Page 43 of Danger and Dominance

Cassidy

Cassidy missed friends.

To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t like she’d beenbestfriends with any of the Stronghold girls.They’d all been welcoming, happy to include her, and watching out for her… but it had been more like they’d been protecting her, and she’d been worried as hell she was going to get one of them hurt.

So, it made her feel a little bad to know that what she was really missing was what they could do for her.

Namely, she wanted someone to talk to about last night.

With David.

Who had given her a mind-blowing orgasm, cuddled the fuck out of her, then put her in Jensen’s car without a second glance.To say she was confused was putting it mildly.Yes, they’d said it would be platonic before the scene even started, but…

But then, it hadn’t felt very platonic.

Then he’d held her like he cared.Though, from the way his cock had been pressed against her the whole time, maybe it had just been arousal?

Her instincts were telling her that he’d been as into her as she was into him.

She didn’t trust her instincts anymore, though.Not since Don.

A third party to talk things out with would be really helpful right now.Unfortunately, she didn’t have a therapy appointment until Monday.

Sighing, she forced herself to get out of bed and go downstairs, wondering if Jensen or Mick would be there.Probably not Mick; it was after the time when he said he’d be going to the farmer’s market this morning… Jensen had said he was going to go help him set up, and he’d be back after.Someone was supposed to be downstairs to guard her until he did.She just didn’t know who.

Maybe it would be Claudia.

“Hello?”she called out as she went down the stairs, trying not to feel too much like she was in a horror movie.There was no reason to think that she was going to walk downstairs and find her guard in a puddle of blood, then be grabbed from behind by Don.No reason at all.

Thanks, brain.

“Good morning!”Jensen called out from the front room.Cassidy walked over to see him lying across the couch, yawning and rubbing his eyes.“You’re up.”

“I’m up.Are you up?”She couldn’t help but tease him; he’d obviously come back from helping Mick set up, then fallen right back asleep.

“I’m up.Sort of.”He groaned, not quite making it to sitting and falling right back down.“If you need me, I’ll be up.”

“You’re fine.”Since he wasn’t on the couch in a puddle of blood with a slit throat, Cassidy had every confidence that if Don did come barging into the house—somehow bypassing all the security systems—Jensen would be up immediately.“I wasn’t sure you’d be here.”

“Ah, well, I helped load up the car, then when David got here, he said it made more sense for him to go help Mick than for me to leave and come back since he had to be out and about, anyway.”

“Oh… that makes sense.”Cassidy tried to decide how she was feeling at hearing that David was supposed to be her guard this morning but had opted out of it.If he was already going to be out and doing things, then it probably did make sense.So, there was no reason to feel disappointed that he hadn’t stayed.She’d been asleep, anyway; she wouldn’t have even known.She gave her head a little shake.“I’m going to go eat some breakfast.Are you hungry?”

“No, thanks, I grabbed a brownie this morning when I was helping load the truck.”Jensen yawned again, throwing his arm over his face to shade his eyes from the light that was coming in from the big window at the front of the house.The couch he was on faced away from it, but there was still a fair amount of light coming into the room.

Amused, Cassidy wandered back to the kitchen.

She had to admit, Jensen’s relaxed stance made her feel more confident, too.Sure, he felt safe here because it was his house, but his house also came with reinforced windows, a top-of-the-line security system, and he himself was deadly.Cassidy was still learning how to defend herself, but she was determined to get better.

The kitchen was empty and clean.Last night it had been full of containers of baked goods, but she hadn’t eaten any.Hopefully, Mick wouldn’t sell out, and she’d get a chance to eat some later.Or she could make her own.

Maybe if she had a good job interview today.

She glanced at the clock on the oven.Oh, wow.She’d slept later than she’d meant to.There were only a couple of hours before she needed to be there.Which meant she needed to eat, get dressed, and get herself together, especially because this was a job she actually wanted.She needed to make a good impression.

If she didn’t get it, she didn’t get it, and she’d keep trying for one of the other jobs, but she also needed to know that she’d put her best foot forward.

Okay.