor blinked and tensed again, but this time, it was the good kind of tension. “Then we’ll see where the night goes.”

They could experiment with her feet and his fingers.

Chapter Nine

Connor

Dinner with Mistress Julie was good, and it made getting alone in a room with her even better. They’d been texting regularly for the past week, but it wasn’t the same as sitting down and having a conversation over a meal.

He really did like her. Liked hearing her talk and, even more importantly, liked talking to her. Which wasn’t something he always did a lot of. But she was easy to talk to, and somehow, she kept drawing the conversation out of him. The only part he hadn’t liked was hearing how Law had given her a hard time.

Why Law would think that she wouldn’t take care of him was beyond Connor. More than that, he felt uncomfortable knowing Law had tried to tell her what to do. He didn’t really know what to do with that. Especially because he knew they were close friends as well, and he didn’t want to cause trouble between them.

Even with Julie’s reassurances, he still felt like he should say something to Law.

However, he had more important things to focus on right now.