“Oh, well, that sounds positive.”
“You don’t know who she expressed interest in.”
“Is he a bad Dom? Do we need to kick him out of the group?”
“No, nothing like that. He’s just”—she searched for the right word—“tough. I’m not sure that’s what Sasha needs.”
But tough with a purpose could be beneficial. “Or it might be exactly what she needs.”
“As long as she’s with someone kind.” Dena smiled. “Jeff can be tough, but I’ve never doubted his inherent kindness.”
“Funny, I normally don’t associate kindness with a Dom, but I think you’re right. At least with Nathaniel. He can be a grade-A ass, but I know inside I’m the most important thing to him.”
She nodded. “That’s what I want for Sasha.”
Sasha was a fortunate woman to have such a good friend in Dena. And Julie was fiercely devoted to her as well. Both women would be needed for support, if and when Sasha rejoined the group. “I’d like to spend some more time with Sasha. Get to know her.”
“I know! I was going to go by their shop this weekend. Why don’t I come by here first and pick you up? We can go together.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said. “I just need to make sure Nathaniel can watch the kids.” We really needed to find a sitter in Delaware. I added that to my mental to-do list.
“Sounds great. Just call me.” She looked at her watch. “I better be going. Jeff and I have a date tonight. He’s taking me to a new bistro. They have fish stew on the menu. With calamari. I don’t know, must be the baby.”
I laughed. “I craved peaches.”
I stood to walk her to the door. I’d wanted to ask her for her opinion about Charlene, to see if I was overreacting, but it wasn’t going to happen today. I felt that it was more important to discuss her concerns about pregnancy. And Sasha was important, too. Especially since Nathaniel would be working in the group to hopefully avoid situations like hers. Compared to that, my problem with Charlene seemed very small.
It was fortunate I had the extra week of work done from the previous weekend, because I found that even though the boxes weren’t around for long, there was still plenty to do. The night after Dena stopped by, I collapsed into the couch in our new living room.
“The kids are in bed,” I announced to Nathaniel. “I’m ready to do nothing for about three hours. Scratch that. Make it thirty.”
He slipped his arm around me and kissed my forehead. “You know, I was thinking. We might need to rethink our position on hiring a nanny. Especially when we’re in Delaware. It’s not like we have Linda nearby to take them.”
I nodded. “The thought’s crossed my mind a few times, too. I think it’s a good idea.”
“We need to decide if we want a live-in or not.”
I thought about the bedroom we were in the process of converting to a playroom. It was almost complete. “Off the top of my head, I’m thinking no live-in. It’s not like we need a babysitter every day.”
“True, but if you had a little help, it’d be easier for you to work on the blog and show.”
“That would be nice.” Those benefits of a live-in would be great. “I just don’t think I’m at the point where I want someone unrelated to us in the house twenty-four/seven.”
“Just think about it. Since I’ll be having a driver take me into the city when we’re here, I don’t want you to be without any nearby help.”
I saw his point. “But someone living here, I just don’t know.”
“We could always start with a scheduled time for someone to come by either every day or most days. See how that goes. Then if it works for all of us and we need to, we could look into a live-in situation.”
I nodded. “I like that idea.”
“You want to ask around and see if you can get a few names? Then we can schedule some time for us to interview some people?”
“I know you’ll be at home most days, but I don’t want to set up a time that’s not good for you.”
He stood up and held out a hand to me, and pulled me up to stand in front of him when I took it. “Whatever you set up, I’ll make work,” he said.
Damn, he looked so good. He was wearing soft cotton lounge pants and nothing else. I ran my hands over his chest. “That’s very accommodating of you.”
He gave me a sultry smile and pressed against me. “I pride myself on being extremely accommodating where you’re concerned.”
“Is that right?” I slid my hand down to cup his ass. “Maybe I should return the favor. How can I accommodate you?”
“Why don’t you go upstairs and slip into something more comfortable?”
“Why would I go all the way up to our room? I can be accommodating here.” After nearly two weeks of no sex, if he was hinting what I thought he was, I didn’t want to waste a minute.
“Shh.” He put a finger to my lips. “Upstairs.”
If going upstairs meant I’d get sex, I’d go upstairs. I huffed so he knew I wasn’t thrilled about having to change before we did anything, and started upstairs. He didn’t move.
I looked over my shoulder. “You coming?”
Mischief danced in his eyes. “I’ll be up shortly.”
“Don’t wait too long.”
I walked up the stairs and down the hall to our bedroom, all the while thinking he must have something in mind. Normally, he was all over spontaneous sex. The fact that he wasn’t tonight told me there was something going on.
I walked into the bedroom and my mouth went dry at the sight of my nightstand.
Usually bare except for a lamp, it now also had my black leather collar on top.
Yes.
After our first trip to Wilmington, we’d decided to make a few changes. Up until then, we’d only been playing about once a month. Compared to how often I wore his collar before the kids, it felt like a rare occurrence and we both agreed we weren’t fully satisfied. Now I wore his collar every weekend, with necessary low-protocol times built in because of the day-to-day routines with the children. With the move and settling in, he hadn’t collared me yet this weekend.
But one of the other things we’d agreed to was the ability for one of us to ask for playtime during the week. Nathaniel’s method for letting me know he wanted to move into our Dominant/submissive roles was to place my collar on my nightstand.