Page 27 of Danger and Dominance

Even as the words came out of his mouth, he knew the likely reaction of everyone, and he was not wrong.Drew and Mason both looked at him with pure confusion while Jensen raised his eyebrow with bemusement.

“I’ve had two beers.I think I’m good, although I can have another glass of water if it will make you feel better.”Jensen snickered.“Why, is there a reason you’re extra worried about me tonight, Ginger?”

David scowled at him.

“There’s nothing wrong with being worried when you’re on guard duty.I’m just making sure.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Speaking of, Naomi just texted me,” Drew said, making both Jensen and David turn to look at him.He was staring down at the phone in his hand.“She says Cassidy is going to the Outlands tomorrow.”

Immediately, David frowned, digging in his pocket for his own phone.

“Why didn’t Claudia text me?”

“I’m sure she will.Or Cassidy will tell Jensen when he picks her up.”Drew smirked, his fingers moving over the screen of his phone, texting something back to his wife.“Naomi is telling me because she wanted to let me know that she wants to spend some time with Cassidy tomorrow.”

Which meant Drew needed a heads-up so that he knew he wouldn’t have his wife entirely to himself all evening and could adjust his plans accordingly.He and Naomi were in tune like that.

“Who wants guard duty tomorrow?”Mason asked.“I don’t mind taking it if you all want to go scene.”

David eyed him suspiciously.He’d expected everyone to try to ‘not it’ the duty.Why was Mason volunteering?Did he want to spend more time with Cassidy?Maybe see ifshewould scene with him?That would make it pretty easy to guard her.

Don’t get emotionally or physically involved with the client.

Mason knew the rule as well as David did… but sometimes, rules got broken.Did Mason have an interest in Cassidy that went beyond duty?

“Not me, obviously, although I can do it while she’s talking to Naomi, but we have plans for tomorrow night,” Drew replied, shifting where he was sitting on the couch so he could shove his phone back into his pocket.

“I’d like a break from guard duty, even if I don’t scene,” Jensen admitted.“Cassidy is great, but I was hoping to totally relax tomorrow night.”

“You don’t want to scene?”David asked Mason, doing his best to sound noncommittal rather than suspicious.

“I don’tnotwant to, but…” Mason shrugged.“I don’t know.I haven’t really been feeling it lately.”

“That’s not like you,” Drew said, frowning and twisting to take a closer look at him.David couldn’t help but frown, too.Mason was responsible for keeping the rest of them on an even keel, and he had his own therapist, but if he was struggling, David wanted to know about it.“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”Mason leaned his head back against the couch.“My mom’s been bugging me about finding someone and settling down again lately.”

“That’s not anything new,” David pointed out.Mason’s mom was much more hands-on than any of their mothers.Not that his parents were a good example, but Drew and Jensen both had moms who were involved in their lives.Mason’s mom put them to shame, though, from the stories Mason told.

“Yeah, she suggested doing an arranged marriage since I’m having so much trouble finding a life partner.”

Point in case.

“Holy shit,” Jensen breathed out the words.“You aren’t actually considering that, are you?”

Silence.David sat up, staring at Mason, who was avoiding all of their gazes.Drew looked horrified.Jensen actually had his hand on his chest.If he’d been wearing pearls, he would have been clutching them.

“There is some appeal to it,” Mason admitted.“It’s also not that unheard of.My parents were introduced to each other by their parents, and they worked out great.There’s something to having someone who has known you since birth picking out someone they think would be good for you.”

“But what about the parts of you that they don’t know?”Drew asked.

“Yeah, what if they choose someone vanilla?”Not that vanilla was the worst thing to be, David supposed, but he also couldn’t imagine stopping being kinky just because his parents had chosen someone for him who wasn’t.And his parents definitely would.They’d insist on it, probably, since they’d been so horrified by him being kinky.

“Well, you don’t just meet at the altar; this isn’tMarried at First Sightor whatever.”Mason chuckled.“We’d meet ahead of time.Get to know each other over a few dates and decide if we suit.”

“So, more like90 Day Fiancé.Sorta.”Drew shrugged when they all looked at him.He stretched his arms out and brought them down to rest on the back of the couch.“What?Naomi likes bad reality TV, and it’s hard to tune it out.Some of it’s actually fun to watch.”