Page 30 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

Cassidy

It was a dark and stormy Saturday morning when David appeared at Jensen’s door, and Cassidy was not prepared.

She hadn’t known he was coming, or she would have actually gotten dressed.

He’d shown up without warning, ringing the doorbell.

If she’d jumped up to run upstairs and make herself look more presentable before he came inside, Mick and Jensen would have known something was up.

So, she had to sit there with her bedhead, no makeup except the bit that was smudged under her eyes after not coming off when she washed her face the night before, wearing a ragged t-shirt that went down to her thighs and some flimsy pajama pants, pretending to be unaffected by his presence.

The truth was, she was hyperaware of it.

Last night at the club had been fun, but it had also hammered home that she wasn’t really interested in scening with anyone but him. Which was probably a good reason to try to scene with someone else, but her heart hadn’t been in it.

Plus, Naomi had been pretty down. She’d eventually told them that the latest round of IVF hadn’t taken, which had made her depressed. There was no way Cassidy was going to leave her side after that just to scene with someone she didn’t actually want to scene with.

Pretending to be focused on the pancakes she was eating, she glanced up and smiled a greeting as Jensen walked back into the room with David trailing behind him.

“Good morning,” David said, his gaze moving over her and Mick, including them both in his greeting.

“Morning,” Mick mumbled. He was in a bad mood because the weather was bad enough that the farmer’s market had decided to close. Normally, rain didn’t keep them down, but the wind was howling and blowing hard enough to make things dangerous. Which meant that all his baking was for naught.

“Good morning.” She made herself meet his gaze, keeping her smile on her lips even though what she really wanted to do was crawl under the table and hide herself until he left. Why couldn’t he have seen her last night at the club when she was all dolled up? Why did he have to come over now ?

“Want some pancakes?” Jensen asked, taking his seat at the table again without waiting for David’s answer. “There’s also muffins and coffee cake if you’re interested.” He gestured at the plate of pancakes that was sitting on the table, along with the butter and syrup.

Mick grunted, scowling into his coffee at the reminder that they had a bunch of baked goods sitting around that were going to need to be eaten by someone.

The dining room table was huge, seating ten people normally.

One at each end and four on each side. She, Jensen, and Mick had taken over an end, with Jensen at the head of the table and Mick across from her.

At that moment, she was facing all the men.

Mick was seated closest to the doorway David and Jensen had come through.

It would make the most sense for David to sit down next to Mick.

“Thanks, that sounds great,” David said, walking around the table and pulling out the chair next to Cassidy.

It felt like all the little hairs on the left side of her arm suddenly stood to attention, his presence attracting them like moths to a flame.

Down girl. It doesn’t mean anything.

Right? Except it really would have made more sense for him to sit next to Mick. But here he was, sitting next to her, his right arm brushing against her left as he leaned forward to snag a pancake in his hand and roll it up without any butter or syrup or anything.

“Let me get you a plate.” She jumped up from her seat before any of them could tell her not to, needing a minute to compose herself. Her hyperawareness of him beside her was kind of disturbing. She needed to get a grip.

He wasn’t here for her. At least, not like that.

In the kitchen, hidden away from the rest of them, she took a couple of deep breaths.

There was no reason to get worked up. She looked like shit, anyway.

It was part of the freedom of being single.

She would never have dared let Don see her like this unless she wanted to spend the day listening to snide comments about how she was letting herself go.

From the moment she woke up until she went to bed, she was supposed to look perfect.

None of the guys here had said anything… but none of them were in a relationship with her, either. Including David. Which is why she shouldn’t care what he thought about how she looked.

Last deep breath.

She picked up a plate and walked back into the dining room, where the guys were chatting about the fundraiser prep.

David was sitting right where she’d left him, taking up more room than he had any right to on her side of the table.

Why did the chair beside him suddenly look so small?

One elbow propped on the table, he held the rolled-up pancake in his hand, several bites already taken out of it.

Pretending she wasn’t a bundle full of nerves, Cassidy rounded the table, walking behind Jensen to return to her seat. Every step closer to David made her body buzz.

“Here you go,” she said, sliding the plate in front of him as she sat down in her chair.

It felt like everyone could see how affected she was by his nearness, but none of them were looking at her oddly.

Mick wasn’t looking at her at all and Jensen barely paused in recounting his assessment of the security measures.

“Thanks.” David’s smile made her stomach flip over.

God, she was pathetic.

Doing her best not to squirm in her seat, Cassidy made herself focus on finishing her breakfast, hoping that none of the Doms around her noticed how antsy she was.

David

Coming over this morning might have been a mistake, but he’d wanted to see Cassidy. Gavin had told him that she had stayed in the main area with Naomi and Yasmine the entire night, which had made him feel a little better, but he’d still wanted to see her.

It made sense to personally check in on her at least once a week. Especially since this week, he had a really good excuse.

“How are things going with my grandmother?” he asked her. “Any problems?”

“With Brenda? No.” Cassidy laughed, turning her head slightly toward him to answer. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had, to be perfectly honest. She’s a lot of fun.”

“I’m guessing her book club didn’t put you off at all.”

“Not even a little. I got a bunch of new book recommendations to add to my to-be-read list when I went there.” She shook her head. “I will admit, even after meeting your grandmother, I did not expect book club to be quite so filthy.”

“What do you mean?” Jensen asked. “What are they reading?”

“Very naughty romance, and they are graphic in their criticisms. This week, there was an argument about whether they’d liked having their breasts played with while they were lactating.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” David muttered while both Jensen and Mick choked on their food. Whatever they’d been expecting her to say, it clearly wasn’t that. David wasn’t all that surprised, but then, he knew his grandmother. He just didn’t have a habit of repeating what she said to his teammates.

“What?” Mick sounded utterly horrified, which, of course, only encouraged Cassidy. She definitely had a bit of brat in her.

“You know, after they had babies. They were reading a hucow book.”

“Hucow?” Jensen’s face would have been hilarious if David wasn’t already so traumatized by knowing it was his grandmother reading these books.

“You know, human cow.”

“No.” Mick shook his head. “No, I did not know, and I’m not sure I wanted to know.” He pushed his plate slightly away from him, making Cassidy giggle again.

“Oh, yes. They are all very frank about their sex lives and which of their husbands wanted to taste their milk.”

“Stop right there.” David twisted in his seat to give her a stern look, trying not to let the ends of his lips curve up when she grinned at him, eyes sparkling with mischief.

Damn it. She was even more attractive when she forgot to be shy or hold herself back.

“I do not want to know what my grandmother said.”

“Normally, I would be all for torturing Ginger, but I’m not sure I can handle this conversation, either,” Jensen said.

“Thank you, Baby,” David responded dryly, keeping his focus on Cassidy, who looked like she was considering disobeying his order. “I mean it, Cassidy. Not another word, or you won’t sit for a week.”

Shit.

He hadn’t meant to say that.

Even worse was the way Cassidy lit up.

She was considering it.

Which made him feel a little better.

He didn’t want her afraid of him or feeling like she couldn’t sass him—and he didn’t know exactly how her ex had abused her. Whether or not he’d threatened her in that way.

Either he had not, or she trusted David more than he realized because the unholy light of mischief in her eyes said he’d just thrown down a challenge she was interested in accepting. His body tightened in interest, his cock stirring with anticipation.

He needed to shut this down before it went any further. And not just because he really didn’t want to hear about what shenanigans his grandparents had gotten up to.

“I will make you sit and do lines about oversharing.”

Immediately, the mischief went out of her eyes, and she pouted at him for cutting off her fun. At least now, he knew what was an actual punishment for her because a spanking clearly wasn’t.

“Do lines?” Mick asked, obviously confused.

“Like writing out ‘I will not share what I learn about Ginger’s grandmother’s sex life’ a hundred times,” Jensen explained, making David scowl at him. He grinned cheekily. Laps for him next workout session. Jensen liked lifting weights, but he hated running.

“ Oh . That makes more sense.”

The tone of enlightenment had David wondering what kind of lines Mick had been thinking of. No, wait, scratch that. He was pretty sure he could guess. Inwardly, he sighed. As if he’d have Cassidy doing lines of cocaine or something. For fuck’s sake.