wasn’t going to deny himself a sexy sub.
The crowd in the pub erupted into loud cheers following a touchdown, and Dmitri raised his beer to his mouth. The crisp, cool liquid rushed down his throat. He understood Aidan’s choices, but he leaned toward the same thoughts as Kyler. Aidan missed out because it was all too clear that Cora responded to him best because she wanted to. She offered her submission to him in ways she didn’t to anyone else.
He wouldn’t point out to Aidan why he avoided the truth. Although he suspected it had something to do with Aidan’s past, and his last submissive, who died in a car accident. “You’re good with how things are?” At Aidan’s silence and raised brows, Dmitri laughed. “You don’t plan on answering me?”
“Nope.” Aidan finished off his chicken wing, and his gaze became challenging. “You want to talk about what’s going on with Presley?”
Dmitri frowned. “Nothing’s going on.”
“I’m surrounded by fucking dipshits,” Kyler mumbled before he took another bite of his burger.
Aidan smirked. “Not fun, is it?”
In fact, no, Dmitri didn’t like the position he found himself in, but Aidan’s point was moot. “I haven’t even taken her into a scene,” he defended. “How could anything be going on? I just met the woman.”
Kyler dropped his burger to his plate and gave Dmitri a hard look. “Did you put a rush on her documents and ask me to print off her police report instead of going the normal route?”
Dmitri’s frown deepened. “And?”
Aidan wiped his mouth with the napkin. “Why?”
“Because I have the means to rush her documents and call in a favor.” Dmitri stared down his friends, annoyed to his very bones. “That makes me a dipshit?”
Kyler returned the harsh look with one of his own. “Have you ever given a sub such treatment?”
“When in the hell did this become about me?” Dmitri scowled, folding his arms. “I worried that if I made her wait, she might get herself worked up and suffer because she’s skittish. That’s it.”
Kyler retorted, “Why do you care how she feels?”
“Because as the owner of Club Sin—” He nearly said I owe her that, but what did he owe her? He wasn’t even her Dom yet, nor had he made any agreement with her.
In the face of the hard looks from his two closest friends, he swallowed his argument. His behavior was unusual, especially for him. He’d never rushed documents and never cared enough to worry about a submissive outside the dungeon. Of course, he’d never had a sub as innocent as Presley, but why was he being so gentle with her?
Normally, he wouldn’t care so much about her in the emotional sense, and he’d give a personal thought to her only if he had her in a scene. Then he’d worry about her emotional state, because that was his duty as her Dom. Now he had no reason to feel an attachment to her.
Exactly as he told her, in the dungeon, her life was his business. Out of it, her life shouldn’t interest him.
Only problem?
It did.
He’d gone out of his way to ensure that she was comfortable. He’d gone out of his way to hurry things along to get her in the dungeon. And he’d gone out of his way to make certain she’d come back for more by promising a kiss.
He wanted to command Presley. He wanted her kneeling at his feet and staring up at him with that slight intimidation and hot excitement. He wanted her to awaken under his touch like he’d seen her do. He wanted to be the one who introduced her to BDSM and shed those nerves, igniting a passion in her that she’d never known. The thought of all that made him ache and crave to fuck her until they both were drenched in sweat.
At whatever expression had crossed Dmitri’s face, Kyler inclined his head, smiling from ear to ear. “Good for you, Dmitri. At least you’re man enough to admit it.”
Aidan thumped Kyler’s arm with his fist. “Bastard.”
Surrounded by his friends’ laughter, Dmitri didn’t share