Page 41 of Maverick
We paused to give our drink orders and when the server walked away again, my nerves kicked into gear. Glancing around me, I leaned back in my seat and pulled my panties past the waistband of my jeans. Stetson’s brows hit his hairline. “Where did you get those?”
He whipped his phone out of his pocket, fingers flying across the screen.
“Who the hell are you texting?” I laughed.
“Levi—I need that color.” Pressing send, he set his phone face down and pinned me with a serious look. “Who put those on you?”
Heat rushed to my face and I turned my attention to a water ring on the surface of the table. “MyDaddy…” I muttered.
“Excuse me?” Stetson screeched, loud enough that people at the surrounding tables glared at us.
I shushed him. “Keep it down.”
“Then pause, rewind, and try that again.Who?”
“Before I do, I need you to promise that your pretty little mouth stays shut.”
“Done.”
I took a deep breath, waiting until our drinks were set in front of us before I spoke again. “Remember that guy I hooked up with on my birthday?”
“I do…”
“Turned out to be Quinton Webster.”
Stetson’s blue eyes widened. “As in yourteammate?” I nodded, scrubbing the back of my neck. My cheeks were on fire, heart threatening to beat right out of my chest. “Wait—how did you not know that before?”
“I was blindfolded,” I admitted, surprised with the ease in which the words rolled off my lips. “He wasn’t. I was changing in the locker room, and he recognized my tattoo.”
“And the…” He cast a pointed glance toward my crotch. “That leather skirt I found too?”
“All him. I bought the…panties—” I whispered the word like someone was waiting in the crowd to catch me out. “But he picked them out… and the skirt was his idea.”
My best friend leaned back in his chair and scrubbed a handover his face. “Damn, Mav. I knew you were kinky but I didn’t think you hadthatin you. You’re submissive?”
“Switch, actually.”
“He’sa switch?”
“No…” I trailed my finger through some condensation on the side of my soda glass. “That’s the other thing I wanted to tell you. There’s someone else—a third.”
“You’ve got a Daddyanda sub?”
“Will you keep your voice down?” I hissed. “I don’t need this broadcasted on ESPN tomorrow… but, yes? I’m still new to this whole ‘dom’ thing.”
I hesitated long enough to be rescued—briefly—by the server coming back to take our food orders. I talked as slowly as possible, with Stetson watching me suspiciously the entire time. When it was his turn, I took advantage of the moment to sit back and take a deep breath. Shuffling in my seat, I tried to remember what Quinton told me. This was my best friend sitting in front of me. He was the closest thing to a brother I had. We’d been attached at the hip since we were in diapers. My Daddy was right: All I had to do was prove to Stetson that I was happy, and he’d love me no matter what.
“It’s Reese,” I blurted the moment we were alone.
Stetson blinked. “What’sReese?” I stayed quiet, spinning my glass around the table. My silence served as my answer. “Reese Tayloris your submissive.”
“Yeah…”
“The same Reese Taylor who left you crying at that draft party that I had to drag you out of?”
“Yes, Stetson, but—” He tried to cut me off, but I held up a hand to stop him. “He’s a different person than he was back then. He realizes what he did wrong, and he wants to make it right.”
This time it was Stetson’s leg that vibrated the table. I knew that bounce, and it wasn’t a nervous one. Stetson—much likeReese used to be—was a notorious hothead, with a temper that sat on a hair trigger.
