Page 11 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

David

On Sunday mornings, David took his grandmother to church.

It was not his favorite thing to do, but she liked to go in person and be part of the community.

It made her happy to have him with her, and she at least went to a church he liked.

The pastor and her wife were members of the Outlands, and so were several of the congregation.

They did a lot of good in the community, with a food pantry, a clothing collection, and all sorts of other kinds of outreach.

Sometimes, he even volunteered to support the services they were offering those in need.

But he could have done that without attending. That was in service to his grandmother. Plus, it was a good excuse to see her each week. They would go out to lunch afterward to talk and catch up.

As always, his mind wandered during the service. Normally, it wandered to work.

This week, it wandered to Cassidy.

Which was still work, he temporized.

But his mind wasn’t on how to protect her. They had all her protections in place.

He kept thinking about her.

How was she spending her day? Was she feeling better after a night at Jensen’s? Was she scared when Kincaid left? If he’d left already. They hadn’t discussed what time he would be leaving.

Kincaid wasn’t too happy with him right now, so they hadn’t talked much.

Kincaid would have to suck it up, though, because he might be right, but David had still made some good points.

He wasn’t going to apologize for wanting things to work the way they were supposed to.

Or for worrying about what would happen if Cassidy’s ex started dating someone else.

Were they just going to watch him for the rest of his life, trying to interfere with any relationship he had?

That didn’t sound feasible. He and Kincaid had both been right, in their way, whether Kincaid wanted to admit it or not.

They might be able to keep Don out of the clubs, but that didn’t mean keeping him out of the dating pool.

There was only so much they could do about an adult woman deciding that she wanted to date him.

And now that he was banned from the clubs, if he was even dumb enough to try going back to one after his last ex had been rescued from one, he would just keep his activities to himself.

The next woman would have even fewer avenues for help than Cassidy had.

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Which was easier said than done.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, ignoring the little look his grandmother shot him.

That he was worrying about Stronghold and Don’s possible future girlfriends was a measure of how safe he felt Cassidy was now. Which was good. She deserved to be safe. To live a little—within the parameters they’d set up until they were sure her ex had moved on and wasn’t looking for her.

She was a submissive, so she’d probably want to visit the Outlands, eventually. It would probably be best if David screened any Doms that she scened with. Or maybe she wouldn’t be interested in scening at first. Had Kincaid mentioned if she’d kept going to Stronghold after her rescue?

Even if she hadn’t, if she felt safe enough up here, she’d probably want to go. David would make sure he was familiar with her limits so he could keep an eye on her there. Just in case she panicked or had a flashback or needed anything.

Maybe he should scene with her first. That was probably a good idea.

He’d be able to get a handle on her needs, her triggers, then he could watch out for them even when she was scening with other Doms. That way, he could make sure she chose Doms who would match well with her.

Doms who would understand what she’d been through and not push her too hard.

Yes, that was a good idea.

Not exactly his purview as her security, but what kind of Dom would he be if he didn’t make sure a submissive under his protection in one way was protected in all ways?

It wasn’t outlined in his responsibilities, but he wasn’t the kind of man who only took partial responsibility.

All or nothing was more his speed—and ‘nothing’ tended to be a challenge, if he was being honest. He was far more comfortable taking on all responsibility.

A sharp elbow in his side made him flinch, and he looked down at his grandmother, frowning.

Her head only came up to his shoulder when they were sitting down.

She was dressed in one of her “Sunday suits,” as she called them—today’s was powder blue—and a matching blue hat perched on top of her flossy white hair.

The wrinkles around her laugh lines deepened as she grinned up at him unrepentantly.

“The church service is over, David.” Her voice, high and light, had a distinctive crackle to it that made it instantly recognizable in a crowd.

He blinked and looked around. Sure enough, the swelling music wasn’t another hymn or the choir; it was the recessional. All around them, people were gathering their things and starting to stand up… and he hadn’t even noticed.

Way to be aware of your surroundings, David.

But he couldn’t kick himself too hard. He always relaxed his guard during service.

Normally, he wasn’t so lost in thought that he missed the end of it, though.

In large part because he was usually eagerly awaiting the end so they could get to the part of their Sunday tradition that he liked the best—after church lunch with his grandmother.

“Right, sorry.” He got to his feet, holding out his hand to help her to hers. Her hazel eyes were still sharp, and she was eyeing him suspiciously.

“What were you thinking so hard about?” she asked.

“Work.”

It was technically the truth. Not one that she wholly bought, though, because she continued to eye him suspiciously as they made their way out of the sanctuary and through the greeting line to say hello to Pastor Nikeisha.

David smiled, said the right things, and made sure he was focused on what was in front of him and not veering off to think about Cassidy.

Not that it helped his grandmother forget. She held her peace all through the car ride to the House of Starrett, their preferred Sunday lunch place, and until they were seated with their menus and had their drink orders in. Once he was lulled into complacency, that was when she struck.

“What are you working on right now?” The innocence in her voice didn’t fool him any more than his answer of ‘work’ earlier had apparently fooled her.

Sighing inwardly, David looked up from the menu. It wasn’t like he really needed it; he already knew he was going to get a salmon salad. The menu was just a prop to help him hide from this exact conversation.

“Well, there’s a fundraiser coming up to kick off Senator Marlin’s campaign for governor.

We’re coordinating with OHS to provide security for the event.

” High profile because not everyone was happy that an Indian woman was running for governor.

Governor Williams had been exceptionally popular during his time in office, but he was ready to retire, as was his lieutenant governor, so the field was wide open.

Since Governor Williams and Senator Marlin were from the same party, everyone assumed she was the natural successor, but there were already rumblings from some areas about both her race and her gender.

“That’s good. I like the senator,” his grandmother said cheerfully. She eyed him. “Anything else?”

“That’s the biggest thing going on this week.

We have a lot of other smaller jobs, though.

” He went through the full list, which was a bit overwhelming.

He’d already told his grandmother about how the firm had lost a team and the two remaining ones had needed to split their jobs, so she didn’t need an update on that.

As her eyes glazed over, he slipped in that there was a bodyguarding job right in the middle of all the other ones he was listing.

She didn’t even notice.

By the time he was done, the server had returned. Once they’d put in their orders and returned their menus, his grandmother was looking at him suspiciously.

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it. There’s a lot going on, so I guess that’s why I’m so distracted.”

“Hmph.”

Some sixth sense was telling her that she wasn’t catching everything, but obviously, she couldn’t quite figure out what she was missing. David picked up his water glass to hide his smile as she made another little noise, this one of resignation, indicating that she was giving up.

“Are you doing anything this afternoon?” she asked.

“I was going to work out and look at some of the schedule for this week. Why?”

“Would you have time to take me to book club? I can probably get a ride home from one of the other ladies.”

Now it was David’s turn to give his grandmother what she called ‘the hairy eyeball.’

“Why can’t Laura take you?”

Laura being the ‘companion’ they’d hired for her just three weeks ago.

His grandmother didn’t need full-time care, and her wits were sharp, but she needed help around the house, someone to keep her company, and she couldn’t drive anymore because her eyesight had gotten so bad.

So, she needed a daytime companion to get her around and keep her occupied.

So far, they’d been through nine in one year. Either they quit, or his grandmother took it upon herself to fire them.

Grandma waved her hand.

“Oh, you know.”

“No, I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. What happened to Laura, Grandma?”

She made that hmphing noise again, and David glared at her.

“Fine. I had to fire her.”

A headache was starting to form between his eyebrows.

“Why did you have to fire her?” He did his best to keep his tone patient and understanding, even though he didn’t understand.

Laura had been perfect. She hadn’t had a traffic violation since her first year of college, she’d taken some nurses classes before deciding it wasn’t for her but was still certified in CPR and first aid, and she was in night school, so she was available all day.

“Because she wanted to quit but was too stubborn to.” Grandma jerked her chin upward defiantly. “I was doing us both a favor.”

“Why did she want to quit?” Aka—what did his grandma do?

“She didn’t like my soaps. Or the books I was reading. She got all prissy about it. And she said I cursed too much. But I’ll curse as much as I fucking want.”

David’s lips twitched, though he did his best to suppress it because his grandmother didn’t need any kind of encouragement. Good freaking grief.

“What’s the book for this week?” he asked, resigned.

“Milking His Lass.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes against the images that were brought to his head.

“It’s about hucows,” his grandmother said gleefully.

“Stop. I’ve heard enough.”

“You and Laura, apparently.”

Even though it put him in a bind, he had a lot of sympathy for Laura.

Unfortunately, that meant finding another companion for his grandmother.

This time he would make sure that they understood exactly the kind of books her book club liked to read.

And he’d send Laura a bonus check to make up for being fired.

“When did you fire her?”

“Friday. I told her I’d tell you today.” Totally unrepentant, that’s what she was.

David sighed. Back to the drawing board.

“Okay, I’ll have people stop in to check on you this week, and we’ll set up a round of interviews for next Saturday.” Just one more thing to add to his to-do list.

“I’m sorry, David, but she really wasn’t right for me. Maybe this time you can let me choose who to hire?” She actually sounded sincere and a little pleading.

“You didn’t say no to Laura.”

“I wasn’t excited about her, either. I wanted that nice young man.”

“You only wanted Marcus because you thought he was cute. He was completely unqualified.” David had looked into the guy when his grandmother had stated her preference.

Marcus might look good in a pair of shorts, but he’d had three speeding tickets in the last year alone, an outstanding parking ticket, didn’t know how to cook, and hadn’t held any kind of job for more than six months.

“Let me choose this time, no matter what their qualifications are, and I promise I won’t fire them.

” Widening her eyes, somehow, his seventy-two-year-old grandmother managed to look like a puppy dog begging for a treat.

David groaned. He was going to regret this, he could feel it already, but maybe letting her choose one time would mean she wouldn’t chase the person off.

He only needed someone to last for longer than a month, so he could get through some of his work.

And he could just do a deep dive on everyone coming in for an interview ahead of time instead of afterward the way he usually did.

It would take more time, doing a deep dive on all applicants instead of an initial screen, then deep diving on the ones they were actually considering, but in this case, it might save him time in the long run.

Because if his grandmother kept needing replacement companions, he was going to lose time he didn’t have over the next few months.

“Fine.” And if it didn’t work out, then he could fire them. “You can choose your next companion, and I won’t argue with your choice.”

“Good. Thank you, David.” She beamed at him.

Yeah, he was going to dive deep every single applicant very carefully before the interview.