Page 33 of The Dom with the Kink Monsters

When they’d met three years ago in line at a comic book signing, he’d been a bit of a dork. Winter, on the other hand, was the kind of girl he’d always dreamed about – self-confident, sexy, badass. The line had been so long that striking up a conversation had been inevitable. She’d been kind, but it was all too obvious that although she had thought he was worth talking to and they had a lot in common, she wasn’t even slightly interested in him. Mack had pursued her for months, nonchalantly. They’d grown closer. Eventually, because he made himself available to her anytime, he’d become the go-to for relationship advice, even though all of his own relationships had been short.

She’d had another failed relationship with a Dom who’d tried to dom her, when all she wanted was pain. Talking it through with Mack had been inevitable. Out of frustration, she’d asked him if he would hurt her – no sex, just pain. It had evolved into so much more.

In essence, he was her Frankenstein’s monster. She’d trained him and something inside him had clicked. Hard. Now, if she ever left him, he didn’t think he could turn it back off.

Winter took pain in a way that made it art. Beauty in ugliness. But she was so beautiful that anything around her was made more beautiful in relation. Like him. Now people often told him that he was gorgeous, but no one had ever noticed him before she had. His own beauty was about her.

The love had come later, as did her lust for him. No romance novel there. However, they were proof that love could grow out of anything, even relationships built on convenience. He’d loved her enough for the both of them, until she’d felt it too. Now, when she looked at him, it was with more depth and meaning than he’d ever hoped for.

Things with Ramsay and Saya weren’t worth jeopardizing what they had together, if she wasn’t into it. She liked Ramsay’s little submissive well enough, but the Dom was going to be the issue. Maybe if he didn’t get so dommy with her?

The door opening drew him out of his thoughts. He threw the vegetables into the pan then stirred them. Keys dropped on the table in the entryway. She came into the room and their gazes found each other. He grinned like an idiot, as always. Her eyes lit.

How did he even deserve her?

“How was work?”

“Slow day. We did a lot of restocking, but we got a call that a tour bus of teenagers are coming in from Felix in the morning. It’s happening way too often lately. The buses are exhausting.”

He chuckled. “You just get tired of little boys asking you on dates.”

“And girls. There are always a few of those.”

“You’re cool and sexy. You’ve always had a line-up.”

Winter slid her hands inside his t-shirt and let her fingers trace the ridges of the muscle he had there now instead of baby fat. Even her healthy eating habits had rubbed off on him.

Everywhere she touched, the skin awoke, sensitized, longing for more.

Mack tipped his head, offered his lips, and she kissed him like she’d been affection starved for a year – sweetly, the way people kissed in old movies instead of in porn.

A horror movie scream erupted from Winter’s back pocket and they broke apart.

“You seriously need to change that ringtone. It makes me hit the roof every time.” He turned back to stir their food as she fished her phone out of her back pocket.

“Hello?”

He grabbed two plates from the drying rack and turned the burner down to keep their dinner warm while she got rid of whoever it was.

While he waited, he made her tea with the water he’d already boiled, and fixed it the way she liked.

Behind him, Winter had started pacing the kitchen, the wooden floor boards creaking underfoot. Her noises were mostly acknowledgements that she’d heard what was being said, and she gave him no other clues.

“I’ll talk to them,” she finally said. “Bye.”

Them?

She accepted the teacup he held out to her, and followed him to the breakfast nook. It took two seconds to dish food onto their plates. He set the plates down in their spots and scooted in beside her. When he’d settled, she shifted closer so that her thigh was pressed alongside his.

“That was Lawson.”

His spirits sank. “Really? Is there something wrong with the gig on Friday?”

She grinned. “No! He and Luther were listening during our rehearsal, and they like us so much they want to add us to the show on Saturday.”

“What? Shit! There are two kickass death metal bands playing on Saturday, along with one of Law and Luther’s favorites from Felix. We’re just starting out – we’re not that calibre. We’re also not quite heavy enough to be considered death metal, at least not with Saya singing with me. We’re more...dark metal. Or BDSM metal, if there is such a thing.”

Winter skewered stir fry onto her fork, then put it in her mouth and chewed, a crease forming between her brows. After she swallowed, she nodded. “I know. I keep going back and forth about that in my head. I mean, our first real show is Friday night and we don’t even know if it’ll be well attended. We’re nobodies. To get thrown into such a big show the next night seems like we’re skipping a few steps, right?”

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