Chapter 1 #2
They both knew that Camille’s automatic response to someone telling her what to do tended to her doing the exact opposite.
Which was partly how she’d ended up at Donaldson when everyone she talked to told her that she shouldn’t accept their offer but didn’t want to talk about why.
It was also something she didn’t get to do very often since she had to follow the partners’ directions at work… even when they were inane.
“Uh huh. Well, I’m not going to tell you who I picked. I’m just going to point out the options, and Olivia is going to stay out of it.” Julie lifted her chin, shooting Olivia a defiant look. The other Domme smiled like the Cheshire cat, as if she was enjoying Julie’s challenge.
“Maybe I can pick for myself.” Camille looked around the room and caught the eye of an absolute giant standing on the other side. He was a cutie. “What about him?”
The big man stared back at her before his eyes dropped to Julie and lingered for a moment before he looked away.
“That’s Connor, one of our shyer Doms,” Olivia replied, running her fingers over her chin.
“He’s a total teddy bear, but I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be interested in what you’re offering.
” Teddy bears didn’t really do it for Camille, but he was a big cutie.
She might have been willing to make an exception. “I think you’d like Freddy.”
Julie glared across the table at Olivia.
“She’s not going to choose anyone you try to pair her with.” Julie shook her head.
“You don’t know that.” Camille spun around in her chair. “Where’s this Freddy?”
“He’s here somewhere. I saw him earlier,” Olivia said, waving her hand. “I’ll point him out to you. There are a few others here you might like better, though. Don’t go for Freddy just to spite Julie.”
Nodding, Camille looked around as Olivia and Julie started giving her a rundown on the possibilities, with Luke, Lisa, and Sharon adding in their own thoughts about the single submissive men who were present.
Freddy
As the champagne was passed around, Freddy smiled, hiding his feelings of discontent.
No one wanted a party pooper. It was no one’s fault that he was single—again—for the new year.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emery snuggled up with Mistress Red, the two of them practically glowing as they looked at each other.
“You sure you don’t want to find someone other than me to kiss?” Steve asked, looking nervous.
“Hey, I thought we agreed we’d rather share a kiss with a friend than kiss no one at all,” Freddy teased, before becoming more serious. “But it’s okay if you don’t want to. We can wait.”
Steve hadn’t been ‘out’ as a gay man for long.
Realizing he was gay and kinky and submissive had been a lot for him, so Freddy had taken the other man under his wing.
He usually watched out for the club submissives, anyway, but Steve was a special case because he was also the younger brother of Freddy’s good friend, Chris, and because he was so new to every aspect of his sexuality.
Although Freddy was bi, he wasn’t sexually attracted to Steve, but he didn’t mind being there for a friend. Sure, he’d rather be kissing a hot Dominant at midnight, preferably a Domme, but this wasn’t so bad. It was better than last year when he’d kissed his champagne flute at midnight.
The countdown started.
“Ten!”
Movement caught Freddy’s eye, and he turned his head to see Master Eric headed for him and Steve with a determined look on his face.
“Nine!”
No, not toward him and Steve. Toward Steve. Oh, oh, oh! Freddy had told Steve that he thought Master Eric was interested!
“Eight!”
Steve had insisted it was just a training relationship for the class. Didn’t look like that from the expression on Eric’s face.
“Seven.”
Master Eric had his eyes trained on Steve and was moving like a man on a mission.
“Six!”
Stepping back, Freddy pivoted and pulled Steve with him, so he was facing the right way.
“Five!”
“Freddy, wha—?
“Four!”
Master Eric was in front of them, hands coming up to cup Steve’s face.
“Three!”
“Say no if you don’t want me to kiss you.” Master Eric’s voice was low, rough.
Freddy sighed out loud. It was like a moment straight out of a movie.
“Two!”
“Yes,” Steve whispered.
“One! Happy New Year!”
Okay, well, if he wasn’t getting a kiss of his own, at least Freddy was getting a front-row seat to some of the juiciest gossip—and one of the hottest kisses of the night. Damn. Master Eric looked like he was going to devour Steve, and Steve seemed inclined to let him.
Apparently, last year’s midnight did predict this year’s. He’d be sharing a kiss with his champagne again. He brought it to his lips while he watched Steve rub himself all over Master Eric.
Envy pulsed through Freddy, which he hated, but he knew it was normal.
Seeing so many of his friends pairing off made him more and more aware of what he ultimately wanted, what he wasn’t getting, and what he didn’t know how to get.
He’d played with just about every Dominant at Stronghold and Marquis yet had never sparked with anyone.
Not the way Eric and Steve were sparking with each other right in front of him.
Considering he wasn’t picky about what gender he ended up with, he should have more chances than the heteros, yet here he was.
Someone tapped his shoulder, and he turned, holding back his sigh, expecting to see another of his friends there, someone who would want the gossip, but it was a woman he’d never seen before.
Freddy blinked, his mind automatically running through his mental catalog of members.
No, he had definitely never seen her before.
He would have remembered.
She was about an inch shorter than him, but a quick glance confirmed she was wearing high heels, putting her another couple of inches shorter.
Curvy as hell, she was packed into a light green corset dress that barely contained her breasts, which were threatening to spill over at any moment.
Medium brown skin, dark brown eyes, and black curly hair styled naturally in a riot of springy coils that stood out around her head.
She looked like a goddess, and Freddy locked his knees against the instinct to drop and worship her.
“Hello, I’m so sorry. Do I know you?” The urge to keep babbling about how he knew everyone at the club was strong, but he held it back.
Her lips curved in a stunning smile, and Freddy’s knees trembled.
“I’m Mistress Camille, Mistress Julie’s friend.”
That’s right. She’d been on the guest list, but Julie hadn’t been sure she’d actually come. Freddy assumed she must have just arrived because he would have definitely noticed her walking around earlier.
“I’m Freddy. I help run the front desk and well, all sorts of other things.” Do not babble. Do not babble. Do not babble. He couldn’t remember the last time a Dominant had had this kind of effect on him.
Mistress Camille’s smile widened.
“So, I was told. I was hoping you could help me out with something.”
“Yes, of course.” Anything.
She leaned in, and he bent his head forward to make sure he’d be able to hear her, his heart thumping faster in his chest as she shifted closer, so they were almost touching.
“I don’t have anyone to kiss for New Year’s. Can you help me with that?”