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Being patient wasn’t an issue—I’d even explained that to Austin when he’d been texting me at an ungodly hour—but thealphas that I worked with were mostly from the club and they’d be a pain in the ass about it.

And not the good kind of ass pains.

“We’re going to take this at our own pace and I’m just going to keep reminding myself that Daddy Tyson had a nice time yesterday and he was flirting with me today.” Yes, that was the important part to remember. “He sent me a link to directions to his house so I didn’t have to worry about getting lost.”

Oh, he’d even texted first so I hadn’t needed to worry about what to do.

It’d been a quick good night text where he’d said that he’d had a good time, but I had a feeling that had been hard for him.

“He was hard and orgasmed on our date. I made him feel good about himself.” Yes, those were super important things to remember. “He wasn’t too self-conscious to enjoy our time together and he even told me to suck on his other nipple.”

It’d felt important once I’d lain down for the night and started thinking about it, but I might’ve been overthinking everything about it.

What else did I know that wasn’t possible overthinking?

“He asked me to meet him for dinner and he made it clear he wanted to have some sort of sexy times.” That had been more than obvious. “He didn’t mind me calling him Daddy.”

Tyson didn’t seem to be great at the advocating for what he liked part of BDSM, but his silence and his expression gave a lot away. We might’ve been texting instead of talking, but I’d been picturing him smiling, not worrying or uncomfortable.

“He was hard.” That was important enough to keep adding back into the list. “Yes, this is going to be fine. Second dates aren’t as hard as first dates. I already know he finds me fuckable at the very least, and he thought my little side was cute.”

We already had a lot more in common than the past five guys I’d dated combined.

“I’m just—” I managed not to scream when the phone rang, but I was very grateful that I’d been stuck at the same red light forever. “Oh, Austin.”

Normally I was very good about taking calls through the speaker thing in the vehicle, but Austin was not someone I wanted to take the chance of anyone else overhearing. No. That had the potential to be bad, so I quickly disconnected the call from the car and answered it. “Hello.”

“Don’t be so cheerful. I’ve been going insane. Tyson said you had a nice date and you looked like you had a nice date but I haven’t heard it from you personally.” Barely taking a breath, he charged right back in. “I didn’t even bug you at work. Silas said I couldn’t. You’re important.”

I was basically a very well-paid admin and peacekeeper so the office full of Doms didn’t kill themselves or each other.

Hmm, I guessed I was more important than I was giving myself credit for.

“I appreciate you being so patient and thank you for realizing how important my job is.” The governor had gone through five people before I’d gotten the job. They’d made the mistake of not deliberately looking for someone in the lifestyle and hadn’t realized how annoying that many Doms in one place could be to the average person.

They’d tried to hire three betas in a row.

Sadly, there wasn’t a Daddy in the entire office, but it was a good place to work and I knew how to handle them.

Job security was a wonderful thing.

Sighing dramatically, Austin sounded like he’d collapsed on some kind of fainting couch. “You have no idea how hard it’s been.”

I had a pretty good idea since he’d gone over to bug Daddy.

“You’re amazing.” And really cute when he was worried, so I didn’t bother reminding him that he’d texted me first thing. “But you don’t need to stress about anything. I had a nice night and Daddy was flirting with me earlier when he texted me.”

Squealing, Austin made me laugh. “You called him Daddy.”

Rolling my eyes, I grinned even wider. “He likes it and it feels right. We’re not rushing things, though.”

Letting out a deep breath, Austin sounded like he was working through his stress all over again. “Yes, not rushing because he has things he needs to work through and you have trust issues.”

I’d have been offended if he weren’t so right.

“We’re both more than aware of our strengths and weaknesses, and we’re processing them appropriately.” My therapy speak had Austin groaning. “So far, so good. Promise.”

Wondering what I could tell him that wouldn’t fuck with Tyson’s privacy, I tried again. “I think I’m good for him and I think it was good for him to see that I wasn’t turned off. He’s good for me because he honestly has no preconceived notions about what a Daddy should be.”