Page 33 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

David

The fundraiser was over. It had gone off without a hitch. Thank God.

They’d all gone over to Jensen’s afterward to celebrate.

Well, not ‘all.’ Lincoln had gone home to Ashley.

But David, Drew, Claudia, Mason, and, of course, Jensen since it was his house.

After all the man-hours, it was nice to know that one of their biggest jobs was out of the way.

Though the senator had mentioned that she might want to hire them for future events as well.

They’d be more than happy to work with her again when the time came, but for now, it was another big job finished that they could celebrate.

“Is Naomi okay with you being out with us?” Mason asked Drew as they headed up the walk.

“Yeah, I asked her if she wanted to come over, too, but she wasn’t feeling up to it.” Drew shrugged, but the concern in his expression was clear. “Last week, she wanted distraction. This week, she’s wallowing. I’m just trying to let her do whatever she feels she needs.”

Clapping Drew on the shoulder, Mason nodded.

“Sorry, Sporty. If you need me…”

“I’m good right now, thanks. It’ll help that this job is over now, and our schedule is freed up some.

” Drew glanced over at David on his other side as they walked up the steps to the porch, following Jensen and Claudia.

“I know you and Lincoln were interviewing people this week. Anyone good show up?”

David shook his head grimly.

“I’ll tell you about it inside.” That way, he could let them all know they were pretty sure that Marshall was responsible for the lackluster candidates they were receiving.

Though, thankfully, the former partner didn’t seem to have managed to damage Black Fox’s reputation with clients—they were still fielding just as many calls as usual.

Unfortunately, having to turn some of them down due to no longer having three teams might affect them in the long run, but Lincoln was prioritizing current clients.

It wasn’t like growing the company was an option at the moment, anyway; they needed to get back to the level where they’d already been.

That or accept that they were just going to be smaller now.

David still wasn’t sure which direction Lincoln was going to take the company.

Once they were all in and had a drink, they’d gathered around the island in the kitchen.

The caterers had given Claudia a tray of food that she’d brought with her for them to snack on, and Jensen found the baskets with Mick’s leftovers from the farmer’s market that morning.

There was no sign of Mick or Cassidy, who were probably both already in bed.

Which he was not disappointed about, at all, and he had definitely not been hoping that he would see Cassidy while they were here.

Giving everyone the update on the candidates who had been applying and where he and Lincoln thought the good candidates were going had everyone cursing loudly.

“Fucking Marshall,” Claudia fumed. “I should have kicked his balls into next week when I had the chance.”

“He’s always been jealous of Lincoln, you know,” Mason said, taking a sip of his beer. Leaning back against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest, he had his ‘thinking look’ on, which meant he was working something out. “Jealous of Lincoln and Harris’ relationship.”

“But they’re brothers…” Drew frowned.

“Jealous of the fact that his name wasn’t on the company.”

“Because he didn’t start it, he came on after Lincoln and Harris created it.” Drew interrupted again. Mason ignored him and kept going.

“Jealous of his family, his friends, basically everything Marshall saw as a success.”

“Is that why he slept with Lincoln’s wife?” Jensen asked, making a face. None of them had been a fan of the former Mrs. Black, even before her infidelity. How Lincoln had ended up with such a self-involved, self-aggrandizing woman was a mystery to David.

Then again, Lincoln’s ex was the female version of Marshall, and Lincoln had been best friends with Marshall for decades.

Despite being former military, Lincoln had a very soft spot in his heart for hard-up cases.

Maybe there was just something about him that drew shitty people who thought they could use him.

“Probably,” Mason answered Jensen. “I think it certainly gave him a rush to steal from Lincoln, both money and his wife. He would see it as making himself better than Lincoln. The fact that Lincoln’s wife was planning to leave him for Marshall…”

“Yeah, but they didn’t make it a year after she and Lincoln split up,” Claudia pointed out.

“Likely because Lincoln already had a replacement lined up. A much younger one. I doubt Marshall had much interest in Janet after he realized that Lincoln didn’t. Especially since he would see a young woman like Ashley as the bigger prize.” Mason made a face.

“Ew, of course, he would,” Drew said, scowling. “That’s not why Lincoln fell for her.”

“We know that, but society views age-gap romances like that in a certain way.” Claudia rolled her eyes. She pitched her voice into a falsetto. “Much older man, younger woman, oh wow, he must be such a stud.”

“So, you think that starting his own company and offering outrageous amounts to the people we’d be interested in hiring is another manifestation of his jealousy?” David asked, wanting to make sure he understood what Mason was saying.

“Ooh, look at you, using the big words,” Drew teased, making them all laugh.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Mason replied, ignoring Drew other than for a brief chuckle.

“I think he’s still trying to steal what Lincoln has.

But with even more motivation than before since he got kicked out of Lincoln’s inner circle and now that his animosity has free rein. He doesn’t have to hide it anymore.”

“Well, that’s just great.” Claudia sighed. “Because we needed something else to make our lives harder right now.”

“Honestly, if we could just get a tech person for our team, I think that would help a lot. Lincoln isn’t taking cases at the rate we would have for three teams. We may end up being a two-team firm, which would be fine,” David said.

“At least for a while, until Marshall shits the bed again, and his goes belly up.”

“We can only hope,” Jensen muttered, taking another swig of his drink. Then he straightened up, his gaze going behind David. Immediately, David’s senses tingled, and he turned to see who Jensen was looking at, even though part of him already knew. “Sorry, did we wake you up?”

“Not really, I woke up to use the bathroom and was having trouble falling back asleep when I heard voices.” Cassidy stood in the doorway to the kitchen, looking adorably disheveled.

Her dark hair was pulled back into a messy bun.

One long tendril had escaped confinement and was draped over her shoulder, while there was a crease on one side of her face from her pillow.

She was wearing a tank top and shorts, both of flimsy-looking material but thick enough that he couldn’t see her nipples through the top.

“Figured I’d come see who was here since I couldn’t sleep. ”

“Come join us,” Claudia said, stepping back to make space for Cassidy between her and David. The Domme winked at him.

Interfering friends. He didn’t know why he was surprised. It didn’t bother him as much as it probably should have.

He’d seen Cassidy several times over the week, always in passing at his grandmother’s, and they’d chatted. Done their best to ignore his grandmother’s meaningful looks. Kept their distance.

Which meant he didn’t feel like he needed to worry so much right now, no matter how attuned he was to her presence as she came to stand between him and Claudia.

“Beer?” Jensen asked her.

“Just water, thanks.” She smiled at Jensen as he moved to get her a glass. “So, how was the fundraiser?”

Cassidy

Sometimes, not being able to fall asleep wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Especially when it meant coming downstairs to find a kitchen full of hotties…

and one hottie in particular. Part of her had thought about sneaking back upstairs, but then Jensen had seen her, and she’d figured she might as well stay.

It was fun listening to them talk about their job and hanging out together.

She’d seen David at his grandmother’s during the week, but this was a different side of him.

The team leader. He listened as much as he talked, and he was a lot more blunt with them than he was with his grandmother, but it was just as obvious how deeply he cared about them.

Eventually, Drew left, then Claudia. Mason, Jensen, David, and she moved to the living room, which was good because she was starting to get tired.

Somehow, she ended up on one couch with David while Mason and Jensen took the other.

They were arguing about something from a reality TV show.

Not something she’d watched, though she was amused by how passionately opinionated they both were.

David was listening and watching them with an expression of incredulity on his face.

Cassidy couldn’t help but giggle, pulling one of the cushions onto her lap and curling up around it.

He slanted a glance her way, catching her eye as if to say, ‘Can you believe them?’, making her giggle even harder.

She reached up to cover her mouth with her hand to try to keep Jensen and Mason from hearing her.

Fortunately, they were way too engrossed in their debate to realize she was laughing at them.

The corner of David’s mouth tipped up, and he leaned back against the couch, throwing his arm along the back of it. They were far apart enough that his arm wasn’t behind her, though it would be if she scooted over one place. She ignored the desire to do so.

“How’s your week been?” he asked. “Nothing weird that I should know about?”

He asked the same question every time he saw her. Cassidy shook her head, bemused. Nothing weird had happened since the day she’d been tailgated.