Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
“And only lets them out when she feels safe,” Steele added.
“Since when are you more insightful than me?” he complained.
Steele grinned. And Grady realized this was the deepest conversation they’d had in a long time. For the last year, it had felt like Steele was pulling away. Not on purpose. Not because he didn’t care. But because life had become a pit of nothing . . . and Grady understood that. He’d felt that for a long time.
But now Steele was coming back. He’d smiled more in the last few weeks than he had in the year before.
And that was because of Effie.
Grady could kiss her just because of that.
Steele turned to look at him. “We’ve shared women, but only for sex.”
Fuck.
He grew tense. Was he going to warn Grady off? Say that he wanted her to himself?
“I don’t want to lose someone else,” Steele said suddenly. His voice was stark. “Not after Jacqui.”
Was he going to give up before he’d tried?
“Haven’t lost you, though,” Steele murmured.
Okay, now it was getting hard to breathe.
“I can look after myself.” Fuck, what was he doing? Was he trying to talk Steele out of this?
Steele eyed him. “Yeah. And she won’t be able to do that.”
“So we work harder to protect her. More rules.”
Steele’s lips turned up at that. “More rules. You think we can keep her safe?”
“If we work together. If you’re willing to share.”
Surprise filled the other man’s face. “You think I’d take her for myself? Grady, you called me four times looking for her.”
“And you didn’t pick up once, asshole.”
“You called her three times.”
Grady swallowed heavily.
“You’re telling me you’d walk away from her if I decided I wanted her for myself?”
Would he? He loved Steele. But he couldn’t stand it if he was on the side-lines, looking in.
“If I walked, I’d keep walking.”
Steele’s eyes flared. He got what he was saying. He’d lose Grady for good.
“Good thing I don’t want her all to myself then, isn’t it?” Steele told him.
Relief filled him.
“But we both agree this is more than just sex.”
“I want to fuck her,” Steele said, sipping on his next drink. “But I want to pull her into my arms and cuddle her more. When I think about her, sure, I might think about how amazing her tits look or how much I want to squeeze that ass. Especially when she’s riding my cock. But mostly, I want to make sure she’s looked after. That she’s got enough to eat, that she’s warm and not in pain. And now, I also want to know what she’s like when she enters Little space. What age she might regress to. If she’s ever had a Daddy.”
Fuck. His feelings were deeper for her than Grady had realized.
Which was both good and bad. Because if all of this turned to shit . . .
You just have to make sure that it won’t.
“We probably shouldn’t spring this on her too quickly,” he warned.
Steele shot him a look. “What?”
“She’s our employee. We already have a position of power. Especially as she needs this job. We don’t want her saying yes, thinking that she has to in order to keep her job.”
“One way of fixing that problem.”
Grady pointed at him. “No. You cannot do that to her.” He knew precisely how Steele thought he could get rid of that problem.
By firing her.
“Why should she have to work? We can take care of her.”
“You are not that dense, so don’t pretend that you are.”
“I like to get my own way,” Steele said.
“Believe me, I know. But if we start something with her, then we do it right. Take it slow. Ease her in. Think about it from her perspective. We’re her bosses. We’re both Dominants. And there are two of us. That’s not normal to most people. We’ll have to make sure we’re on the same page when it comes to her.”
“We’re always on the same page,” Steele said.
They were. There was a sense of safety in that.
“If she’s important, then we should take it slow. Be careful. Make sure she really is it.”
Steele was quiet for a long time. “Never thought I’d be in a relationship. Being in one with you . . . that feels right. She feels right. But yes, I’ll be careful and go slow. Well, what’s slow for me.”
Grady thought that was likely the best he’d get.
“We’re really doing this,” he murmured. “Together.”
“Did you really think we’d do it apart?”
Grady hadn’t. Mostly because he’d never thought to find someone special to him. Someone who wasn’t Steele.
And he never thought Steele would want someone after Jacqui died.
Poor Effie, she didn’t know what the hell was headed her way with the two of them.
Steele could be extremely protective. And Grady . . . well, he liked his order and control.
So yeah . . . they’d both need to be careful and go slow.