The Strength of the Pack (Suncoast Society #30)(6)

“Thank you, guys.”

“You thank us now,” Tilly joked. “You just wait.”





After Leo had paddled Jesse at the close of their collaring, others started playing. Leo and Jesse ended up sitting at a table in the social area, surrounded by friends.

Tilly walked up behind Eva. “How you doing?”

Eva’s hand automatically went up to the necklace, playing with the tag. “I’m vertical. How’s that?”

“It’s a start.”

Marcia appeared on her other side. “Hey, Crawford has an opening. Why don’t you let him work on you?”

Eva blanched. “I…I don’t play. You know that.”

“No, just let him do some acupuncture on you.”

“I’ll hold your hand,” Tilly said without a hint of snark. “He’s not gropey. He’s a good guy.”

Hell, Leo and Jesse had both been worked on by him. He’d actually helped Leo’s pain.

It wasn’t the man’s fault that she had body issues. “If you hold my hand.” She’d let Tilly think it was a needles-squick issue on her part.

“Deal.” Tilly laced fingers with her and led her over to the table, where Crawford was wiping it down. “Can you do a little stress relief on her, Crawford?”

“Of course I can.” He spread a clean towel on the table. “Hop on up here. I can always use a fresh victim.”

“Don’t worry,” Tilly assured her. “He’s the sweetest damn sadist you’ll ever meet.”

“Why do you women insist on telling people how nice I am? How am I ever expected to terrify people if they think I’m a fluffy bunny?”

Eva actually laughed at that.

“Because truth in advertising, dude. You’re a sweetheart.” Tilly remained on the other side of the table, holding Eva’s left hand as she lay face-up on the table. “Anyone ever tell you you’ve got that Professor Snape vibe going on? Only in a sexier, Domlier kind of way.”

A serene smile illuminated Crawford’s features. “I’ll take that as a compliment, Tilly.”

“Good, because I meant it as one. If you had Alan Rickman’s voice, buddy, Landry might have some serious competition for my attention when we’re here.”

He did have the slightest bit of an accent. Working in a call center, Eva was used to hearing people from all over the country. “Are you from Britain?” she asked him.

“No. Well, technically, yes. I lived there for six years as a kid and my sister was actually born there. Military brats. In high school back in the US, I discovered the girls loved a British accent, so I didn’t totally lose all of it or the idioms.”

He had long, willowy fingers and had tied his black hair back with a leather thong. She was used to seeing premature grey in a man’s hair. Leo’s had started turning grey before he was thirty, although this man still had far more black than grey compared to Leo. His brown eyes appeared almost black in the dim light.

She’d never really paid close attention to him before. He exuded a calm energy that relaxed her far more than she’d expected it to.

Usually, she spent so much time trying to keep barriers between herself and others that she rarely got close to people unless they made an effort to draw her in.

He prepped his needles and swabbed several areas on her forehead and ears with alcohol wipes, waving his hand over them to dry the alcohol.

“My little sister, however,” he said, “is completely Americanized. Damned shame, too. She always picks on me when I refer to french fries as ‘chips.’”

“I’m going to tell her you said that,” Tilly playfully threatened.

“Go ahead, darling. She’s manning the front desk tonight.”

“She is? How the hell did I miss her?”

“I don’t know, but she’ll be awfully hurt if you don’t say hi when we’re done.”

“Rats.”

“Your sister is here, too?” Eva asked.

“Yes, my baby sister is a Domme. I would say I corrupted her, but two kinky children from the same mother likely means it’s in our genes. No arguments with that. My mom was fairly dominant. She ran our home like a military unit, in the good ways.”

“Is it just the two of you?” Eva didn’t like talking about her own family and hoped he didn’t ask.

“Yes, just me and Cherise, since she was nine and I was twenty-one. My mom and step-dad died in an accident, and I raised her.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged, reaching in and placing the first needle in her forehead. “Family comes first. Always. Let me know if you feel any discomfort or pain.”

“Okay.”

He placed more needles, Tilly maintaining her comforting grip on Eva’s hand. But…

Even if Tilly hadn’t been there, now that Eva had allowed herself to relax, she realized she didn’t feel threatened by the man. He had a gentle, calm, serene way about him.

Jesse walked over. “You doing okay?”

Eva didn’t want to move. “Yeah, I’m okay. I don’t know why I waited so long to have this done.”

Yes, she did.

So did Jesse.

But it wasn’t a topic of conversation for the location or the mixed company, so better to let Tilly and Crawford both think it was a fear of needles.