Michael Radcliff, known to all and sundry as Rad, smiled in a noncommittal way at his childhood friend. “So-so.”
Tay spun on his feet to stare at him, incredulously. “I beg your pardon.”
“Any time. Look Tay, you and I both know, Dommissimma has a reputation, second to none. But the million-dollar question is this. Do I have the time or the inclination to go onto a committee where I’m not totally involved in the rest of the workings of the place? I’m not sure I do. Now if I was buying into the set up, it might be different.”
“No can do, mate, it’s not just down to me. Look, come and chat to the others, don’t decide yet. After all they might hate you or vice versa.”
“Couldn’t. I’m a nice guy. I eat my greens, help old ladies across the road and give the subbies the best time of their lives.”
“And beat me at billiards, and find the lady.” That made Rad jump, even though he knew Tay spoke about the card game. If only. “Yeah. Talking of ladies, how’s my ex-wife?”
Tay shrugged. “As ever. Intransigent. I think, though I don’t know, that the relationship I thought she might have with Linsey, my co-owner, never really got off the ground. Lin’s been very noncommittal about it all. I suspect she doesn’t want to make me piggy in the middle. Anyway, let’s go in.”
He turned the doorknob and opened the door.
Someone inside was speaking.
“…Tattoo…”
“Hey hold the door, I’m here,” a voice behind them shouted. “Don’t start without me, or Athol will drink my wine.”
Rad turned around with Tay to see a tall dark haired guy, jacket flapping, hurry along the corridor. He strained to hear more from inside the room. Tattoos interested him. He didn’t manage it.
“Sheesh, cheers, Tay. Bloody students. They’re usually champing at the bit to get away. Today because that was me, the sods were all eager. And me being the good lecturer I am, waited somewhat impatiently and answered such important questions like, so when is this essay due, again, and does it need to be in fourteen point or will twelve do.” The newcomer rolled his eyes and grinned.
“Hi, Edan Murdoch,” He held out his hand. “My other half should be inside.”
Rad shook it, liking the friendly open face. “Michael Radcliff. Call me Rad if you don’t want a rude reply. I am not, and never ever again will be Michael.”
“So, Rad, you think you want to be one of us?” Edan asked as they walked inside. “Dom or sub?” He winked. “Or a nice switch like a lot of us here.”
The question was asked in a cheerful manner, as if the answer mattered not a jot. Rad answered in the same way. “Well, I’m a Master…” he paused for effect and noticed every pair of eyes on him. “Baker.”
To his relief most of the people, he counted four others in the room, laughed. The only woman looked ill.
“That apart, I guess I switch depending on what mood I’m in, and the person I’m playing with. I’m easy.”
“Let me introduce you.” Tay made introductions rapidly. The woman, Linsey, who he realized was Tay’s co-owner was so white he thought she might pass out. She smiled, but he noticed it didn’t reach her eyes.
“You okay Lin?’ Tay asked concern uppermost in his voice.
She nodded. “Tummy upset. Women’s troubles.”
Tay nodded. Rad saw Athol open his eyes wide, but keep his mouth shut.
“Fiona is on her way,” Athol said finally. “And Claudio is in Italy, but says he’ll go with the flow. Tay, Silv says why did you leave your mobile at home?”
“Damn and fuck, did I?” Tay patted his pockets. “Ah well, she knows she can ring here or one of you. That’s the problem with a wife five days overdue, who had the nesting instinct in overdrive. I swear if I sit still too long she’ll be plumping me up or washing me down with disinfectant. I bet it’s in the dishwasher or something. Thank god it’s the clinic on Sunday if nothing has happened. Then I’m a daddy.” He grinned. “Oh god, where’s the wine?”
Rad smiled and shook his head. “You’re driving.”
“Oh, sod it, so I am.” Tay rolled his eyes. “Okay, where’s the coffee?”
Here,” Edan went to the coffee machine and put a pod in the holder. The rich aroma of strong Kenyan blend filled the room.
Linsey went even whiter if it was possible.
“Oh balls, excuse me.” She put her hand over her mouth and rushed out, almost knocking another woman—Fiona, Rad presumed—over in her haste.
“What’s up with Linsey?” The woman asked.
“Time of the month,” Athol said briefly.
“Ah, poor thing. I tell you sometimes it sucks to be a woman. I bet none of you lot would cope even half as well as us women with all the crap we have to put up with for forty odd years. Sometimes I almost think it’d be worth getting pregnant for. A year of no Aunty Flo. But then, I’m not mummy material so I put up with it, and poor Lizzie puts up with my moods. My partner and sub,” she said to Rad, who wondered just what he’d been brought into. “She just sails through it all. I snip and snap, and everyone steers clear of me. I never ever play during that week. I tell ya I’d be had up for grievous bodily harm if I did.” She giggled. “Actually I practice with my bullwhip on a dummy. It gets rid of my pain and frustration and means when it’s over for another three weeks Lizzie and I get a lot more fun. Oh sorry, we haven’t been introduced.” She smiled up at Rad.
“Fiona, this is Rad, Rad, Fiona,” Tay made the introductions. “For his sins, he’s my ex-brother-in-law.”
****
Oh shit, fuck, and hell on wheels.
Linsey paused as she went to re-enter the room. Once she’d got out of the orbit of the coffee smell her upchuck reflex returned to normal. Only an incipient headache hovered over her left eyebrow to spoil her equilibrium. Or, she decided, as normal as it was going to be for the next seven months.
That voice. It couldn’t be? Surely, it was her condition that made her think she recognized the deep velvet tones, with a sexy hint of a Welsh accent that struck her to the core and made her wet? After all didn’t all the books say you were extra susceptible when you were pregnant? That your hormones went into overdrive and you became the high priestess of horniness?
Even so… How the hell could she be sure? After all, Linsey thought, semi-hysterically, she could hardly go up to the guy and say hi, excuse me but do you have a cherry tattooed on your dick?
She took a deep breath, noted no coffee scents and pushed the door open.
“Sorry,” she said with a breezy insouciance she certainly didn’t feel. “I never can stomach coffee at this time of the month. It’s Earl Grey or water.”
“My fault, hon, I forgot,” Athol winked briefly. “Coffee chucked and kettle on. You lot take a seat next door, and I’ll bring it through. You okay with wine, Lin?”
She nodded carefully. Her head was still thumping. “But I don’t fancy any though.”
“No worries, Earl Grey coming up.”
Thank goodness for that. The gentle taste of Earl Grey tea was perfect for her at that moment. She followed Tay, Edan, and Fiona toward the comfortable lounge next door. Rad hung back, and gently put his hand on her arm.
Electricity arced through her and it took all of her concentration not to jump, jerk or react in any way.
“Are you sure you’re all right, Linsey? I can call you that?”
Oh god it is him, isn’t it? She realized he was waiting for an answer. “Oh of course it is. Or Lin, whichever you fancy.” And tell me who you are, or should that be what you were. I really don’t want to say, ‘were you the guy who wore a silver mask and carried a red and silver handled flogger? Flogged me and fucked me senseless, fed me fairy cake and fizz and then held me tight whist we got matching tattoos?’ It would be mortifying if he turned to her and said ‘no’.
“Why Rad? Is it short for anything?” Keep talking. Even if he thinks my period makes me peculiar. Just get him to talk and bloody listen. And see how he pronounce
s Cherry. How she was going to get him to do that she had no idea, but her masked man had said it so softly with a hint of a Shhh, in the Ch. However it wasn’t something she could easily drop in the conversation. Dicks and tattoos apart, she couldn’t ask him what his favorite fruit was, or his preferred shade of red. It would be just her luck he’d say at this time of the year, plums and the color of my sub’s ass after I’ve spanked her.
As she had no ideas to aid her, Linsey gave up and changed tactics. “I hope you’ve liked what you’ve seen so far.”
“Hmm.” His response was, she decided very noncommittal. “It’s well maintained.”
She took the bull by the horns. “But?” After all until Tay had bought in, it had been all her baby.
Oh god, my baby. Her hands twitched as she fought not to cover her tummy in a tell-tale—to her—gesture.
“But,” Rad said evenly. “I’m not sure I want to be on a committee that has its hands tied. I’m used to being hands on.” He winked and she felt her cheeks redden.
Oh if you’re who I think you are, I so know that.
“So what are you saying?” she asked him. “Are you saying it’s a no go because you aren’t an owner?”
“I… hold on, let’s wait until we’re all together. I’ll only need to say it once.” His smile took the sting out of his rejection. “After you.”
Of course it was sod’s law he took the other half of the settee he’d ensconced her on.
Never before had Linsey felt so out of control, and she couldn’t put it down to pregnancy hormones. It was all down to the guy sat next to her, with his jean clad thigh rubbing her leather covered one, and his shoulders bumping against hers. He swiveled slightly to accept her glass of wine from Edan, and his, and she smelt his scent.
It is him. Citrus, especially lime, the aroma that had haunted her for all those weeks. Combined with a hint of spice, she’d never sensed it before or after that special night.
“Okay, now we’re all here, I’d like to welcome, Rad to Dommissimma. He’s interested in joining us and the committee, but he’s got some reservations. And I don’t think it’s just because he’s my ex brother in law either.”
What? How did I not know that? Oh, bloody hell, what a fucking cock up. In every bloody way.
“Lin? Linsey honey, you’re as white as a sheet. Are you okay?” Athol sounded worried. “Do you need to lie down? Shall I call a medic?”
She tried to answer, but someone had stuffed her mouth with cotton wool so when she opened it and tried to speak no words formed.
“Lin?”
Stars flashed in front of her eyes, and she had a rushing in her ears. For the first time in her life Linsey didn’t fight the faint. She slid sideways onto her nemesis and let the blackness take her into welcome oblivion.
Chapter Six
“What on earth brought that on?” Rad asked as Athol thumbed him to move off the settee and let Linsey stretch out. “Was it something I did or didn’t say?”
Athol shook his head.
“Not that I know of.” He took Linsey’s pulse and Rad remembered he was a doctor of sorts.
“Well what then?” Why on earth was he so persistent? What was it about the white faced, fragile looking woman that called to him? “Is she ill?”
Everyone in the room, apart from the unconscious Linsey looked at Athol.
“No, just shattered.”
“You don’t faint from just shattered,” Fiona said stubbornly. “So, ergo she’s ill. With what though.”
Athol firmed his lips.
“Athol, you’re not her doc, and if you don’t tell us now, I’m ringing for an ambulance.” Fiona crossed her arms. On the count of three.”
Rad watched the battle of wills with some amusement. He wondered who would win.
“She’s my friend as well, so if you know, spill. One…Two…”
Rad saw Linsey’s eyelids flutter. “Just tell her,” she said faintly. “She’s like a sodding bloodhound.”
He sighed. “It depends on how you look at it. She’s pregnant.”
Tay rocked back on his heels. He looked shell shocked. “Pardon?”
“You heard.” Linsey said in a weak voice. “Fuck you, Athol, shout it to all of Glasgow why don’t you. Fucked up, up the duff, in the…”
“Shh,” Athol put his finger over her mouth.
She glared, well as much as a whey-faced pixie could, Rad thought, amused in spite of his worry. With her blonde hair in unintentional curly spikes, and the top six inches of her slinky cat suit now open, she called to all things primitive in him. The swell of her breasts as she tried to breathe regularly made him itch to run his hands under the hot as Hades leather, find her nipple and pinch—hard. Before he slowly tugged the neck to crotch zipper down, peeled the two sides of the suit apart, and feasted on her body.
“Pudding club,” she mumbled around Athol’s finger.
Shit, I’m lusting after a pregnant woman. The absolute certainty that it should have been him to get her in that state, not some unknown person, shocked him to the core. It was something to think about—later. Much later. For now he concentrated on controlling his hard as hell prick.
“We’re going to be uncles,” Edan said and high-fived Fiona. “Uncles and aunties and…”
“And pains in the butts,” Linsey said as she struggled to sit up. “And please, god, don’t be an uncle and an aunty. This child will have enough to come to terms with as it, is without Aunty… or is it Uncle today Edan spoiling him or her rotten. You will all be honorary whatever if you want, but, and I mean it, you will not go over the top and do the stupid spoiling stuff. I want a well rounded child not a spoiled brat. Do you get me?”
“Yes, Miss.” Edan grinned. “When is the happy event?”
“Around six months.”
“Great, plenty of time to learn to crochet and become the favorite to hold your hand and tell you to pant not push.” Edan sounded so knowledgeable that Rad must have let his surprise show in his face. Edan chuckled. “I watch ER, Casualty and re-runs of Doctor Kildare.”
A heavy lead weight took up residence in Rad’s stomach as he laughed along with the others. Even Linsey grinned a little.
I want to be that person. I want to hold her hand and encourage her. His thoughts shocked him. Where the hell had they come from?
“I still think you need to be checked out,” Fiona said stubbornly. “Just in case.”
So do I.
“I promise to go to the GP tomorrow,” Linsey said. “Now I want to go home. I’m sorry, Rad, we’ll reconvene when my brain isn’t mush.”
He smiled. “No worries, I’m not going anywhere except home as well.” But how he wanted to keep in close contact with her. And he had no bloody idea why, except his cock was straining the thread of the seams around his zipper and he was bloody glad he wore a long t-shirt.
Athol looked at him briefly and then at Tay. Rad swore something passed between the two men. Almost a secret code. Then Athol cleared his throat.
“Do you think you could take Lin home for us please, Rad?”
“Oh, but I’m fine.”
Athol ignored Linsey’s protest. “Edan and I will come by as soon as we can, because whatever she says, she is not going to be left alone tonight. But, before we can come over, I’ve left stuff in my office I need to take home. I don’t have my car with me today so Ede is the designated driver.”
“If you believe that you’ll believe anything,” Linsey muttered. “Anyway, I can’t put Rad out. I won’t drive. I’ll get a taxi if no one else can help.” She looked at each one of them in turn.
“Sorry, honey, I need to go pick Lizzie up.” Fiona didn’t sound at all sorry.
“About to give birth,” Tay said. “And I better get back seeing as I’ve no phone. You and Rad can chat over anything you think pertinent and we’ll reconvene when you’re feeling better, and I’m a dad.” He sketched a wave and left the room at a half run.
“Turncoat,” Linsey m
uttered. She looked at Rad and raised one eyebrow. “Look I really don’t want to take you out of your way. I live out of town.”
“Really? Where?”
She scowled.
Interesting. So why didn’t she want to tell him? Any of the others would pass the information on if he asked, surely, so it was no big deal.
Rad fixed her with his best I am a Dom stare. She ignored it. Then she sighed.
“Balfron.”
“Then you won’t be,” Rad assured her. “Because as from last week, so do I.”
Now why did she look as if that was the worst news ever?
Fuck shit and hell. “Ah well, that’s good then,” she said weakly, her voice soft and breathy. “Then of course I accept your kind offer. Give me a few minutes to grab anything I might need. We’re closed tomorrow.”
“Just as well,” Athol said. “Now, what’s your first thing to do in the morning?”
“Go to the doctor’s. There’s open surgery, nine ‘til ten at my surgery. I promise I’ll be waiting outside when they open the door. With my ginger ale and dry toast.”
Athol grinned. “Good girl, and ginger biscuits are said to be good as well.”
“You know that how?”
He chuckled. “Well as you’re aware, Fiona’s Lizzie is a nurse and we spent one very quiet night on the door swapping gory training stories. She told me one about ginger nuts and…” Athol stopped speaking suddenly. “Anyway that’s neither here or now. Anything you want me to do?”
“You change the subject quite beautifully,” Linsey said dryly. “You’ll lock up won’t you? Before you go to your office and no doubt drive within a few miles of my house.”
He didn’t bat an eyelid. “Not going home tonight, we were stopping in town in the flat. Now we’re stopping with you, and no you will not make our bed up, I will. I have an early appointment, and Ede is doing something no doubt erudite at Glasgow uni instead of St. Andrews. You’ll be in safe hands with Rad.”
Rad held his hands in the air and waggled his fingers. “Safe as houses. They can sculpt a perfect gingerbread house if that helps.” He winked. “Plus wield a flogger to perfection. Or so I’m told. And there’s no need for you to come out. I’ll stay. If he hadn’t dashed off Tay would have vouched for me.”
The Dom with the Dark Eyes Page 4