Page 5 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

Cassidy

Lincoln escorted her through what he called ‘his’ side of the building to introduce her to the rest of the team.

She was both relieved and reluctant to be walking away from David.

A one-sided attraction to one of the men guarding her did not seem like a serendipitous start.

Part of her was happy to know that she could still feel attraction, so maybe Don hadn’t totally broken her, but another part of her was incredibly uncomfortable.

They stopped briefly in Lincoln’s office, and he gave her a panic button, taking a few minutes to show her how to use it. It would alert him, David, and whoever was at the front desk if she pushed it.

There were office spaces for the whole team, but no one was in them.

They were in the breakroom. It was a beige and grey breakroom, just like any other, but all the tables and chairs had been pushed to the side to make more floor space.

There was a fridge, a bunch of cabinets, and a few baskets with snacks on the counters, though she couldn’t see what was in them because she and Lincoln had to stand in the doorway.

Two of the men were in the middle of the open space, hands pressed flat against the floor, bodies moving up and down in unison with a fluidness that was beautiful to watch. Cassidy stared at all the rippling muscles, her mouth slightly dropping open.

One of them was Black, with long dreads that had been pulled up into a bun on his head.

He was shirtless and wearing sweatpants on his lower half.

The other was brown-skinned, but she didn’t think he was Black—though she couldn’t see his face, his hair made her think he was either South Asian or Latino or possibly mixed.

He was wearing jeans and a white wife-beater tank top.

In front of them, near their heads, another man was standing.

Like Lincoln, he was wearing a jacket and button-down shirt with dress pants, but he didn’t have on a tie and the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned.

His head was bent down, his focus on the watch he was holding up in front of him, making it impossible to see his face, though she could see that he was wearing thin, wire-frame glasses.

She’d been around Kincaid long enough to know that he was probably just as well muscled as the men doing the push-ups, just from the way his jacket hung from his broad shoulders.

The only other woman in the room was perched on the countertop next to the fridge, which was behind and a little to the left of the man in the suit.

She had long dark hair that had been pulled back into a ponytail and was eating from a small bag of popcorn as she watched the show with gleaming dark eyes.

She was wearing black leggings and a red tank top with a black sports bra underneath, which showed off her own muscles.

Cassidy couldn’t help but stare with envy.

The whole scene helped her feel a little better. If Don suddenly burst through the door, every single person in there looked like they could wipe the floor with him without even breathing hard.

It also made her feel like she needed to work out more. She wanted muscles. She wanted to be able to wipe the floor with Don—or anyone who threatened her—without breathing hard.

“Come on, Jensen, you’ve got this!” The woman cheered, popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth. She was the only one who seemed to have noticed Lincoln and Cassidy’s appearance in the doorway, and she winked at them as she spoke.

One of the men doing push-ups, Cassidy couldn’t tell which one, grunted.

“I hate to interrupt,” Lincoln drawled, “but our new client is here to meet you.”

Sudden groans echoed through the room as the two men stopped their push-ups and rolled into sitting positions.

Sweat glistened on both of them, and they were panting for breath.

Still, neither of them took her attention.

Nope, her full attention went to the man in the suit, who had been timing them, as he looked up.

He looked almost identical to Master Asad from Stronghold. Other than the glasses and a slight difference in the way he held himself, she would have sworn they were twins. Well, that and she’d never seen Master Asad wearing a suit.

“We knew you were there. Jensen and Drew just wanted to see if they could finish their competition first,” he said, grinning as he stepped between the bodies of his tired friends, holding out his hand.

Seeing Cassidy’s expression, he winked at her.

“Don’t tell me, Asad didn’t mention that he had an older, better-looking cousin. ”

“Um, he did not,” Cassidy answered truthfully, and literally, because Master Asad would never describe anyone as better-looking than him. It seemed that he and his cousin had a similar sense of humor.

“I’m Mason Bahrami, at your service.”

“Mason is our profiler and psychologist, and he also sometimes serves as Claudia’s spotter,” Lincoln said, gesturing to the woman who had hopped down from the counter and come to say hello. She had a wide smile as she held out her hand.

Cassidy had no idea what a spotter was, but she nodded. She could look it up later.

The other woman nudged Mason out of the way with her shoulder, and he smoothly stepped to the side, unperturbed by her literally barging through him. She was petite, several inches shorter than Cassidy, yet she walked with an assurance that Cassidy was used to seeing from the club dominatrixes.

“Claudia Delgado, sniper and wrangler of these twits,” she said cheerfully, taking Cassidy’s hand to shake. “I told them they didn’t have time to finish this before you came back to meet us. Jensen’s been practicing, and he’s lasting a lot longer than he used to. In more ways than one.”

“Claudia!” Shaking his head, the man in the tank top got to his feet as he complained.

He flashed a brilliant smile at Cassidy.

Now that she could see his face, she was pretty sure he was Filipino.

He was very handsome in a boyish way. She would guess he was about her age or maybe a year or two older.

“Jensen Reyes, nice to meet you. Please ignore everything they say about me.”

He winked at her as he held out his hand, and Cassidy found herself smiling back, even though her body didn’t light up the way it had for David.

“And Drew is the last member of my team,” Lincoln said, gesturing at the last man as he was getting to his feet. “He is Patrick’s cousin, so I’m not sure if you’ve met before.”

Cassidy shook her head. They had not, but she could see the similarities between the two. Drew towered over her, easily the tallest person in the room, even without his hair adding to his height. He also had a similar, easy smile as he shook her hand.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Cassidy,” he said in a deep voice that very much reminded her of Patrick.

Huh.

She glanced back and forth between Drew and Asad.

“You both have cousins at Stronghold.” She shook her head in amazement.

“It’s a really small world, sometimes,” Lincoln said, chuckling. “We were surprised when we realized it. Did Patrick or Kincaid explain that we’re all also members of the local club, the Outlands?”

“Yes.” It had been a relief to hear because it lessened the chance of anyone judging her for being kinky. That had been part of the reason she’d felt comfortable coming here.

Of course, Patrick hadn’t said whether they were dominants, submissives, switches, or anything in between, but if there was a single submissive in this room other than her, Cassidy would be shocked.

The whole room fairly sizzled with protective dominant energy, all of it focused on her.

A feeling that was familiar, yet this also felt like more because the people in this room had the training to back it up, and she didn’t have to worry as much about them getting hurt.

Although she still would worry some. She already, immediately, liked all of them, and therefore, she didn’t want any of them to get hurt, but they also seemed a lot less likely to be.

“Any time you want to go, someone from the team will go with you,” Lincoln told her. “Someone is there most of the open nights, anyway. Bunch of perverts.” He said it affectionally, obviously including himself in the grouping.

“Thanks, Head Pervert,” Jensen joked, saluting him and making the others laugh. Cassidy giggled.

“Baby pervert there is who you’ll be staying with,” Lincoln continued, ignoring Jensen’s indignant ‘hey!’ and talking over him. Claudia and Drew both snickered. “Just ignore the flirting and the posturing. Underneath that, he’s a solid guard.”

As if reminded of the seriousness of the situation, Jensen sobered, the smile immediately wiped from his face.

“We’ll take care of you, Cassidy, don’t worry.” The corners of his mouth turned up. “But I’m sure we can find a way to make it fun while we do it.”

“Of course you are,” Mason murmured, giving him a look of fond resignation. Personally, Cassidy wasn’t so sure, but she had to admit it seemed like it might be an actual possibility. If she wasn’t so emotionally drained, she might have cried right then and there from relief.

Which, thankfully, she didn’t because Kincaid joined them a moment later, and she was pretty sure he’d be upset if he’d let her out of his sight only to find her crying a few minutes later.

David

Jensen’s house was in Regent Square, about fifteen minutes outside of downtown.

The houses were big and drafty, the yards were small, and there were still little bakeries, shops, and a park within walking distance.

A lot of young families lived there because of its location.

Drew and Naomi lived about a mile away, easily within walking distance.