Yeah, Tate wasn’t the most aware of the Doms. “Uh, I had a client murdered on my table, so yeah, it’s been a shitty couple of days.”
Tate’s gorgeous green eyes went wide. “Seriously? That sucks, dude.”
And he called her dude. “Yep. It sucked. For me and him. Probably more for him.” Especially since Stan’s death led her to an awesome spanking and the first orgasm of the last several years. Though it had led her to inevitable heartache as well. And two Doms who would be pissed that she’d snuck out. “Hey, have you seen a set of twins hanging around?”
Hopefully they had moved on to something past her apartment. Now that she was standing here, she was wondering if she hadn’t made a bad choice.
Tate stopped, his sensual mouth hanging open. “Uh, no. But really, some dude died? God, the way Gretchen was talking I thought you were freaking out over a hangnail or something. Are you okay? Hey, if you need to talk, I’m here. And what was up with you and the tourist last night? Damn, Nat. I really thought you would come to me.”
His whole body had gone into sad-puppy mode. Tate was that Dom who only went into Dom mode when he had a pair of leathers on. In the past, he was exactly what she would have wanted in a Dom partner. He was the dude who wanted to slap an ass on a Saturday night and on Sunday have his girlfriend tell him what they were doing.
He was a little like Ben. Well, not totally. Ben would never be happy giving up control, but he could handle it. Chase would be a challenge. Why the hell did she suddenly need both? “Tate, we’re friends.”
His lower lip came out in a sexy little pout. He put a hand on her shoulder. “I want to be more.”
She’d been avoiding this for months. “I thought you were working with Gretchen.”
Gretchen was crazy about Tate. Gretchen had been subbing for him since the first night he’d started work a couple of months back. She wasn’t wearing his collar, but that didn’t matter to Gretchen. She was head over heels, and Nat wasn’t about to screw that up even if she had been interested in the Dom. Tate was gorgeous in an all-American surfer way. He didn’t have anything on Chase and Ben. Chase with his insanely hot geek intelligence and Ben’s soulfulness. Why would she look at Tate when she couldn’t get them out of her head? Even when they were really pissed at her in her head.
“Gretchen is a nice girl, but I’ve made it plain that we’re not really compatible. I’ve tried, but the chemistry isn’t there, you know. I talked to Gaby the other day about trying to find her a permanent Dom. I like play, you know that, but I need a real partner.”
She felt a sudden need to defend her friend. “Gretchen could be a partner.”
Tate shook his head. “She can’t. She wants to be a slave, Nat.”
Nat nearly shuddered at the word. The whole idea of being a slave, turning over her power now seemed foreign to her. She’d never been a slave. A sub, yes. It was in her nature to submit in some aspects of her life. But she knew what true slavery was, and the thought sickened her. “Gretchen isn’t like that.”
Gretchen knew what it meant, too. She’d been with Hawk the longest. She’d been with him before he’d decided to go butt-fuck crazy and steal women to serve him.
Tate’s hand trailed along her arm. “I don’t know that she tells you everything, honey. Gretchen has some secrets. And I can’t help it. She’s not my type. You are. Nat, come on. Let me help you. You need a man. I can make your life easier. That guy from last night was just a tourist.”
“Tourist?” A sarcastic voice broke through the quiet afternoon. Nat grimaced because she knew that voice. Chase. “I assure you I’m a citizen of this particular country. You’re the fucking tourist, little boy. Get a green card. Fucking baby Dom.”
Maybe she hadn’t exactly thought this whole plan of action out. Ben followed his brother and they both had identical pissed-off expressions—furrowed brows, dark eyes, sensual mouths that turned down and might grow fangs at any moment. They weren’t slightly annoyed with her little show of rebellion. There was a volcano underneath those men just waiting to go off.
And she could stop the explosion. Sure, she’d been caught sneaking out of the last place they’d put her, and they’d found her talking to another Dom. It wasn’t logical because she didn’t really belong to them so she shouldn’t have to follow their rules, and they shouldn’t care if another Dom horned in on her.
But there was absolutely nothing logical about any of this.
Tate proved he could do the alpha male thing without the aid of leathers. He puffed up, pushing Nat behind him as she tried to come up with the best way to soothe the savage Dawson beasts. Tate seemed intent on taunting them. “I don’t think you two belong here. This is the private employee quarters. You can get the fuck out or I can take you out myself.”
Ben was the reasonable one. He stepped forward, and Nat nearly sighed with relief. Ben would calm everyone down. “Yeah, you and what fucking army, asshole?”
Nat rolled her eyes. So much for Ben’s reason.
Chase smiled, obviously enjoying the skirmish. “I don’t think the baby Dom can add. One plus one is going to equal you getting your ass kicked. I don’t think baby brother here has killed anyone in a while.”
“A couple weeks,” Ben replied, his grin turning predatory. “But I shot that asshole. It’s been a long time since I killed anyone with my bare hands.”
“Far too long,” Chase sighed as though they were discussing Ben missing his favorite TV show.
“You two stop trying to scare him.” Nat tried to move out from behind Tate.
“Your input isn’t welcome, sweetness,” Chase said, turning that frown on her. “Would you like to explain to me why you’re not where I left you? I believe my instructions were specific.”
“You aren’t her Dom.” Tate moved in front of her again, keeping himself between her and the twins. “You don’t talk to her that way.”
Ben’s face flushed. He took a step toward Tate. “Natalie, if you want to avoid me putting my fist through this asshole’s face, you’ll stop cowering behind him.”
“Cowering?” Nat was well aware she sounded completely shrill.
“If you aren’t cowering, then he’s keeping you from us,” Chase mused. “I don’t think I like that. Do you, Benjamin?”
Fuck, this was going to go really bad really fast. She looked around and sure enough, everyone was watching the current episode of As the Dungeon Turns play out right there in the courtyard. Cal was watching, his eyes narrowed, and any minute he was going to get involved and then everything would go straight to hell.
“I’m protecting her,” Tate declared.
“I don’t need protecting.” They were useless words because none of the alpha boys were going to listen to a damn thing she had to say, and Ben and Chase looked ready to kill. It was up to her. In her experience, it was always the sub who had to be the reasonable one.
And this sub knew that reason wouldn’t win the day.
She forced her way around Tate and walked straight to Chase Dawson. Georgia was right. He was the one she had to handle. Ben would fall in line. His eyes widened as she approached, surprise flaring briefly before he mastered himself and went back to his normal blank expression.
“Like I said, Tate, I don’t need protection. Not from them,” she finished as she wound her arms around Chase’s ridiculously well-defined torso.
She felt Chase’s sigh of relief as his arms came around her. A big hand cupped her hair, holding her to him.
“Natalie, think this through for two seconds,” Tate began. “You don’t know them. You know me. I’ve spent months and months getting to know you. I’ve been very careful with you.”