Just One Taste (Topped #2)(28)

There was a little laugh and then Charlotte said, “Sounds like a good man. You say it like it’s a bad thing.”

Yeah, he couldn’t see how being upstanding was something to be sneered at.

There was a long sigh and then Deena spoke again. “There’s nothing wrong with it. He’ll make someone a great husband some day. It’s just with that body and that gorgeous face of his, I expected a bad boy. I took one look at that man and thought he could rock my world. Then he opened his mouth and I realized he was a hearts and flowers kind of guy. That would be awesome if I wanted that kind of relationship. I did the hearts and flowers thing. It got me divorced and with a mountain of debt. And zero orgasms. Like none. I’ve gotten better orgasms from a faulty vibrator than I ever got from that man’s dick.”

Sean snorted behind his hand. “Ah, the fairer sex. They’re so genteel when it comes to intimacy. Let me warn you about something, Eric. The subs at Sanctum talk about sex way more than the Doms do.”

He believed it. The Doms would sit around and talk about sports and the best place to find videos of dudes hurting themselves. They would never gossip about their sex lives. They would damn straight not complain that the sub they’d been assigned was too freaking nice to be sexy.

“I think he’s trying to take it slow with you,” Tiffany said, again proving she had more sense than his sub. “I think it’s sweet.”

“I’ve done everything I can to get that man to spank me again.” He could practically see Deena shaking her dark hair.

“Did you try asking him?” Charlotte sounded harsher than before, as though she disapproved of what she’d heard.

There was a long pause. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, but I’m not sure how to ask a man to spank me. I was acting out and trying to get a reaction from Eric that I’m not going to get. At the end of this six weeks, I’ll let Captain America find his perfect sub and I’ll find my hot, dirty Dom. But I do get what you’re saying. I’m trying to turn him into something he’s not and I’ll apologize to him.”

Oh, yes she would. She would apologize very sweetly once he’d given her every f*cking thing she wanted.

Eric nodded back toward the living room before turning on his heels and walking quietly down the hallway. Sean followed. When Eric was sure they couldn’t be heard, he looked at Sean. “I’m going to need to leave a little early.”

Sean shook his head as he fished around in his pocket. He came up with a key chain and quickly drew off a small gold key. “Nope. I think you handle that shit right here and right now. You mad?”

Angry? Not precisely. “I’m quite calm, but I’m very interested in showing my sub that she’s wrong about a few areas of our relationship. She’s got a safe word. I would never refuse to honor it. I don’t think she’ll use it. I actually think I’m falling into her trap and giving her everything she wants.”

Sean grinned. “Oh, but sometimes traps can be fun. If you’re serious about her, I would shut that bratty shit down now. Oh, she’ll still try to manipulate you. Charlotte’s high if she thinks she doesn’t manipulate Ian.”

“My skull’s too thick to be manipulated,” Big Tag said, walking up with what looked like a slice of lemon pie. “At least that’s what my Charlie says when she’s giving the newbies her talk. Damn, Vail, is she talking to your girl? Shut that shit down now. We went wrong when we decided to let the subs talk amongst themselves. Keep quiet. That’s what I say.”

Sean rolled his blue eyes. “Sure, you do. Your wife is the ringleader and that pie was supposed to be for dessert, *.”

“Macon made two.” Eric was not unaware of Big Tag’s habit of stealing the desserts. He was always prepared—a fact Deena was about to learn the hard way. “I put one in the fridge for the big guy to find and the other in the…well, Macon knows where it is.”

“It’s in the beer fridge in the garage behind the wine bottles,” Big Tag said. “Hey, dude, I do this for a living. And I left the second pie totally unmolested. Well, I might have licked it, but what are a few germs amongst friends?”

Sean looked back at Eric. “He’s joking and don’t bother trying to hide pies from him. He can find anything.”

“That is unfortunately not true.” Tag’s smile dropped from his face and he seemed to lose his appetite, setting the pie on the table in the hall. “Should I go and talk to Charlie? If she’s putting ideas in Deena’s head, I’ll talk to her about it.”

“I’ll take care of it. I was telling Sean I’m going to take my sub home and have a long discussion with her. I won’t do anything that’s not in our contract, but I am planning on using an implement you haven’t signed me off on,” Eric said honestly.

Ian waved him off. “I’ve talked to the patrons of the clubs you’ve been at before. You’ve been playing for a decade.” That horrible guilt he’d seen slide across Big Tag’s face seemed to lift for a moment. “Anything particularly dangerous?”

“Only to her *,” he replied. He’d bought her a very nice plug yesterday. It looked like it was time for him to use it.

Big Tag slapped him on the shoulder. “Go forth and plug away, man. You know we’ve all turned into a bunch of pussies. We should plug our subs more often. And we should use the exotic lubes. A tiny bit of ginger, some jalape?o. That will get ’em moving. I’m going to have Grace put that on the calendar so I won’t forget. It’s important to keep up with the little things. Just because we’ve got two tiny humans who require our attention twenty-four seven doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t make time for an old-fashioned anal plugging. And why go home when you could use Sean’s dungeon? Er, excuse me, the present room. He tells his kid that. Seriously, you’re going to make her want to get in there even more than she normally would.”