Page 50 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

Cassidy

Claudia’s impromptu birthday party was held at her favorite restaurant, the House of Starrett.

It was a pretty standard restaurant with a fairly ornate wooden bar, which was where everyone had gathered to celebrate Claudia.

The carpet was blue and green, and the walls were wood until about halfway up where they met the wainscotting, then there was blue wallpaper on the upper half, which matched the blue in the carpet.

The servers wore green shirts with black pants.

It was a normal restaurant.

But the bartender was completely weirding her out.

He looked exactly like Shane, the bartender from Marquis.

Same height, same build, and same face. Same bald head, same salt and pepper goatee. Same neutral expression and brisk efficiency as he served people.

David brought her up to the bar to order her drink, and she couldn’t help it.

“Shane?” she asked when he looked up at them.

He blinked.

“No, I’m Seamus.” Different name but the same voice, though the inflection was a little different. Which was also freaky.

“Oh… sorry. You look exactly like someone I know.”

“Shane’s my twin. What do you want to drink?”

“Um, whiskey sour, please,” she said.

“Blue Moon,” David replied right after her, his hand still resting protectively on the small of her back. Seamus nodded and immediately turned away to get to work.

Apparently, Shane was chattier than Seamus, which Cassidy would not have thought possible.

She hadn’t even known Shane had a twin. Then again, Shane was known for not talking very much about himself, though he was a good listener.

Part of her wondered if Shane had actually been sent up from Marquis to keep an eye on her in the city, like maybe he was some kind of secret assassin now masquerading as his twin, but then he reached into a glass on his side of the bar and picked something up, popping it into his mouth.

It only took a quick glance for her to see that the little bowl he’d just reached into was full of candy corn.

That clinched it.

Definitely not Shane. Everyone knew Shane hated candy corn.

Unless this was part of his ruse to make it seem like he wasn’t actually Shane.

Oh my God, Cassidy, stop.

Though it was kind of nice to know her brain could spiral about things other than fatal threats and death.

They got their drinks and walked away. She was just going to keep her back to Seamus for the night.

Seeing a Shane doppelganger was just too weird.

Weren’t identical twins supposed to still have some physical differences?

Because if that really was Shane’s twin and not Shane himself, they looked more like clones.

And why had Shane never mentioned a twin?

David led her over to rejoin the group. Claudia was dressed up in a little black dress, her hair completely down for once, so Cassidy could see it nearly reached her waist. She’d even put on a little makeup.

For someone who had insisted she didn’t want to come out and make her birthday a big deal, she looked like she’d put some effort into it.

“It’s still weird seeing you in a dress,” David said as he sat Cassidy down at the table next to Claudia, shaking his head.

He stood behind Cassidy. They almost had enough chairs for everyone, but not quite, so several of the men were standing.

Mostly the Black Fox men. Ian was seated on the other side of Claudia, Manuel next to him.

On Cassidy’s other side was Naomi, with Drew standing behind her, talking to Mason, who was standing next to him.

Jennifer and Yasmine were at the end of the table, with an empty chair between Jennifer and Manuel, which Cassidy could only assume was for Ashley, though she hadn’t seen her yet.

“Great, weird is exactly what I was going for,” Claudia said dryly.

“You look beautiful,” Ian chimed in immediately. “David is just so besotted with Cassidy, he’s blind to all other’s beauty.”

“You, shut up. You’re making me want to drink more.” As if to prove her point, Claudia lifted her glass to her lips, taking a long sip… but Cassidy felt almost sure that she saw the ends of Claudia’s lips curl up in a smile before she covered her mouth.

Maybe Claudia wasn’t as immune to Ian’s compliments as she wanted everyone to think. Or maybe Cassidy was imagining things.

“Why don’t you like your birthday?” she asked Claudia. Some women didn’t like being reminded that they were getting older—Cassidy had a feeling she was going to celebrate every year she was still alive after this one fervently—but Claudia didn’t seem the type for that.

Claudia shrugged. “It’s not like I did anything. If anyone should be getting presents today, it’s my mom for doing all the hard labor to get me here.”

“She’s got a point,” Manuel chimed in. “Mama says Claudia was a much more difficult birth than me. I was nice and easy. Which is why Mama should be celebrated on Claudia’s birthday, and I should be celebrated on mine for making it easier on her.”

“You were easier because you were the second one out,” Claudia retorted. “And ‘easier’ doesn’t mean ‘easy.’ You did nothing to get here, either.”

As the siblings fell to bickering, Cassidy couldn’t help but laugh and look around.

With the entire Black Fox team here, she was feeling a lot more relaxed than she would have thought possible, being out in a bar.

She was surrounded by protectors. It was hard to feel uneasy when there was a literal wall of highly trained muscle on every side of her.

Jennifer and Yasmine had their heads together, and they kept looking over at the bar. Cassidy followed their gazes and spotted Jensen there with Mick, talking to two women. Very attractive women who were obviously hanging out together and were dressed to impress.

No, not talking.

Flirting. Definitely flirting.

As she watched, Jensen turned slightly toward the pair and flexed his bicep. They both touched it and reacted. Cassidy didn’t need to be within earshot to know they were squealing.

She glanced back at Jennifer, who was now scowling and staring down at her phone.

Yikes.

Poor Jennifer. And Jensen.

Poor Jens.

Now, it was her turn to use her glass to cover her mouth so no one could see her laughing. She didn’t want to have to explain why. They didn’t need any more scrutiny.

An arm slid around her waist, David pressing up against her from behind. He was turned sideways from where she was, his palm splayed out across her ribs while he chatted with Drew. It felt both protective and like a claiming. She liked it. A lot.

David

Celebrating Claudia with his whole team and his girl felt better than he could have ever imagined. Cassidy fit right in. With his team. With his life. With him. It was the last thing he’d expected when she’d come to Pittsburgh, but he had decided to be grateful for it.

She leaned back against him as she laughed at something Claudia said, and he stroked his thumb over her ribs.

Fully relaxed, fully in the moment, and enjoying herself, this was the life she was supposed to be living.

He was going to do whatever he had to do in order to preserve that for her.

In this case, the right thing didn’t coincide with the lawful thing, but he wasn’t going to let her end up like Tasha or worse.

The back of his jeans buzzed, his phone vibrating from a call. Letting go of Cassidy, he reached back to pull it out and check to see who was calling, fully intending to let it go to voicemail, but it was Audrey.

Leaning down, he spoke in Cassidy’s ear.

“My sister is calling; I’m going to step outside to see what she needs. Drew will keep an eye on you.”

Beaming, Cassidy turned her head to him, her drink in one hand, her fingers of the other holding her straw in place.

“Okay. I’ll be here.” She giggled. Yeah, she might be a little tipsy. Smiling, David gave her a quick kiss before straightening up.

“I’m going outside to take this,” he told Drew. “Keep an eye on Cassidy for me.”

“Can do, boss.” Drew gave him an abbreviated salute, grinning widely. Since David was leaving, he immediately leaned over to hear what the women in front of them were talking about.

Even though he knew his team would take care of Cassidy, he couldn’t help but scan the bar for threats as he made his way to the front door of the restaurant.

Nothing stood out to him, and no one even seemed to be watching the group except the odd bartender Cassidy had questioned, who glanced over at them now and then, which didn’t mean anything.

David wasn’t sure if he’d met the man before.

He didn’t usually pay too much attention to who was behind the bar unless it was someone he already knew.

They didn’t come here often enough for him to feel like he knew who all the bartenders were.

They tended to gather at the Outlands instead.

Obviously, Claudia hadn’t wanted to do that tonight with her brother and Ian.

He couldn’t blame her.

Stepping out into the evening air, which was sultry and warm, David quickly called Audrey back. He’d taken long enough that it had gone to voicemail while he’d been making his way out. She picked up immediately.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Well, hello to you, too.”

David sighed. He knew she was fucking with him, but she would just take it even further if he didn’t respond correctly. Siblings.

“Hello, Audrey, how are you?”

“I’m great! Things are moving forward with the bakery, but I have a favor to ask.”

“Anything,” he said immediately, making her laugh.

“You shouldn’t speak so soon, you might regret it,” she teased.

“I’m going to be coming to Pittsburgh in two weeks to check out some of the apartment buildings I’ve been looking at online and also to oversee a few things with the renovation for the bakery.

The contractor has been sending me updates, but I want to see it in person before making final decisions. ”