The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(31)

She finally nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“What about me doing oral on you?” he asked.

She blushed. “You don’t have to, Sir.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

“But it’s not f—”

She stopped when he laid a finger on her lips. “Rule four, when I ask a question, you answer it without trying to figure out how to answer it. You give me the truth, which is rule five, you never lie to me, and I will never lie to you. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Receiving oral, are you okay with that, or not?”

Her face practically turned beet red. “I enjoy it, Sir.”

“Thank you.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I’ve been giving myself orgasms since I was about twelve or so,” he joked. “I’m sure I won’t die from it.”

“I…I want to help with that, though.”

“Then that’s fine. When we’re playing, if I tell you it’s okay to help me get off, and you’re comfortable doing so, then you may.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“This is an uncomfortable conversation for you, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“That’s okay, because we’ll have lots of uncomfortable conversations. Especially early on. They’ll get less uncomfortable the more we have them, I promise.”

“I wish I’d been brave enough to have them with Leo,” she softly admitted. “Not that it’s his fault,” she quickly added. “It was mutual…stupidity.”

“He loves you very much. I’m glad you have him in your life.”

“Me, too, Sir.”

“This isn’t a rule, but it’s how I want our relationship to proceed—we need to spend time together not just as a couple, but as a family. With Laurel, and even with Leo and Jesse. Family is very important to me. I don’t want to just show up and disrupt things, especially Laurel’s life. She needs to get to know me better. We can’t conduct most of our life away from her. If our relationship is meant to be long-term, which I hope it is, then she’ll need to know me. We need to do things together, the three of us, the five of us. I need to make sure she’s okay with me being here.”





That had been something else Eva had never admitted to Leo—that the last guy she’d briefly dated after he’d left, Mark, had another strike against him. In addition to making comments in front of Laurel about Leo’s sexuality, and having been through a nasty divorce of his own, he’d loved making plans for when Laurel wasn’t around, and making himself mostly scarce when she was.

The times he’d come over for dinner there at the house with her and Laurel had been because Eva had invited him, not because he’d wanted to come.

“Thank you, Sir,” she said. “I’d like that. But one correction.”

“Yes?”

“We’re not a family—we’re a pack.”

She loved Nate’s smile. “Semantics.”

“Ooohhh, you have nooo idea. Don’t call us a family around Laurel, she’ll rip you a new one.”

He snorted. “She’s going to be a pistol when she’s older.”

“Yes, she is. You sure you’re up to the task?”

“You’re going to be happy for my help and advice,” he said, but his smirk betrayed his amusement. “Remember, I’ve been through this, at a lot younger than you. Hell, I was younger than Jesse is now, and I had to figure this shit out on my own. At least there’s three of you, four counting me. Five if you toss in Cherise, which we should, because my sister and I spend a lot of time together outside of work, too. We really are friends. And Wade, too, since they’re engaged.”

“That’d be nice.”

He laced fingers with her again and kissed her hand. “If you want me to, I would like to be your Dominant. But I don’t want to collar you yet.”

“Why not?”

“Until you feel comfortable telling me the whole truth—and I won’t rush you or push you—I think you should stay under Leo and Jesse’s protection. The timetable of the next step is up to you. And we’re not going to have intercourse until after you’re collared to me. We’re going to save that.”

Her heart fell a little. “Yes, Sir.”

“The timing is, therefore, up to you. If I think you’re rushing things just to get to intercourse, no, it won’t happen. Understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I know this sounds…weird, but I think what we have is worth waiting for. Doesn’t mean we won’t have lots of orgasms in the meanwhile. Waiting and doing things right won’t be difficult.”

That was a relief. “Yes, Sir. Thank you.”

“Besides you’re not on birth control anyway, are you?”

He had a point. She’d gotten off the pill not too long after Leo left. With everything else going on, her prescription had run out and she forgot to get it refilled, then it was like, what’s the point?

Another way she was able to insulate herself from sex with guys. She had the perfect excuse, that she didn’t want to get pregnant.