Page 8 of Entertaining Distraction
Pickingup his cell phone from the bar, Mike entered the number written on the napkin, but stopped just shy of hitting the send button, just like he’d done the other five times he’d tried to call Charlotte in the past hour. He had an interview for the waitress position in thirty minutes and not much else to do in between. The ex-con he’d hired the other day seemed to be working out so far, and, as usual, the rest of his staff was handling the slow Monday afternoon crowd without any help from him.
He hadn’t seen or heard from Charlotte since the night of her birthday party and couldn’t get her out of his mind. Had she told him to call earlier than today, his answer to her proposed relationship would probably have been no. But with the extra time, he found himself thinking about her, nonstop, and what she wanted from him—what she’d offered him.
After reading about all the different topics concerning BDSM on the websites she’d given him, he’d gotten more confused. Not about the basics of the lifestyle—those were pretty easy to understand—but the fact that he was being drawn toward something he’d never been interested in before. Then after talking to Nick, Mike had gone back onto the sites and started asking questions in the chat rooms using a random sign-in name he’d pulled out of the air. He’d been surprised at the number of male submissives who were in careers that were considered to be alpha-male oriented—firemen, police officers, an MMA fighter, a bull rider, and plenty of others—that is, if they’d been telling the truth behind the anonymous shroud of the internet.
The hardest part had been when he and Jake had been at the Trident Security gym the day after Mike had spoken to Nick. At first, while doing different exercises with free weights, they’d talked about their mother and how to get her to consent to the dementia testing and to consider selling the home she’d lived in for forty years. Whether she was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s or not, with her advancing age and declining ability to take care of herself, the best thing was to move her into an assisted living facility where the staff could keep a closer eye on her. Her medications would be administered on time, something they suspected she wasn’t doing at the moment, and the staff would help her shower and do her laundry. Her meals would also be monitored, and the staff would check on her during the day and night to make sure she hadn’t fallen. Both Jake and Mike worked wacky hours, and there were times Jake had to leave town with almost no notice for a mission or case. Running a restaurant required Mike to work odd hours and be on call when he was off in case a situation arose his staff couldn’t handle. The siblings could hire someone to take care of their mother in her home, but with an assisted living facility, there’d be more people her age around and activities other than watching mindless TV all day.
Once that part of their conversation was over, and Mike had switched to the bench press, Jake had started with, “So ...I heard you and Nick had a conversation the other day.”
With the weighted bar fully extended over his head, Mike froze and narrowed his eyes at his brother spotting behind him in case his muscles gave out toward the end of the set of repetitions. He couldn’t be mad at Nick for blabbing to Jake because Mike couldn’t honestly remember if he’d asked him not to. Either way, it was clearly out in the open. Slowly controlling the descent of the bar toward his upper chest, Mike tried to make his response sound indifferent. “Yeah. Figured out of everyone I knew, he’d be the best person to talk to about ... it.” That was the only word that came to mind—he didn’t know what “it” was exactly, but the word encompassed everything running through his mind. “No offense.”
“None taken. And I agree, Nick would be able to describe the flip side of things better than I could. It’s been a long time since I was on the submissive side of the lifestyle.” He paused. “So, did you come to a decision yet. Charlotte’s a good Domme to learn from.”
Mike came just short of locking his elbows with the bar held high. “Huh. I thought you’d be against her and me.”
Jake watched the weights go down again, waiting for the moment he’d have to reach out and assist with a lift. “At first, I was—I even went to ream her a new one before she, rightfully, put me in my place.” When Mike faltered, and his gaze slammed into Jake’s, his brother made sure he wasn’t going to drop the weight before holding up a hand. “I promise I won’t interfere again. She’ll kick my ass if I do.” He shrugged his sculpted shoulders. “I guess I always just assumed it wouldn’t be something you’d be interested in. You’ve never asked questions about it when any of us were talking about it at the pub or here at the compound.”
The weights were getting heavier with each repetition and Mike’s muscles began to quiver, but he still had a few more in him. “Maybe it just took the right woman. Not that I’m ... argghh ... saying I’m definitely going to try this thing with her. But ... arrrggghhhh ... I have to admit, I’m attracted to her. I mean, she’s hot as sin. I’d have to be on your end of the rainbow not to be fantasizing about her ... arrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh—enough!”
Jake quickly grasped the bar and helped set it into the cradle above the bench. Once it was safe to do so, Mike released it, shook out his exhausted arms, and stood, taking the towel Jake handed him to wipe the bench down. “I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do, Jake. All I do know is I can’t stop thinking about her ... and her offer.”
Spreading his legs, shoulder-width apart and crossing his arms over his chest in that manner all military men seem to do, Jake cocked his head to the side. “Look. I’m not trying to talk you into it or out of it—that’s your decision—just remember that if you do decide to explore the lifestyle with her—or anyone else—there’s going to be a contract in place—most likely one with an end date. That means, on that date, the fun and games may come to a grinding halt and the two of you go back to being friends or acquaintances, or you sign another contract with another end date. This isn’t the kind of dating you’re used to, Mike—hell, Charlotte may not even call it dating. Just make sure you’re going into this with your eyes wide open and no delusions that there’s a wedding ring, house with a white picket fence, and two-point-four kids at the end of it, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
Mike nodded. “I get it—I do. Do I want those things somewhere down the line? Damn right I do. Five years ago, I would have said no, but now that the big four-oh is approaching, what I want out of life has changed. Will I get that with Charlotte? Who knows? But I get the feeling, now that she’s put the idea in my head, I’m not going to shake it until I see if what she’s offering is for me.”
“All right. Like I said, the decision is yours. If you’ve got any questions, you can ask me or Nick. Otherwise, I promise I’ll stay out of it.”
“Thanks. And Jake?” He held out his hand. “Thanks for caring enough to risk pissing off a friend of yours because you’re worried about me.”
Taking Mike’s hand, Jake pulled him into a bro-hug and slapped him on the back. “We’ve come a long way—just didn’t want to lose what we’ve gained these past two years.”
“Amen.”
Mike took a deep breath and pushed “Send” on his cell phone. Putting it to his ear, he waited for the call to connect. He wasn’t sure if he was happy or disappointed when it went to voicemail. At the sound of the beep, he cleared his throat and plunged ahead. “Hey ... Hi ... Charlotte, it’s ... uh ... me ... Mike ... uh ... Mike Donovan. I’m calling like you told me to, and ... I ... uh ... was wondering if we could get together later and ... talk, I guess. I’ll be at the pub for a few hours tonight, so if you want, we can have dinner and, I don’t know ... just talk. Give me a call and let me know.” He rattled off his cell phone number just in case it didn’t appear on her cell phone screen for some reason. “Uh ... okay ... bye.”
Disconnecting the call, he mentally cursed himself for coming across as a blithering idiot. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d sounded like a pre-pubescent boy calling a girl for the first time. Unfortunately, it was too late to take his message back.
“Excuse me, are you Mike Donovan?”
He glanced up to see a woman in her midthirties eyeing him. “Yes, can I help you?”
Her tentative expression morphed into a cheerful smile. She held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Daniella Mavis. I have an interview with you for the waitress position.”
Mike had been so wrapped up in his thoughts about Charlotte, he hadn’t realized a half hour had passed by so quickly. Shaking the woman’s hand, he said, “It’s nice to meet you. Why don’t we go sit in the party room in the back and talk? Can I get you something to drink?”
As she shook her head and answered, “No, thanks,” Mike tried to force the thoughts of the hot Domme from his mind, which was hard to do—she was a helluva distraction. Play would come later, but for now, he had work to do.
