Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
JT frowned. “I run an oil company. You think I don’t get my share of trolls? Hell, I’ve had feds up my ass making sure I dot every I, cross every T and save every turtle in the ocean since I was a kid. Living a blameless life in the age of social media doesn’t exist. Every single one of us is guilty in someone’s head.”
Put like that, it made sense. Kai had talked around and around about how people didn’t connect anymore and the anonymity of the Internet. He’d gone on about societal dysfunction. “Huh, I guess that sucks for you.”
JT nodded. “Sucks for you, too. Ain’t gonna stop living because of it.”
Jared felt his spirits lift. “No. That would be giving in.”
Kai stared at him for a moment. “Are you fucking kidding me? I just said that to you not an hour ago and you had no response.”
That wasn’t the way he remembered the conversation. “No, you said something about disaffected loners and the isolating cost of something. JT said it sucks and I shouldn’t give in. He’s right.”
Kai’s jaw tensed and he shook his head. “I’m so glad you’re pretty.”
Jared grinned. “See, I know you all think that’s an insult, but I’m okay with it. I’m very comfortable being attractive. You can be the smart one.” He felt better because it was good to remember that everyone had these problems and they somehow got through it, but he wasn’t sure he had the right to drag Sarah into them. “I still don’t know what to do about Sarah.”
“Sarah?” JT asked. “The pretty lady who wears the pinup dresses and runs around with Kori? I’m going to be honest. I wouldn’t hate for her to turn out to be Sweetie.”
Oh, hell no. “She’s not your sub. She’s mine.”
JT put his hands up, taking a short step back that made Jared wonder how aggressive he was being. “Hey, no problem. But I thought we didn’t know who our subs are. Isn’t that the whole point of this thing? We get matched up and see if it works after we go into it with no set expectations. You sound like you have a lot of expectations.”
He'd had a ton of them. “I expected to walk away with Sarah. Now I think I should tell her good-bye. She doesn’t need this shit in her life.”
“She’s stronger than you’re giving her credit for,” Kai argued. “Let her make the choice.”
“How did you know you would get Sarah?” JT asked.
That was the simplest question of all. He’d cheated. “Because Kai does the matching and he knows I love her. I’ve loved her for a long time and this is probably our last shot. Now that I’m about to go out there and see if she chooses me, I realize I’m not letting her choose me. I’m lying to her. I’m manipulating things and sneaking around to get her. I’m playing dirty.”
“Sometimes you have to,” JT said. “Look, man, if you love her, do what you have to do, but you started this for a reason. Why did you decide to go this route?”
“Because she wouldn’t talk to me.”
JT frowned. “So you decided to be a stalker. That’s generally frowned upon in this day and age.”
“He’s not a stalker.” Kai defended him for the second time that day. “Sarah agreed to be paired with a compatible Dom. Jared is absolutely who I would put her with. She’s a difficult placement. She needs a very indulgent Dom, one who takes the lifestyle seriously when they’re playing and not at all when they’re not. Jared is more than willing to let her take the lead in certain aspects of their lives. He also is capable of putting his foot down when she needs him to, and she is capable of doing the same for him. They would make an excellent married couple. I have no hesitations putting them together. That is exactly what Sarah signed up for. The only shady shit I’ve pulled is to let Jared know it’s her. I had to do that or he wouldn’t have participated.”
“I wouldn’t have.” There was no other woman he wanted to see, no relationship he wished to get a feel for. There was only her, and it had been that way for a long time. “She’s the only reason I’m in this club. I won’t say I haven’t played. I belong to a club in Malibu and I’ve done my duty. But there’s been nothing sexual. I haven’t so much as kissed a woman since I met Sarah.”
“Okay, I can understand that.” JT turned to face Kai. “What about me and Sweetie? Why did you pair us up? Because you think we’re a perfect couple?”
Kai went tense again. “I think you are very compatible right now.”
JT’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”