Page 1 of Flirt

Prologue

Flirt

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For the first timesince I came home from the military and became a member of Whispering Nights, I felt disconcerted as I walked through the doors. Not sure why I had come in the first place, though deep down, I knew the reason behind my unrest. I just wasn’t ready to voice it out loud.

As I took a seat at the bar, Rudy, the bartender for the night, set my usual down in front of me. I lifted my chin in acknowledgment and thanks and picked up the chilled bottle of water, twisting the cap. He returned the gesture, then moved down to wait on a Dom and his sub sitting at the other end of the bar.

“How are you this evening, Max?” Mark Baker, the owner of Whispering Nights, asked as he sat down on the vacant stool beside me.

Reaching over, I shook Mark’s hand. “Doing good. How about you?” I asked.

“Could be better, my friend,” he said on a chuckle.

Lifting a brow, I asked, “Should I bother asking if you want or need to talk about it?”

I’d met Mark while going through the NCP (Navy College Program). Mark had been a PO1 (Petty Officer First Class) and was interested in a college degree before ending his time in the Navy while as a Seaman Recruit. I’d wanted to obtain a degree to advance myself through the ranks. We’d talked while we waited to be seen by a counselor and discovered we were both from the state of Washington.

Despite the fifteen plus years’ age difference, Mark and I had quickly become friends.

During the times between taking online classes and my training to become a Navy SEAL, I’d been more than grateful for the friendship we’d shared. Especially when I found myself at the lowest, mentally and physically. Drained to the point I allowed doubt to seep into my mind on whether or not I would be able to complete either task. Mark had been there to give me the much-needed pep talk. His verbal shoves never failed to set me back on course.

It’d taken me longer to get the business degree than it had to complete all the training required to become a deployable SEAL. Thirty months total for the mandatory training by the Navy. In the end, the time and effort I’d put in had been worth it.

Mark had also been the one who introduced me to an alternate lifestyle. He invited me as a guest to the place he frequented as a member. It had been during one of my weakest moments as a Seaman Recruit when the stress had weighed heavily on my shoulders. He’d witnessed my struggles and suggested the club might be just what I was looking for. I went out of curiosity. Not sure if watching people satisfy their kink was for me. I’d never experienced anything like it, though. The atmosphere, the sexual tempo, watching a few scenes play out, it called to a part of me that I never knew existed. It was as if a piece of me clicked into place. After that day, I never looked back. I embraced the controlling side of me. Before I’d controlled every part of my life but the sexual side. Sex had just been about obtaining a release. I’d had no idea there was so much missing—more satisfaction for my sexual partner and me for one.

“I served in the Navy for twenty-two years, and I’ve been a Dom for well over thirty. A big part of being good at both is the ability to read people, anticipate the needs of the ones in my care. But damn it all if my ten-month-old little girl doesn’t make me feel like a fraud.”

I chuckled at the expression on his face and the fact that one of the best men I knew seemed distraught over his inability to handle his young daughter.

“Glad you find it amusing,” he griped and rubbed his hand down his face before he continued. “Christ, I’ve had sailors tear up during a dressing down. Chrissy, she only has to look at me and bat her eyes, and I crumble. And if I see a tear, I’m done in.”

It felt good to focus on someone else’s problem, if only for a few minutes. “Come on, Mark. She’s ten months. You’re her daddy, isn’t it’s her job to wrap you around her finger?”

Mark and his wife, Stella, had been married a little over twelve years. They’d given up on trying for a family after going through every test and every suggestion the doctors made that could possibly help them conceive, no matter how slim the chance. Nothing had worked for them. So when Stella became pregnant, they were ecstatic over it. I’d never seen Mark happier and physically relaxed than the day he had shared the news.

“Oh yeah, speaks the man with no kids. Nothing in life prepares us for children. And I mean nothing. There are no instructions for becoming a parent. The whole deal redefines ‘on the job training.’ Oh, as adults, we think we can handle them because we read a bunch of books. How hard can it be, right? Besides, we’re bigger and stronger than they are. But I’m beginning to think they are so much smarter. For God’s sake, Stella ran to the store the other day, and I was left home alone with Chrissy. I left her playing on the floor in the living room for one minute while I stepped into the kitchen to get myself something to drink. I walked back into the room, and she had a paperback of Stella’s tearing pages out of it, then depositing the pieces into the vent in the floor. Less than a minute. I’m not even sure how she got the paperback off the side table. When I tried scolding her, she looked up at me, batted her little eyelids, and then grinned.”

“I have faith in you. You’ll get fatherhood down...eventually,” I said while chuckling, and Mark just glared at me.

“Like I have any other choice. That little girl doesn’t listen to me at all. Even if I raise my voice. And Stella, she is enjoying it immensely.” Mark shook his head, sighed, then went on. “Enough about my women issues. Tell me what’s been going on with you and your brothers. I haven’t seen you around lately. Catch me up. I need the distraction from my own life.”

“Bike business is good. It’s staying steady. My brothers are pretty much like you—either dealing with their ol’ ladies or dealing with tiny females with attitudes,” I answered with a chuckle. “Jag and River tied the knot last weekend at the clubhouse. Nothing too exciting happening otherwise.”

“Leaves you and Coast the last two holdouts, huh? A lot has changed since you guys made it home,” Mark said, and I waited to reply until Rudy was walking away after setting down a glass in front of Mark. I didn’t have to guess what the glass contained. Mark never drank anything but club soda when he was at the club.

“It depends if Coast catches the dodging doctor, then he won’t be unattached much longer,” I said as I rolled the bottle between my hands and listened to the plastic crinkle. I knew it was a nervous gesture and forced myself to stop.

Mark touched my shoulder. “Let’s go talk in my office, Max,” he said, drank his glass empty, then stood from his barstool. I lifted the bottle of water to my mouth and finished it off, then placed the empty bottle on the bar before I rose and followed him.

Once we were in his office, he waved for me to take a seat in one of the two chairs in front of his desk. After I sat in one, Mark sat in the empty one beside me instead of going behind his desk.

“What’s really going on with you, Max? Something’s bothering you.”

“What do you mean? I just told you,” I replied and frowned.

His brow cocked, and he looked at me as he relaxed back in the chair. “Maybe I should be the one asking,‘Do you want or need to talk about it?’”

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