He raised an eyebrow and just waited patiently. Crap.
“I’ve known for about six years. I, um, I like to read and I was always drawn to books with, ah, dominant men in them. Then I found these books about Littles and Daddies and it struck a chord with me, I guess. Do you think I’m weird?”
He grasped hold of her chin, turning her face. “Would I ask if I thought you were weird? Would I have helped you last night? I have some friends who are into the lifestyle. Even called one for help last night. Don’t think he’s weird. Not for that anyway. Other reasons maybe. . .”
He winked at her and she smiled, feeling more at ease. She knew a lot of people didn’t understand the dynamic. Who thought it was wrong. That was part of the reason why she’d been worried about seeing him again. That he’d look at her like she was a freak. Or gross.
“You called someone for help?”
“Needed some advice, babe. Thought I was gonna end up taking you to the hospital.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For helping me.”
He just gave a nod. “You ever been in a relationship with a Daddy Dom?”
She looked around but there was no one close by to hear their conversation. Not that she knew anyone here so she shouldn’t care. Greg’s opinions, his needs for peer approval, still had a hold on her. She needed to change that.
“Ah, yeah, kind of.”
“Kind of?”
“Here you go.” She looked up with a smile of thanks as Jo placed a huge plate of pancakes in front of her. In front of Duke, she placed a big plate of hash browns, sausage, ham and eggs.
Holy hell. Did he eat like that every morning?
“Dig in, babe. Then you can explain about this ‘kind of’ relationship.”
She cut into the huge mound of pancakes and took a small bite. That tasted so good. They ate for a while without talking but it wasn’t a weird sort of silence. It was pleasant. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat with someone to eat a meal.
When she was full, she wiped her mouth carefully and watched him continue to work his way through his big plate of food. She felt guilty that she’d only been able to eat a third of hers.
“Feel free to talk while I eat, babe, I can multi-task.”
She sighed. “You’re not letting this go, huh?”
“Nope.”
“You’re stubborn.”
“One of my better qualities.”
“Fine. When I was nineteen, I joined this kink dating site that matched people up. I was matched to this older guy who was a Daddy. I thought we had something. He didn’t. End of story.”
He snorted. “Babe, you can’t tell a story for shit. Lot left out of that.”
“I don’t see why this has to be all about me. Why am I doing all the sharing?”
“We’re getting to know each other.”
He hadn’t seemed to want to get to know her before now. They’d lived next door to each other for close to a year with barely exchanging a hello, but now he wanted to know it all?
“That implies you will actually tell me something about you.”
He shrugged. “Nothing to tell. I own a tattoo parlor. I belong to the Iron Shadows Motorcycle club. Last night I rescued a Little who didn’t have the sense to get her butt out of a hot car and drink some damn water.”
There was a stern note in his voice that had her squirming. “I wasn’t thinking properly. It was a bad day yesterday.”
“You lost your job.”