Page 21 of Color of Love

“Is everyone ready to begin?” Taylor asked. But before anyone could answer, the door to the bar opened and everyone turned to stare as Blake walked in. Justine’s stomach did a series of unwanted acrobatics when she saw him. He’d trimmed his beard, and with his hair slightly long, his curls were unruly in a sexy ‘just got out of bed’ way. He was wearing a burgundy button-down shirt which fit snugly against his broad, muscled chest and he wore smart black pants.

Her heart pounded as she took him in. He looked dangerous, roguish, absolutely gorgeous and she knew he was the best-looking man in the room tonight. The other women all began assessing him fiercely. Hands off, ladies, he’s mine! She blinked in surprise. Where had that come from? He wasn’t hers and he never would be. She didn’t even want him, he had too much baggage, he was too complex, too serious. It was her body that wanted him, the little hussy. Which was exactly why Justine was here tonight: to find someone to take that next step with, because it wouldn’t be, couldn’t be, Blake.

He looked around the room, assessing like he usually did. His eyes landed on hers but flicked away again dismissively. See, he’s not interested in you either. A sharp pain pierced her chest at the thought, she brushed it aside.

“Blake, finally! You like to keep the ladies waiting, don’t you?” Taylor joked, he offered her a small smile and then took a seat in the empty chair. The woman seated opposite him looked like all her birthdays had come at once and to Justine she looked like was going to launch herself at him. Not jealous at all…

She didn’t understand what he was doing here. He could barely speak to her, let alone a new woman every couple of minutes. Okay so Justine had told him to start developing relationships, but she didn’t think he’d start straight away. She was concerned from a professional point of view, she didn’t want him to jump into anything too soon and get hurt, she was such a caring psychologist.

“Right folks, the first round starts…now!” Taylor clapped happily and walked away, leaving them all to it. There was a moment of silence where everyone just stared at each other, unsure what to say. Then slowly a few began to talk to the person opposite them. The man-child sitting opposite Justine cleared his throat, drawing her attention away from Blake, who hadn’t even looked her way since he sat down.

“I’m Steven, what’s your name?” her date squeaked out. Dios, how old was he?

“I’m Justine, nice to meet you.” She held out her hand, not knowing what else to do and he smiled at her as they shook.

“That’s a lovely name,” he replied, and they lapsed into silence again. Dammit why was this so awkward? She looked down the row and saw Beau charming the panties off his date and even Blake was chatting to his. A lance of hurt speared through her. She saw him every week for their sessions, and he barely spoke to her but here he was a Chatty Cathy! She frowned and turned back to her date.

“How old are you?” she asked, pasting a smile on her face.

“Just turned twenty-one, ma’am,” he replied.

Ma’am? Fuck my life.

Her smile faltered slightly but before she could reply, Kayleigh placed their drinks on the table and Justine lunged for her rosé, downed it in one go and demanded Kayleigh bring her another larger glass immediately. She and Steven managed to chat a little before their time was, thankfully, up and he moved on. Another man took his place, this one was clearly a sensible age, shaved head, quite muscular with nice eyes. Not her usual type with all those muscles but maybe she needed to start pushing herself outside her comfort zone.

“I’m Darryl. What’s your name, beautiful?” he asked, charm pouring from him, and not in a sleazy way. She flushed at his compliment.

“Justine. Nice to meet you,” she held out her hand to shake his, but he grabbed it and pulled it to his lips, kissing it softly.

“Nice to meet you too, angel. I’ve gotta say, I was looking forward to speaking to you.”

She flushed again, now this is what I’m talking about! A cackle of laughter from further down drew her attention and she turned to see Blake’s date giggling away at something he said. What the hell?Was he being funny? Since when is he funny?! Ugh, stop worrying about what he’s doing and focus on you, you’ve got a goal here so snap to it. She turned back to her date.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” she asked, a coy smile playing on her lips.

“I have a feeling you like to submit, am I right?”

She shook her head, confused. “I’m sorry?”

“If you’re looking for a dirty dom then I’m your man, the things I’m gonna do to you…” he trailed off, his eyes running over her, and she suddenly realized what he meant.

She hadn’t even had sex let alone dabbled in BDSM. Not that she had anything against it, she just felt like she needed to build up to kinks, if she even had any. A sheriff kink sprang to mind, and she immediately shoved it away. She was disappointed that this guy had jumped straight to sex. Even though that was what she wanted, she also wanted someone to talk to, someone to flirt a little with, not head straight in with whips and chains.

“I think you’d be sorely disappointed with me, I’m far too independent for that. But we could always schedule a chat to discuss where your need to dominate came from?” she offered, smiling sweetly. His smile faltered, but then one merciful minute later another man was sitting in front of her.

He was nice looking, he had a kind smile, dark hair, thinning slightly but he was cute. They chatted and conversation flowed a little easier for them. She liked him, he was a realtor from the next town over, a similar age to her, he had a nice sense of humor and wanted a family. When their time was up, she decided that she would give him her number. Then Beau was sitting in front of her.

“Hey buddy,” he crooned at her, and she snorted but relaxed for the first time since the dates started. She didn’t need to worry about impressing Beau. Only then did she realize how many men had come her way. She looked up and saw that Blake was just two seats away from her. Holy shit! He’s going to have to sit with me and talk for two and a half minutes. One hundred fifty seconds. He was currently charming his date, he actually looked pretty chilled, and Justine’s heart started pounding as the time ticked on. Beau was talking about his dates, sounded like they were all a hit with him, and then he asked about hers.

“Hmm, one potential so far. Question though, do you have any thoughts on BDSM?” she asked innocently. Beau nearly spit his beer out and a few others looked over at them.

“Sweetheart, that’s like going for your first swimming lesson and diving straight into the deep end without any floaties. Maybe work up to it?” he said. He knew about her lack of experience in the bedroom department. She nodded, he grinned and then looked down the row of men.

“Well, looky here, ignore Mr. BDSM. I wonder how well you and Blake would get on?” he teased. She grinned at him, baring her teeth.

“About as well as you and Taylor do,” she replied.

Beau chuckled. “Touché.” And then time was up, he got up to move back down the row to the next table, winking at her as he went. She shook her head at him, a smirk playing on her lips. He was shameless.

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