Assumed Master (9 page)

Christ. Was this a lesson in watch what you
wish for? Because for all these years, Dante had wanted nothing more than to
complete his world with a female and preferably the one now tangling his
emotions into a tight ball. Yet now that she was here, confusion didn’t begin
to describe what was going on inside his heart and head.

Wishing he could go back to sleep and not
think so hard on his current dilemma, Dante lay there restless and almost itchy
with need and frustration until practical purposes reared its ugly head and
demanded attention immediately. Nature wouldn't wait for Julie to rouse from
whatever space she floated in. Before he could worm away from her totally,
Blake came whisper soft into the room. He tilted his head and gave Dante a
questioning look then
smiled,
obviously satisfied that
Julie was resting. It was also obvious he sensed Dante’s problem. He held up a
hand then touched his forefinger to his lips indicating Dante should remain
still. After retrieving a pair of lounge pants and donning them, Blake slid in
beside Julie and gently pulled her into his arms, relieving Dante of his post.
Once Dante was sure she hadn’t been bothered, he slid out from beneath the comforter
and walked away, glancing back to see Blake stroking her hair and looking down
on her with the most innocent look of love in his eyes Dante had ever
witnessed.

Blake might not hold any physical attraction
to his best friend, but he certainly wasn’t lacking in affection for her.

A few minutes later, Dante returned from the
bathroom showered, shaved and ready to face the day to find his two mates in
what appeared to be a deep conversation. Sadly, a twinge of being the odd man
out swept over him and he wondered if this would be how Blake felt once things
advanced between him and Julie. Or would they somehow seamlessly forge a way to
live in harmony?

Dante stopped walking when he discovered
neither Blake nor Julie had detected his presence and listened to their hushed
murmurings.

"They’re on a fog delay this morning.
Don’t worry, they won’t be late…"

He knew Blake was talking about why he hadn't
left to get the boys off to school yet.

"Feeling better, pumpkin?" Propped
up on one elbow, Blake brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes.

"Some. I really needed him to be firm
with me. More than I knew, I guess," Julie answered. "It was nice to
feel safe and like it was okay to not think for a while."

"He has it in him, you know. To give you
what you need. He just doesn’t know it yet. Try to be patient with him?
With me?"

As she settled her head in the crook of
Blake’s arm, she nodded and sighed. "It’s hard."

"I know, sweet girl, I know. You had
security for so long and it’s hard to let that go and embrace something else,
but if he’s trying you can, too.
Right?
He loves you
so much. You really have no idea."

"I know. And I’m afraid I’ll never be
able to love him that much back."

"Love comes in a lot of forms, Jules.
There’s the hit you like a brick kind, the takes a while to grow kind, and the
comfortable, warm blanket kind. He might not have hit you like a brick, but I’d
venture to say he'll grow on you. And isn’t the thought of the warm blanket for
the rest of your life nice? I like to think we’ve got some combination of all
that. When I first saw him, I knew I’d never love anyone else that way. Then he
started to grow on me and now we’re like an old pair of shoes to each other.
Broken in and worn, but still so needed."

Why hadn’t Blake ever told him those things?
Dante believed Blake hated him until he finally decided giving in would be better
than being stalked. Then they fell in love. He never knew it was a love at
first sight for Blake.

"I’ve never seen anyone wearing three
shoes," she said, clearly disgruntled by Blake’s assessment.

"Just because you’ve never seen it
doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Have you ever seen the wind?"

"No."

"But you know it’s there.
Right?"
Blake touched his forehead to hers so tenderly
Dante swore his heart cracked a bit. "It stirs the leaves and touches your
soul when it washes over you. We know this thing between us is there because it
stirs us, pumpkin.
All of us.
Even if a third of us
can’t accept it yet. It touches my soul and I think it’s damn near annihilated
Dante’s."

Dante stood completely still for a few seconds
digesting what Blake had said. When had he become so…emotional? Hell, he’d
always been emotional. The shortcoming wasn’t Blake’s. It was his. Becoming as
clear as crystal, Dante now understood why Blake had never shared some of these
things with him. He was unreceptive to them. His detached way of being his Master
prevented Blake from being able to open up to him and be this person he saw
before him now, catering to a damaged woman’s bruised heart. Would it really be
so difficult to give in to his feelings? To be
more tender
where it was due?

Dear God. He needed some help. He no more knew
how to be that type of Dom than he knew how to build a space ship.

Trying to act like he’d just walked in, Dante
made a beeline for the closet. "Something smelled good earlier. Is our
girl as hungry as I am?" he asked, thumbing through the hangars, finally
settling on a pair of washed out jeans. Today would be an off day for him as
soon as he called in and asked his aide to do the minimum and send the
afternoon class home. He intended to relax and hopefully assist Julie in doing
so as well. "Maybe we can go out for dinner tonight? Pick up the boys and
make a family night of it?
Any takers?"

"I’d like to see the boys," Julie
said so softly Dante barely heard her response. "Maybe…"

When she didn’t finish, Dante came out of the
closet with his jeans hanging off his hips still unbuttoned. "Jules,
what’s going on?"

"Nothing."
Her smile was disingenuous and Dante knew
within reason she was withholding something from him again. "I'm hungry.
What did you cook, Blake?" She pushed up and started to get out of bed,
seemingly having forgotten her nakedness, which Dante had insisted upon.

"Stop," Dante said, moving to the
side of the bed, sitting and pinning her between him and Blake. "Didn’t I
tell you
no more
not
talking to me
? What’s bothering you about the boys?"

"Aside from the fact I’ve completely
disjointed their very existence by being here? They shouldn’t be living with
Drake because of me. They have a home and we’ve tossed them out of it on their
ears. I’m surprised they still love me." She drew up in a ball with her
back against the headboard and rested her chin on her knees, shrinking.

"Love, the boys completely understand,"
Dante tried to assure her. "Actually, I think they might understand far
more than we do at this point."

"I’m tired of being a sideshow,"
Julie grumbled. "I just want life to just be…regular again."

"Are you saying you want them to come
home? You have to tell me what you want, Jules. I can’t read your mind."

"I don’t know what I want," she
whined. "I feel like I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t."
Tilting her head, she hid her face by placing her forehead on visibly shaking
knees.

"
Jules,
look at
me," Dante prompted, touching the thin, visible sliver of her cheek with
the backs of his fingers. "Come on. Look at me, love."

Drawing a shaky breath, she looked up.
Although the dark circles under her eyes had eased, she still looked utterly
exhausted and her pupils swirled with uncertainty. They had so much work to do.

"Listen to me. This is going to take a
lot on all our parts. True, the boys are our children, but they’re old enough
to understand what’s going on. It’s not like they're being neglected or uncared
for in any way. Drake has always taken care of them like they were his own."
Dante scooted closer to her and pulled her long hair over her shoulder before
squeezing her arm. "We need this time to get used to each other before you
try to get accustomed to basically being a pre-made mother. I don’t ever want
you to feel guilty for coming first. You deserve that. Everyone deserves that
sometimes and for several long months you sat the backseat to your husband’s
illness. Not that he could help it, but that’s the reality of it. For these few
days, your needs, wants, desires, and selfish demands are my and Blake’s
bidding. Understand? Whatever it is, I’ll do my damnedest to make it happen."

Julie propped her elbows up on her knees and
cradled her face in her palms, shaking her head, still looking wary of this
arrangement.

"Do you really want the boys to come home
or is this just about you feeling insecure?"

"Insecure," she whispered.

"Well, alright.
That I
can work with."
Dante stood and finished buttoning up as he moved
to the dresser to find a t-shirt. "I promised you we’d talk about how this
thing will work for now. We'll start over breakfast. I’d like to have a few
things resolved before we have dinner with the boys. While they do understand a
lot of things, I don’t want them sensing we’re at odds. That
would
disjoint their world. They love
you and if they think I’ve hurt you or made you mad, there’ll be hell to pay,
probably in the form of a staged coup."

Dante pulled a tight fitting black shirt over
his head and turned, running his fingers through his hair to find Blake and
Julie staring at him. Taking control was the only way. Learning to temper that control
with the emotional stuff was where his downfall would be if he didn’t figure
out how.

"Blake, go finish or reheat or redo
whatever you have to. Jules, go put on some clothes. You’re not sure enough yet
to run around without them. I’ll be there in a few minutes. I need to make a
phone call."

Blake stood and moved to the door, the look on
his face telling Dante he was wondering what had overtaken his husband. He
stopped and looked at him one last time before turning and moving down the hall,
shaking his head. Julie sat a minute longer before moving off the bed and
darting out of the room, clearly headed for her own, to find something to wear.
It didn’t escape Dante’s notice that she didn’t bother trying to hide her
nudity. Whether by defiance or acceptance he couldn’t be for certain, but he
moved to the door and peeked around the frame to watch her pretty little ass
bounce down the hall simply because he could and it pleased him. Someday he was
going to very thoroughly enjoy spanking that ass.

Once Blake’s banging and clanging reassured
Dante he was busy and Julie scurried off toward the kitchen dressed in a long
pink t-shirt, he went to his office and shut the door.

"Allen? Dante," he said as his old
friend picked up on the fourth ring. "You’re not engaged are you?"

"No. Just slow this morning. It's early.
 
What can I help you with?"

"Early? You don’t know the meaning until
you’ve been tasked with taking care of Julie." Dante leaned back in his
chair and stretched his free arm over his head, wiggling his fingers. He found
it was a bit stiff from cradling Julie’s head all night.

"Is it that bad?"

"Well, she did sleep most of the night
last night." Stifling a yawn, he spun his chair and turned his computer on
to check his emails before breakfast. "You know I’m not fond of being told
how to do anything, but it would seem…"

"Stop right there," Allen said. "Let
me absorb this for a moment. You’re calling me to ask for help?"

"Yes." For a few seconds there was
nothing but dead air between the men and Dante wondered if Allen was still
absorbing or if he'd passed out from the shock of the situation. "Allen?"

"Okay. I’m ready. What is this thing you
need my help with?"

"I need someone to sort of teach me how
not to be such a hard-ass, but still be able to convince Julie we can do things
my way. If I tone it down.
A bit.
And figure out how
to, well, whatever the hell Mason did to her," Dante shot out before he
lost the nerve to admit he was a bit lost. It wasn’t in his nature to admit
defeat.

"Are you asking me specifically or asking
me to recommend someone or asking me to help you hunt down an indifferent third
party? Because I have to tell you, Julie’s a hot commodity. I know that sounds
cold and calculated and God knows I’d never think of her that way, especially right
now, but the vultures are circling my boy. Whether you own her or not, at
present, she’s a loaded widow."

Dante couldn’t even begin to perceive that he
could possibly lose Julie to someone else. Even though he’d contemplated the
possibility he wasn’t the one to take on the mammoth task of being her new Master
and he thought he might need to help her find the right fit, it had never
crossed his radar screen that someone might just in fact swoop down and
convince her to leave him.
 
Ever.

Hell. No.

Now that his resolve was set on keeping her,
there was positively no way he would allow that to happen.

"Are you telling me I can’t trust you to
do this for me?" he asked with suspicion.