Page 6

Merritt

“I just think an audience would’ve added spice that we don’t need in our lives.” Pierce said it with a completely straight face as he shrugged, but I’d have never been able to pull it off. “I think one of those dirty old men is into voyeurism.”

He was insane…but he might’ve been right.

“I didn’t ask about spice or kinks.” He made me say the most ridiculous things in conversations. “I asked what you thought about how safe eating there was.”

I wasn’t sure what someone had done but there was no way everyone was naturally that into oversharing.

“That’s what I answered.” Still looking serious and like he was slightly confused, Pierce frowned. “Spice can be dangerous for your health.”

“I’m not mainlining ghost peppers. I want someone else to make me pancakes and cake.” Duh.

He finally cracked and the barest grin peeked out. “So you’re going to the naughty men to be naughty too?”

How did he make every conversation dirty?

Well, every conversation as an adult.

“They have fruit on them.” As long as I asked for them that way. “And I have protein too.”

Because they had the best bacon and I was not going to question why it was so good. I might have to add more time to my workouts, though.

“I’m not going to make the fruity joke. It’s too easy.” Again, his straight face was going to make me throw something at him.

“How are you this ridiculous?” Glaring at him only made him smile wider, which was really the only reason I did it. “Aren’t lawyers supposed to be boring?”

The ones I’d met in the past had been boring or crooked…Pierce was neither.

He shrugged, not offended at all as he went back to giving me his boring face. “I’ll be boring when you drag me back to the diner to get your naughty fix.”

I was not an exhibitionist.

At least, I didn’t think I was.

Ugh.

“You’re going to feel really bad if in a year or two we figure out I really was looking for a kink fix.” A sexy knky fix. I was finishing up my naughty dessert fix at the moment and had no regrets about the mile-high chocolate cake. “Then I’ll expect you to grovel very nicely.”

A laugh boomed out of him which made my heart beat faster…he was just that sexy when he was happy. “No. You’ll expect me to find a club for you to visit at that point.”

Maybe.

“I’m from a small town and I visit other small towns on a regular basis. I’m pretty sure the Walmart parking lot has more businesses than my entire town back home.” Not that I really minded that, but it hadn’t left me a lot of time to explore.

Thank the dragons above for the internet.

His smirk said he wasn’t worried about my past or what I might want to explore in the future. “You’ll keep me on my toes, I’m sure.”

He was remarkably unfazed about finding his mate.

“You’re very accepting of all of this.” It was nice but admittedly weird. “I kind of expected more drama from this kind of meeting.”

Instead of answering me, he took us off on a slight tangent. “So you’re the type that had to go over every meeting possibility too?”

We were so well matched it was kind of scary.

“And if I was?” Playing coy just got another smile from him. “What was your favorite way to imagine finding your mate?”

That had his head cocking and him looking thoughtful and adorable. “Well, in my teenage years and high school in general, I kept thinking he’d walk past me in the hallway and we’d have some kind of teen rom-com moment.”

Aww.

That must’ve shown on my face because his sexy glare got worse. “I’m sharing this with my mate for factual purposes and to make sure you know I’m not insane.”

That was questionable.

“Got it. Facts and no sharing.” That was obvious but I knew he’d probably like hearing it. “My mate is a grumpy lawyer if anyone asks.”

And they’d ask.

Everyone in town was going to ask.

“Thank you.” Looking honestly pleased with the description, he settled back into storytelling mode, which was very close to his Daddy side. “College years, I progressed to finding you in a café when I was studying.”

In other words, my serious-looking mate had a thing for rom-coms and Hallmark movies.

“Then I kept expecting you to show up through my work.” Frowning, he leaned back in the booth and studied me. “Everyone else I knew was finding their mates at school or work but I never expected to find you at a wedding reception.”

Oh, his brain was running circles on how totally Hallmark that meeting was, but I was a wonderful mate and didn’t point that out.

“Well, I’m just glad I didn’t have to save your life to find you.” It was my turn to shrug as he chuckled. “I’ve always had much more dramatic images about how we’d meet.”

Savior complex? Who me?

Wait.

“You know…I’m hoping you didn’t just tell me you were hoping that I got arrested and needed a lawyer.”

His smirk said he’d realized that.

Someone else had a savior complex too, but at least he couldn’t get pissed at mine if he had one as well.

“I might’ve thought of a few ways you would’ve appreciated me saving you.” Wicked sparkles showed in his eyes. “But only with my mate. Period.”

I wasn’t sure if that made it better or not, but it seemed like the fates had made a good decision by introducing us in a public place…neither of our fantasies could’ve been trusted in private.

“I believe that.” I also believed that he’d have enjoyed it too.

My mate looked stern but he had a wicked imagination…and a romantic one…but from what I’d seen, that seemed to come out most when I was little.

“Thank you.” Looking slightly less naughty lawyer and more sweet Daddy, he glanced down at my nearly empty plate. “All done?”

Nodding, I pushed the last few bites away. “Yes. Dinner was really good and I’m full.”

He’d found a great place with what had to be homemade chicken strips and probably fries as well. I wasn’t quite at the rolling home level, but if I ate any more, I would be. “It’s definitely a do again if we have another date night here.”

Oh.

We both sighed at the same time, which got a laugh from me. “So did you just think about the practical side of what would happen next too?”

“Yes.” He didn’t seem to have appreciated it either. “I’m not ready to dive into that yet, unless you are?”

Immediately shaking my head got a smile from him and seemed to make him worry less as he continued. “I don’t think we have enough information yet to make any decisions. Besides, we’ve got all the stuff we came here to figure out and I know I’m here for at least another week, so we’ll be able to come back.”

Pausing, he lifted his glass. “What about you?”

Assuming he meant my plans, I charged into that explanation. “I technically took a month’s leave of absence because I wasn’t sure what would happen here and I wanted to give myself time for a break. Work has been stressful and something has been pushing at me.”

The chances of me going back were slim to none and my boss had realized that too.

“That feeling of something is going to happen or more of a you need to be somewhere else?” Pierce, thankfully, took it seriously.

“A bit of both but more of the latter.” It’d been like an itch under my skin that I couldn’t quite scratch. “I think that was one of the reasons why it was so easy when we met. That pushing stopped and I felt the most relaxed I’d been in months.”

Probably longer.

My family hadn’t been receptive to my moving or even traveling for a while. They were comfortable homebodies and didn’t see any reason to leave. They’d thoroughly buried their heads in the sand about the whole thing, which had made it harder all around.

Reaching out, Pierce stroked over the back of my hand. “I’m glad you’re feeling better. You’d seemed stressed but I thought it was because of your job when you talked about that.”

“It was a mix of things, really. Family stress and work and that push. The combination was exhausting.” The mention of family had his head cocking. “They’re not weird about me being gay or anything like that, but everyone in our family stays put and lives ten miles away tops.”

He winced. “That would be a bit too close for me.”

I had to agree with him and my nod made him chuckle. “It is. Especially with being little and needing to decompress from work. There’s always someone around and I’ve nearly been walked in on playing a dozen times just in the past month.”

“Why?” Pierce’s thoughtful expression came back. “Do they visit that often?”

“Not usually but me talking about leaving made every relative nuts. People I only see a handful of times a year stopped by and everyone kept thinking they could just walk in.” I laughed as his eyes went wide. “My grandparents and my parents have always had an open-door policy. I think because they were all that boring, but everyone just assumes they can walk into any house now.”

Pierce’s expression said he appreciated locks and privacy. “Um, do we need to add that to a list of things we need to talk about?”

He was adorable.

“No. I believe in locked doors and knocking.” His relieved expression made me fight to keep a straight face. “But every time I tried to have playtime or just color and watch a cartoon, someone showed up.”

“And didn’t appreciate a locked door, I imagine.” My sigh had one side of his mouth lifting up in a smirk. “Yes. That would not make relaxing easy. It’s no wonder you were so ready to let go.”

Oh yes.

“Did you mind?” Before he could do more than frown at me, I shook my head. “You didn’t give that impression, but it just occurred to me that I threw myself into my little side without actually talking to you about it first.”

I should’ve realized that sooner, but in my defense, it’d been the most relaxing couple of hours I’d experienced in months.

Longer possibly.

Looking less frustrated, he shook his head. “No. I was glad you already understood the lifestyle and our first meeting wasn’t going to be me explaining why I liked making so many decisions.”

I tried not to laugh but some escaped. It got me a glare and a slightly rueful smile from him. “I take it you’ve had dates go badly because of that?”

I didn’t expect him to have been a monk and I was going to do my best not to be weird about his past. He gave me a curious expression, though, which made me wonder what he was thinking. “I’ve dated casually but not as much as you might be thinking. I’ve also played at a few clubs to figure out what I was looking for in BDSM. But I’ve never had a long-term partner of my own because I knew my mate was out there somewhere.”

My romantic Daddy.

“I’ve met people waiting for their mates who ended up really unhappy people when it took longer than they expected, so I tried not to let myself get worried about what my mate might be doing.” Dragons especially—some I’d met had ended up miserable creatures in every sense of the word. “I’ve focused my thoughts on hoping you were happy and that you’d know how to be a good kisser when we met.”

Barely holding back a laugh, he lifted one eyebrow. “Got slobbered on in high school?”

“Yes.” Scrunching up my face got a laugh from him. “It was…uncomfortable.”

Almost giggling, he stretched his legs out under the table and gave me a pleased as fuck expression. “I take it I passed muster?”

So much confidence in one body.

“Yes.” If I’d known him for longer, I might’ve teased him, but we’d technically known each other for only a few hours and most of that he’d been playing cars with me and reading me a story. So I played nice. “I was very glad about that too.”

Oh yes, he liked that answer.

“I’m glad I passed.” His wicked grin was back. “We’ll have to see what other topics you want to test out…at your pace, of course.”

I was getting the impression he didn’t need any kind of pace except fast.

“We need to take yours into consideration as well.” I’d let him talk me into quite a lot if that was what he wanted. “But yes, I can think of a few more places that might need kisses…just to test you, of course.”

He couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to laugh or reach across the table and do something wicked to me. I approved but I also tried to be patient as he worked his way through his thoughts…and got control of his barely restrained snickers. “That’s a very reasonable course of action.”

He was thoroughly enjoying teasing me.

I decided I probably didn’t need to ask his opinion on edging.

But I could think of one question I wanted to ask. “My place or yours?”