Taboo: A Dark Romance Boxset (Stud Ranch 1)

“Shut up, I’m being serious.” I smack him with my cloth napkin and he jerks back, laughing.

“So was I,” he says. “Come on, Mira, when was the last time you’ve been this excited about a guy?”

That question shuts me up and I look down at my hands in my lap. Daniel sits back in his booth seat. “Oh shit. Not since…” He doesn’t finish his thought. He doesn’t have to. He knows all about my sordid past with Bryce Gentry. The things that were done to me. The things I did. He’s the only person who knows all of it.

“Did you tell him yet?”

I shake my head. “How could I? I was going to but then he made this big confession to me the other night and it just…” I trail off and take a deep breath. “It wasn’t the kind of thing you could follow up with an, oh by the way, that guy who fucked you over that one time while you were going through all that horrible shit you just confessed to me? Yeah, he’s my ex.”

I drop my head into my hands. “I just haven’t found a way to slip it naturally into conversation.”

Daniel just shakes his head. “Mira, this isn’t like you. You usually charge head first into difficult shit. Isn’t that what you’re always telling me? Just talk to my Dommes about my tendencies so we can work through it together?”

“And how’s that going for you?” I snap and then immediately feel terrible.

“I’m sorry.” My hand shoots out to grab Daniel’s across the table and he shrugs it off like it’s fine even though I can see that it’s not.

“Shit, Daniel, I’m a world class bitch. I’m sorry. I just feel so guilty every day I don’t tell him. I know I should confess the real reason I pushed so hard on getting to know him…”

What would Dylan say if I admitted I sought him out and kept pursuing him because of our mutual past connections to Bryce Gentry? Would he ever be able to look at me the same ever again? If he knew just how far I’d debased myself for Bryce, how much of myself I gave away and lost forever because of that man…

I purse my lips, fighting for control of my emotions. “I’ve just never had anything like me and Dylan before. It’s the best I’ve ever felt. About life. About myself. But it feels like… I don’t know, like my happiness is a house of cards that could come crashing down any second.”

“Damn girl, what are they putting in this sake today?” Daniel holds up the small cup he ordered. “You’re all poetic and shit, and it’s only,” he looks at his wrist, where of course there’s no watch, and then fumbles in his pocket and pulls out his phone. “And it’s only one-thirty on a Thursday afternoon.”

I take my cup and clink it with his. This has been our tradition ever since we were broke kids fresh out of college looking for jobs in the big city.

“So you’re going to meet the family which means it’s getting intense,” he sums up, “but you’re also keeping secrets from him.”

I drop my forehead on the table. “I’m an idiot. I know I’m an idiot. This is all going to blow up in my face isn’t it? That’s what always happens in the movies.”

“So tell him,” Daniel says. “Or don’t. Who the fuck am I to be giving relationship advice?” He throws up his hands. “It just sounds like you two are getting hella intense hella fast.”

“Is that bad?” I ask, lifting my head. “I really, really like him.”

Daniel smiles and it softens the hard lines of his handsome face. “I know. It’s good seeing you so happy. The whole time you were with that Chad guy—”

“Chet.”

“The whole time you were with him you looked like Barbie. Beautiful but like, made of plastic. With a painted-on smile.” He points with two fingers. “And dead eyes.”

I’m not surprised Daniel saw what no one else could—how unhappy I was with Chet.

“I want you to meet him,” I say. “Dylan. I’m meeting his family and I want him to meet mine.”

Daniel arches an eyebrow as our sushi arrives. “You’re willing to put him through the Daniel test? Already? This really is serious. You haven’t brought a guy to meet me that’s ever passed.”

I smile with a goofy sigh. “That’s because you haven’t met Dylan yet.”

Eleven

DYLAN

I frown as I look over the table set up. “Are you sure it’s perfect? I want it to be perfect.”

Darren laughs as he claps me on the back. “Jesus, calm your shit, big bro. You got catering for a meal for only three people. And it’s the best in the city. I’m pretty sure she’ll be impressed.”

I shrug off his hand and narrow my eyes at him. “Are you taking this seriously? You better be taking this seriously. This girl is important to me. I want the full Darren Lennox charm offense. No half-assing it today, okay?”