Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(21)

Anyone Tilly wouldn’t sign off on never got invited to the private parties.

But with Tilly now spending so much of her time out in LA helping Leigh, Lucas, and Nick run their production company, June and Eliza had to pick up the slack there.

Granted, they were more worried about predatory male Doms abusing female submissives, but they’d keyed in on batcrap crazy female submissives before and kept them at arm’s length.

After what Jesse had gone through with Mario, he damn sure wasn’t going to ignore any of his friends if they gave side-eye to a prospective Dom or Top for him. He was done trying to figure shit out on his own.

He needed help from his friends. They hadn’t let him down, and they had his trust.

Just as Scrye and June walked up, Jesse spotted Eliza and Rusty’s car pulling into the parking lot, soon followed by Ross and Loren, Tony and Shayla, and others. They all went in to get their table while Keith remained outside with Jesse.

“Ah, that’s him,” Keith said.

Sure enough, the car pulled into a parking spot and the man got out.

Jesse’s heart raced when he laid eyes on the man again, not a good sign, he knew.

Well, a good sign, but bad that he felt so eager this soon. It wasn’t cautious. It wasn’t methodical.

Not when he’d dreamed all night about the things the man might be able to do to him, in the dungeon as well as in bed.

Leo walked over, looking good in jeans and a long-sleeved black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. And he smelled fresh out of the shower, too, his hair a little damp in places.

Jesse smiled up at him. “Hi.”

Leo’s smile thickened Jesse’s cock. “Hi.”

Keith stepped in, saving Jesse from trying to figure out something to say other than, “Let’s go back to my place right now.”

“Let’s go grab our seats,” Keith said. “Most everyone else is already here.” He led the way inside, with Jesse walking next to Leo.

Looking up, his cock stiffened even more. Leo was the perfect height compared to him. It was a struggle not to let his mind get lost in sexually charged fantasies.

Once they were seated, with Leo between Jesse and Keith, and directly across from June and Eliza, the inquisition—eh, dinner—got underway.

Jesse’s first instinct was to jump in and try to buffer his well-meaning friends so they didn’t overwhelm Leo, but he soon pulled himself back when he realized Leo was doing just fine on his own.

And if he’s going to be a Dom, he’ll have to be able to handle himself anyway.

But it was damned hard not to jump in. Not when he really wanted this to work out.

Yes, it was soon. Very soon.

Too damn soon.

He knew that. Every ounce of common sense he had screamed that at him.

Something about Leo pulled at him. He was a nice guy. He wasn’t jaded or cocky or arrogant. He simply…was.

Jesse’d had his fill of domly Doms who didn’t give a shit about what their submissive wanted. He’d been there, done that with Mario and realized that wasn’t what he wanted.

Did he want a Dominant and a Master? Yes. But he wanted one who saw him as a valuable person and a partner, not merely as a possession he could use as he saw fit.

Or share.

During a lull in the conversation, while Eliza and June and the other women had all left en masse to go to the bathroom—no, not at all suspicious—Jesse reached over and touched Leo’s arm to get his attention.

“I should mention something else right now,” Jesse said.

“Yeah?”

“I’m not interested in sharing someone, or being shared. I’m not poly. I’m monogamous, and I expect anyone I’m partners with to be monogamous, too. If that’s a deal-breaker, we should get that cleared up right now.”

Leo smiled. “I don’t like to share,” he said. “And I’m a…” He frowned, then laughed. “Well, up until my divorce I would have said I’m a one-woman man. I guess I’m a one-man man.”

Relief filled Jesse. “Good.”

Leo’s smile faded. “Did the guy you broke up with try to share you?”

Jesse nodded. “Yeah. That was the final straw.”

Leo’s gaze searched his face. “That’s not ever something you’d have to worry about with me.”

“Okay.”





While they’d talked a lot over dinner at Keith’s house, Jesse hadn’t gotten into all the gory details about how his last relationship had ended.

If the man had tried to share Jesse against his will…

Protective anger welled up inside Leo. No, no way in hell would he ever do something like that to anyone. And again, while he didn’t have anything against Keith or the others he’d met that night who were poly, it just wasn’t his thing. He didn’t have the time or energy to juggle multiple partners. It wouldn’t be fair to any of them.

The relief he spotted in Jesse’s gaze twisted his heart. It was like…

It was almost like being able to read Eva’s moods and thoughts.

If this was part of being a Dominant, okay, maybe he’d been one all along and never realized it. He’d own that. Kinky fantasies aside, he always managed to step into an authoritative role. He ran his business. Eva seemed to cede power and decisions to him from when they’d first started dating. It’d been like pulling teeth sometimes to get her to make a decision when he wanted her input.