Page 42 of Take Me, Sir

She gave me a skeptical look. “I'm wearing jeans and a plain shirt.”

I shrugged. “Doesn't make it any less true.”

She rolled her eyes but smiled, so I was pleased with the result. I loved the way her eyes lit up when she smiled, how that small dimple showed in her cheek. I held out my hand, and she took it. In the other hand, she held a wine bag.

“Was I supposed to bring something?”

“Nope,” she said as we walked to the elevator. “I wanted to bring the wine.”

I looked down at her, understanding. “You want to see if Dalton's going to ask you how you were able to afford an expensive bottle.”

She gave me a sideways look out of the corner of her eye. “If I say yes, will you think less of me?”

“Never.” I chuckled as I kissed the top of her head. “I think it's quite brilliant actually.”

When Juliette opened the door a couple minutes later, Kyndall gave my hand a quick squeeze, as if she knew how much I was dreading this, and then moved to give her sister-in-law a hug.

“Dean.”

I looked over Juliette's shoulder to see Dalton standing there with Anthony in his arms. I gave him a polite nod and followed Kyndall into the apartment. I knew I wasn't imagining the tension, but it definitely seemed different than it was at the club. Less animosity, more...awkward. It wasn't until Juliette made a comment about the club, however, that I figured it out.

Dalton was respecting Kyndall's decision to date me, and we could get past the age difference. What he was still struggling with wasn't even the fact that he knew Kyndall and I were having sex. It was that he knew the kind of sex we were having. Dalton was a Sub and had been for years. He wasn't new to this lifestyle so he could understand in a way that other people might not have been able to, exactly what it meant that his sister was sleeping with a Dom.

When he saw me putting my arm around Kyndall, touching her, smiling at her, he knew that she wasn't simply in my bed, but that I was teaching her about the sorts of kinks that I liked. And since Cross, Dalton, and I had discussed our preferences, he knew the parts of BDSM that I would be doing with his little sister. Spanking. Bondage. All sorts of things.

A wave of sympathy went through me. I might not have had a sister, but I could still understand how much stranger it had to be for him, having a completely different sort of understanding of my relationship with his sister than anyone else would.

“Anthony's about ready to go down,” Dalton said as he shifted his son from one shoulder to the other.

“Here, let me.” Kyndall held out her hands.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “He goes to sleep easily for me.”

“All right.” Dalton transferred Anthony into Kyndall's arms.

“I'll be back in a few.” She glanced at me, and I gave her a nod to let her know that I'd be fine.

Juliette looked from Dalton to me and back again. “I'm going to check on the chicken.”

And just like that, Dalton and I were alone in the living room. I looked around, trying to figure out something to comment on, some way to make small talk until one of the women came back and filled the silence.

“I apologized to Kyndall for acting like an ass,” Dalton said.

“She told me.”

His eyes met mine, and there was a hardness in them that I'd rarely seen. “I also told her that I'd work on things with you.”

“I'd like that,” I said honestly. “Our friendship means a great deal to me.”

“But not enough to stay away from my sister,” he said baldly.

I shook my head and gave him a truthful reply. “I don't think I can stay away from her unless she tells me to.”

A muscle in his jaw jumped as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I suppose that should make me feel better, knowing that you're not just screwing with her.”

“I'm not,” I said quickly. “I promise you that, Dalton. I'm not messing about with her. It's not like that.”

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