Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4)
Page 40
"Oh no..." said Lexie, sounding incredibly disappointed. "She’s supposed to be talking to Jake!"
"What's wrong with Jared?" Maria asked, frowning at the younger woman.
"He's still hung up on Marissa," Angel said in a tight voice, cutting off whatever Lexie might have answered. "Leigh needs someone who will put her first, not a guy that's still involved with his ex. They’re not flirting, are they?"
"Jared and Marissa broke up like two months ago," Hilary put in, although she looked a bit worried too now, as she shot a look over at them.
"Yeah, and he totally acts like he's over her," Angel said sarcastically. She looked around the circle of women. "We're thrilled that he's smiling. Does that sound like a guy that's over his ex?"
"Well it's not like Leigh's completely over her ex either," Jessica pointed out, grabbing Angel's arm before she could desert them and go over to interrupt Jared and Leigh's conversation to make sure that Jared wasn’t flirting with Leigh. She grinned. "Look, she's smiling too! And laughing!"
Angel hesitated, obviously a bit torn about whether she needed to go protect her friend or give her the space to have some fun. Although Leigh had tried to put herself out there and date, she hadn’t seemed very enthusiastic about talking to any members of the opposite sex. Seeing her laughing and joking with someone she’d just met…
“Jared might be good for her,” Maria pointed out. “He’ll get where she’s coming from a lot better than most men could.”
“Yeah, I don’t care if they’re friends, as long as he’s not trying to rebound with her, you know?” Angel said, still looking like she wanted to go over so that she could personally watch over Leigh.
“I’d be more worried about the other Doms,” Hilary said, with a little giggle. “Have you noticed how many of them have approached her tonight?”
Lexie muttered something uninterpretable under her breath before sighing loudly. “Okay, maybe this isn’t so bad. Jared can keep the other Doms off of her, so that Jake still has a chance.”
“I like Jake,” Angel said, slowly, glancing over at Lexie’s brother, who was chatting and laughing with Andrew and Chris. Tall, dark and handsome with those gorgeous blue eyes and the obvious bearing of a military man, there were a lot of submissives staring longingly at him. Too bad, all of the gang knew that Jake wasn’t really interested in BDSM, for all that he was definitely an alpha male. Angel grinned suddenly. “As long as he’s looking to treat a woman like a goddess, that’s fine.”
“So you don’t like Jared?” Jessica teased, looking between her and Lexie. “Poor Jared.”
“I like Jared!” Lexie protested. “I’m just saying, I like the idea of Jake and Lexie!”
“If Jared wasn’t still hung up on his ex, I’d be all about Jared and Leigh,” Angel said, right on top of Lexie’s protests. “But since he is… they’d make good friends, I think. But Leigh is not rebound material, dammit.”
Having stayed silent during the brief discussion, Olivia now made a ruling, her gaze thoughtful as she watched the chatting couple across the room. “They both need someone who understands what they’re going through, and none of us really do. None of us have had a similar enough experience to relate. If they become friends, that’ll be a good thing. We should leave them alone for now. I don’t want to accidentally cause either of them to crawl back into their shell.”
The small group watched, speculating, as Leigh and Jared both laughed together on the other side of the room.
About the Author
About me? Right… I’m a writer, I should be able to do that, right?
I’m a happily married young woman, no kids so far, and I like tater tots, small fuzzy animals, naming my plants, hiking, reading, writing, sexy time, naked time, shirtless o’clock, anything sparkly or shiny, and weirding people out with my OCD food habits.
I believe in Happy Endings. And fairies. And Santa Claus. Because without a little magic, what’s the point of living?
I write because I must. I live in several different worlds at any given moment. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Want to know more about my other books and stories? Check out http://goldeniangel.blogspot.com/.
Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the story… and don’t forget, the best thing you can do in return for any author is to leave them feedback!
Stay sassy.
Domestic Discipline Quartet
Birching His Bride
Dealing With Discipline
Punishing His Ward
Claiming His Wife
Venus Rising Quartet
The Venus School
Venus Aspiring
Venus Desiring
Venus Transcendent
Stronghold Series
Stronghold
Taming the Tease
On His Knees
Mastering Lexie
Poker Loser Trilogy
Forced Bet
Back in the Game
Winning Hand