Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(6)

“No, we won’t.” She frowned.

“What?” he asked.

“I just wish I knew more single gay guys to try to fix you up with. There’s a noticeable lack in that department, now that I honestly look at it. FYI, make sure you keep that dinner date with Keith and the gang. Don’t let me hear you cancelled on them. You need to get out and meet more people.”

“You realize you’re not responsible for my dating life, right?”

She gently poked him in the arm. “I like seeing my friends get their happy-ever-afters. I don’t like it when things happen that I can’t fix for them.”

“You’re a Taurus, aren’t you?”

“How’d you guess?”

He rolled his eyes. “Seriously?”

“What, because I’m bossy?”

“No. Well, yes, but not just because of that.”

“Good thing I like you.”

“I know. You have no idea how glad I am that you like me.”

Her other eyebrow joined the first, arching skyward. “I’m not a dictator or a serial killer. Well, okay, maybe I’ll cop to the dictator label.”

“No. I don’t mean that because of your tough-Domme rep. I appreciate having a friend like you in my life who gives a shit about others.”

Her expression gentled. “That’s what true friends do. They give a shit about each other. They have each other’s backs. You’re practically family.”

“I’d rather have you guys than my ‘real’ family,” he muttered.

She slung an arm around his shoulders. “See? Another reason I couldn’t date you, even if I was single and you weren’t gay. You’re too much like the little brother I never had. That would just make things eww creepy.”

“You’re married to a gay man. Why couldn’t you date me?”

“Okay. I’ll concede that point.”

“Wow. I know you really like me. You admitted you were wrong.”

She held a finger up. “No, technically, I didn’t. Conceding a point isn’t an admission of wrongness.”

“Where are your guys anyway?”

“Home. They flew back from LA today and Landry didn’t feel like coming out. But I’m flying out to LA on Monday with Nick and Lucas and won’t be back for a couple of weeks, so I didn’t want to miss tonight.”

He leaned against her, enjoying the feel of her arm around him. Not even remotely romantic in nature, just the joy of human contact. “What’s it like out there? I’ve never been.”

Her brow furrowed. Finally, she said, “Imagine if Publix had an all-you-can-eat buffet located right in the middle of the store, and every item in the store was a BOGO.”

“Yeah?”

“Now imagine it’s the height of snowbird season, and they all had fifty-percent-off coupons on top of that.”

“Yikes.”

She nodded. “Exactly. Cutthroat to the max. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met some pretty nice people out there, too, but a lot of people are simply looking for the angle to get what they want out of you. I understand now why Leigh wanted me to work with them.”

“So you aren’t quitting?”

“No. Sad to say everyone knew me better than I knew myself, in this case. I kind of enjoy playing gatekeeper and making Hollywood movers and shakers sit there and pitch their deals to me before I’ll even think about scheduling time for them with the gang.” That was how she referred to the poly triad of Nick, Lucas, and Leigh.

“Sounds like your Domme skills are being put to good use.”

“They are. I can be somewhat sadistic. Except, unfortunately, there are a couple of idiots who seem to enjoy it the bitchier I am to them when they annoy me. I think they’re closet masochists. Most people, I don’t have to get bitchy with. But a couple of them, they’re *s until—ironically—I get bitchy with them.”

“How does that work?”

“The first idiot, when he called and talked to me for the first time, he demanded I put Leigh on. I promptly hung up on him. He called back and I hung up on him again. Leigh asked who it was and I told her. She told me to be ‘Tilly off-the-chain’ with him. So when he called back the third time—and I could see who it was because of caller ID—I told him to either tell me what the hell he wanted, or to quit wasting my time before I added his number to the blocked list. Boom, he was suddenly the sweetest guy. Weird.”

“So the others are like that, too?”

“Those weird ones, yes. Don’t get me wrong, most of the people I deal with are professional and polite.”

“Makes me glad I’m a groundskeeper.”

“Some days, I envy you,” she said. “Grass doesn’t flake out on you and reschedule a meeting fifteen times in the same damn afternoon.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. The last time, I told them that was the last time, that if they moved it again, I was canceling it for good.” She held up her other hand, thumb and first finger pinched together. “Okay, so that time, I was just a wee bit bitchy to them. But they deserved it.”

He laid his head onto her shoulder. “Thank you for having a bitchy side. I appreciate you fighting for me when I wasn’t fighting for myself.”