Hanging On 2: Surreal Neal [Awakenings 6] (Siren Publishing Menage and More) (10 page)

I shrugged. “We finished early.” A visual sweep of her house showed that it was cleaned up. Fresh bowls of potpourri were in strategic locations, and she looked nice. “Do you have a date? I could get lost for a few hours.”

There was a club downtown that played music on nights they didn’t have live music. I hoped they didn’t have a band booked. I wasn’t in the mood for a concert.

“Date cancelled.” She gave a sad smile. “So I cleaned. I thought you and I could spend some time together. To that end, I did not clean your man cave.”

My man cave was a room in the basement. I had a bed, dresser, closet, and a television. I wasn’t into gaming, but I could claim an addiction to cooking shows. Drew’s was not my favorite, though I’d never tell him that. I liked the competition ones better, and his was all about simple, sexy dishes and flirting with his audience.

A thrill ran through me as I realized that I would soon have his coy smile directed at me without the interference of a screen.

“My God, I would have stopped cleaning it out weeks ago if I knew it would make you that happy.”

Heat crept up my neck. “Sorry. I was thinking of something else.”

Her grin turned mischievous. I should mention that Aunt Danielle is a slip of a woman. She weighs maybe ninety pounds soaking wet. My dad affectionately refers to her as “midget,” which she doesn’t like. She says it’s a demeaning term for little people. Anyway, she’s one of those people who are too cute for words, and she has a sweet personality to go with it. She was also a forceful storm, blowing through life like a mini-tornado.

My dad says that her marriage didn’t last because she married a weak man. He maintains that she needs someone who will stand up to her on a daily basis. I wholeheartedly agree, but I also thought she had an undiscovered Dominatrix streak.

So far, I had barred her from knowing too much about my personal life. She loved me, and I needed her acceptance if I was going to make something of myself. If I told her about the mistakes I’d made, I didn’t know how she would react. I couldn’t take it if she rejected me.

No, that wasn’t fair. Since Master Geordie had left me in Brazil, I hadn’t confided in anybody. Of course, I’d never told her what really happened. It was best to keep that to myself. She knew I’d been hurt, but she didn’t know to what extent.

Aunt Danielle deserved a chance. She’d always been there for me when I needed someone. My parents were good people, but Aunt Danielle had always been the person I’d confided in when I didn’t feel I could talk to them.

“I have a date. Sort of.”

Her expression morphed. “Sort of?”

I shrugged. It was a date for sex, but I wasn’t ready for anything more. Dipping my feet back into the pond with Drew and Sophie was the safest way to begin again. They were open and honest about what they wanted from me. With those parameters in place, perhaps the healing could begin. I hoped to come out of this ready to date for real. I was twenty-four. I didn’t want to give up on love yet.

She tugged on my arm, her eyes round with concern. “Neal, what does that mean?”

“It means that I’ve found fun and friendship, which is all that I want right now.”

“Fun and friendship? What the hell does that mean?”

I should have known she wouldn’t let it go so easily. “I’ll be seeing a couple, a man and a woman.”

Aunt Danielle bit her lower lip, probably in an effort to warn me away. Finally, she shook her head. “Fun and friendship means sex. You know that, right? Oh, you didn’t answer a personal ad, did you? That’s like asking to be murdered.”

Putting my arm around her, I steered her toward the back of the house where the kitchen was located. When my head was running at a hundred miles per hour, cooking calmed things down. “I didn’t answer a personal ad. It’s a couple I’ve been getting to know for weeks. She’s incredible. Beautiful, smart, sexy—everything a Domme should be. He’s also gorgeous, intelligent, and attractive.”

“But not dominant?” She leapt on that. I’d told her that much about Geordie.

“Not dominant. He’s rather vanilla.”

“Bisexual?”

I nodded as I toed off my shoes and kicked them so that they landed near the back door. “She wants a sub and he wants a man, so they’re interested in me. They want to do testing before we commit to anything specific.”

Aunt Danielle seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Just be careful. You’re asking for a heap of trouble when you become involved with your boss.”

Since I hadn’t revealed names, I started at her warning.

She snorted. “Oh come on. I’ve listened to you talk about the wonderful Drew and Sophia for weeks. I’m neither stupid nor blind.”

I thought I’d mentioned them only once or twice. “What do you want for dinner?” I opened the freezer to see what she had on hand. I preferred to work with fresher foods, but Aunt Danielle threw everything meat into the freezer.

“Don’t change the subject on me.” Pointing to the refrigerator half of the unit, she continued. “I bought shrimp today.”

“Fresh shrimp? I can do something with that.”

“I know. Now tell me why you think getting involved with a married couple is a good idea.”

I set the shrimp in a bowl on the counter, set out another couple bowls, and grabbed for the flour. “I’ll make linguine.”

Aunt Danielle grabbed eggs, milk, and butter from the fridge. “Neal Purcell, answer my question. You know this is a bad idea.”

“It’s not a bad idea. I’m not ready to get back on the relationship horse. This association comes with very specific rules and boundaries, and I need that right now. You see—it’s a very good idea. Perfect, actually. They’re not looking for permanence and neither am I. Fun and friendship.” I beat the eggs, milk, and butter together. “Maybe not friendship. I’m not all that interested in that part.”

Aunt Danielle sighed. “Neal, I worry about you. It’s not healthy to close yourself off to friends and to people who might want more from you than casual sex.”

I mixed flour and salt in a larger bowl, and then I added my wet goods. “You ignored the part where I said this is all I want.” And the unspoken part where I revealed my determination to never be dependent on anybody again.

Part of my time in Brazil had been pure nightmare. Months of my life were buried in the dankest reaches of my memory. Living with Aunt Danielle was a temporary thing. I made enough working at Sensual Secrets to support myself, but staying here offered me a chance to save my money. I wanted to open my own place. It was important for me to own my own restaurant.

One of the main reasons Mistress Sophia attracted me is that I sensed some of the same resistance in her. She rejected her husband’s money and connections. The accounting firm she owned belonged to her. She’d built it from the ground up, resisting Drew’s efforts to install her as the manager of Sensual Secrets. Kitchen staffs were notoriously gossipy, and the one at work was no different. Several marveled at her tenacity. Some thought she was insane to pass up the opportunities Drew offered. One of them hinted that Sophia had resisted buying Elysium because she had needed Drew’s money to do it.

She’d eventually given in and accepted his help, and that was something I would never do. I would learn the business from Drew, but if he ever offered financial help, I would reject it.

The bedroom was the only place I would ever submit again.

I punched the dough, kneading it and my frustrations until they were manageable. Then I rolled it out and cut it into fine strips. Aunt Danielle backed off on her questions, changing the topic to safer things.

“Your mom called me today. She and your dad are coming for a visit the last week in October.”

“Yeah?” I smiled. I might not have shared many details of my personal life with my parents, but I liked them, and I hadn’t seen them since Christmas. They’d moved to Arizona when I finished high school, leaving me to pursue my dreams in Boston. Instead I’d met a man who had convinced me that I wanted to belong to him and live in Rio. “What’s the occasion?”

She grinned, and that mischievous glint appeared back in her eyes. “I think they miss me.”

* * * *

I went for testing the next morning, and I threw myself into work for the remainder of the week. Almost every day, I worked alongside Drew, yet he said nothing that wasn’t food-related. I wished he would give me some sign that our conversation had taken place so that I didn’t feel like such a freak for thinking about it almost every minute of every day.

Perhaps this was nothing new to him. I knew that he and Sophia played with others, but I couldn’t believe the novelty would have already worn off. Otherwise, why would they continue to invite people into their bedroom?

On Saturday, we had an early start time. The job was due to be in the delivery van by one-thirty, so we were there at ten. Having a bakery on the other side helped a lot. We used fresh breads and pastries, and those were all made by Ginny’s staff, which left us free to concentrate on the savory dishes.

As I stirred ingredients into a mushroom sauce that would go over the chicken, I surreptitiously watched Drew. He squatted in front of a low cupboard and riffled through the contents, searching for something. His thighs strained against his pants, and the position pulled the fabric tight against his ass. Sophia hadn’t exaggerated about the appeal of Drew’s backside. I wanted to know what it felt like in my hands.

My phone chirped. I had it in my front pocket, and the noise startled me. Drew turned to give me a warning look, and I was struck by the perfection of his features. This problem wasn’t new. I could stare at him for hours and never grow tired.

But I shook it off and nodded my understanding. We weren’t allowed to be on our phones at work. Since I’d cut ties with so many people, and I had yet to establish new connections, I hadn’t expected it to make noise. I’d forgotten it was in my pocket.

With such a short shift, we had no breaks. Because I wasn’t expecting a text, curiosity burned through me, though it was probably just a wrong number. That had happened before. I’d had this number for a month, and whoever had it before me had left some girl twisting in the wind.

Drew’s phone must have vibrated—I didn’t hear it—but he pulled it from his pocket and checked his messages. Some of the staff complained about the unfairness of Drew being allowed to check his phone when we weren’t, but I didn’t join in. He was the boss, and a missed message could have us cooking a canceled meal or delivering to the wrong address.

His expression didn’t change as he read, but when he pointed a look at me, I knew the time had come. Without a word, I checked the text I’d received. It was from Sophia.
Test results back. Everybody clean. Drew will show you ours. See you this afternoon?

Elise, a cute redhead who had been a member of the Sensual Secrets staff for three years, sidled up to me. “Hey, you’d better put that away. Boss man isn’t glaring yet, but I’ve seen him fire people for being on their phones.”

I slid it back into my pocket and met Drew’s gaze. I gave a small nod, and he turned away, but not before I saw a cocky smile stretching the corners of his mouth.

After we’d packed everything up, loaded the van, and instructed the serving staff and supervising chef, I went looking for Drew. I knew he hadn’t left because he had to lock up. I found him upstairs in his office, flipping through papers from the fax.

He looked up when I came in. “Neal. Are you guys done with cleanup?”

“Not yet. I got a text from Sophia.” It didn’t seem right to use her title with him. I had a feeling that he merely tolerated protocol.

“So did I.” He got to his feet and shifted uncomfortably.

Iron fists of oh-shit curled in my stomach. He was searching for a way to back out without hurting my feelings. Besides lust, my feelings didn’t enter into this. At least, I tried to get the iron in my stomach to believe that.

I fiddled with the hem of my chef’s jacket and shuffled my foot. “You changed your mind.” I nodded. “That’s fine. I understand.”

Fleeing was my first impulse. I headed toward the door, but Drew closed the distance faster and wrapped his hand around my upper arm. Damn, he had big hands.

“You’re wrong. I’m just not comfortable talking about it here.” He inhaled deeply and relaxed his grip. “Your job here and that other thing are completely unrelated, and I want it to stay that way.”

Nodding, I took a step closer. “So, no talking about it here. Got it.”

His gaze flickered to my lips and back to my eyes. Inches separated our bodies. I’d never been this close to him. If I stuck out my tongue, I could lick his lower lip. We stared at each other, taking slow, shallow breaths, each inhaling the other’s scent, and all I could think about was what he might taste like. I wanted to know the flavor of his lips, the spice of his skin, and to savor his cock in my mouth.

One of us was going to have to break the spell, but we were both reluctant to move. Finally I could stand it no longer. Grabbing the lapel of his jacket, I collapsed those inches and pressed my lips to his. He went still, I think from shock, but then he put one hand low on my back and cupped the back of my head with the other.

His lips were strong, and he tasted like hints of the dinner we’d been cooking. Seeking more, I thrust my tongue into his mouth. He tangled his tongue with mine, and I almost died. Certainly, I was in heaven.