Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Freddy
Fretting over a menu wasn’t the norm for Freddy.
He liked to consider himself a pretty decisive person.
Right now? He was worried he’d chosen all wrong.
Sure, he’d gone over Camille’s likes and dislikes with her, but that didn’t assuage his anxiety.
Why he was stressing so badly he didn’t know… maybe the pressure of Valentine’s Day.
Which was silly. It was a day like any other day.
Yet here he was.
“Something smells amazing,” Camille called from his living room.
She’d come over a little early, and he hadn’t been quite ready yet.
Since he’d wanted to surprise her with the food, she’d been happy to hang out in front of his television with a glass of wine.
Work had been a little stressful for her since she’d turned in her resignation—she was getting pressure from the partners to change her mind—but she didn’t seem to mind.
Knowing she was getting out of there had made her happier than ever, and it showed.
“Hopefully, it tastes amazing,” he joked, except he wasn’t really joking.
It was too late to change up the whole menu.
Sighing, he quickly plated the steaks, oven roasted potatoes, and green beans as artistically as he could.
He liked a good presentation. The steak was perfectly cooked, and he’d fanned out thin slices of it atop the potatoes and green beans to show off the perfectly pink centers, though he did cover it up a little when he dripped the red wine reduction sauce over it.
Taking a plate in each hand, he moved to the dining room, where he already had the table set, complete with candles. Since it was Valentine’s Day, he’d gone with a red theme—dark red place mats and matching napkins with gold rings and red and gold candles in gold holders. It was really very pretty.
The dining room was open to the television room, unlike the kitchen.
Camille looked over as soon as he came into sight, and her smile lit up both rooms. She looked stunning in a creamy pink silk blouse, unbuttoned to show a generous amount of cleavage once she’d gotten in his home.
It had been fully buttoned up when she was at work.
Obviously, he liked it better this way.
“Mmm, it looks amazing,” she said as she set her wineglass down and slid into her seat. She smiled up at him. “Everything looks amazing. This might be the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me, including the part where you agreed to stay in. Thank you.”
The heartfelt warmth in her voice satisfied every little needy part of him, even the part that was worried about whether or not she would like the food. Regardless of if she did, she was clearly very happy with his efforts, and appreciative, and it made her feel good, which was all he wanted.
“It’s my pleasure,” he replied honestly, placing the plates down in their respective places. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day.” As soon as the plates were on the table, she reached up to grab hold of his collar and pull him down for a kiss. He went eagerly, meeting her lips with his, marveling at the sparks that flew as their lips touched. Everything with Camille got better and better every day.
When the kiss ended, her dark eyes were sparkling.
“We’d better eat, or we might never get around to dinner,” she teased.
“You’re not wrong.”
The little noises of happiness she made as she tasted the food made his heart swell. He didn’t need to worry about whether she liked it. She loved the meal.
“Everything is so good. What on earth did you put on these potatoes?”
“They’re easy.” He shrugged nonchalantly even as his chest puffed up with pride.
“Just cut the potatoes up, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, and dried minced garlic and onion, then throw them in the oven for half an hour at four twenty-five. They get all crispy and the seasonings adds to that.”
“They’re so good. I can’t decide if I like them better with or without the sauce, and I am really loving the sauce, so that’s saying something.”
Watching her eat was as good as listening to her.
“So, how was your day?” he asked as she ate. “Are they still trying to convince you to stay?”
“Yes, but I think I finally got through to them that I’m done.
” She shrugged, her expression serene. “They’re grumping about it, but they aren’t trying to shove more money at me anymore.
I think they’ve figured out they can’t pay me enough for me to put up with them any longer.
Junior has been avoiding me completely, which has been a blessing.
I don’t care whether he actually had a crush on me.
I could kiss Steve for saying it in front of everyone because even if it’s not true, he doesn’t want to come anywhere near me anymore.
It’s made my workday so much better. How about you? ”
“Good. Nothing crazy going on at work. I did finally talk to Noelle.”
Camille’s eyebrows went up. “Oh? How did that go?”
“Surprisingly well. She seemed relieved to hear what she’s experiencing is completely normal, and she understood a Dom not wanting to scene with her doesn’t necessarily mean someone warned them off.
I think she just needed to hear it from an outside party.
” He shrugged. “I think she was a little paranoid, but not necessarily for no reason. I don’t think any of Law’s friends will ever scene with her. ”
“That’s a good point. I’m glad it all worked out.”
“Me, too. Some of the drama around Stronghold and Marquis can be kind of fun sometimes, but I don’t think Noelle and Iris drama would be.”
“What’s the fun drama?” she asked, laughing. “I’m having trouble picturing fun drama.”
“Oh, you know, the drama around people getting together.” He grinned and told her the story of Domi and Mitch going from being fuck buddies to engaged, which also led to Andrew and Kate’s story by comparison.
Of course, that meant he had to include Kate’s best friend’s ‘magic vagina’ theory, which Camille got a huge kick out of.
There was something to be said that the Doms who bedhopped the most had been ending up in committed relationships, sometimes without meaning to.
Freddy knew Andrew and Kate hadn’t been looking for that when they’d hooked up again, even though they’d been in love years before.
The whole second chance thing had made all the submissives around the club go swoony, even the ones who had been hung up on Andrew before Kate returned to Maryland.
With Domi and Mitch, pretty much everyone who wasn’t them had seen that one coming, even though it had been in slow motion for a while.
They’d started off scening with other people when only one of them was at the club, but eventually, they’d only been scening with each other, regardless.
That Domi had broken up with Mitch when she’d realized she’d developed feelings for him had only made the story juicier.
That’s what he was talking about when he meant fun drama. Not so much fun for the participants as they were going through it, but fun for everyone else who could see where it was going and got to watch.
“I feel a little bad, like we’ve deprived everyone of gossip.” Camille laughed, leaning back in her chair. She’d scraped her plate clean, making Freddy feel particularly pleased. It had been a good dinner, if he did say so himself.
“Oh, trust me, they’ve been gossiping plenty, especially since we had a night together, then had to pull back because of work.” He rolled his eyes. “There was plenty of ‘will they, won’t they’ discussion going on.”
She burst out laughing in surprise.
“If you say so. I guess it was a little dramatic, having you walk into the room with Mrs. Alexander.”
“Trust me, it felt dramatic when I realized who was on the other side of the table.” He laughed along with her. “That was not how I was hoping things were going to go… but it worked out.”
“Yes, it did.” She extended her hand to him, and he curled his fingers around hers. Their eyes met, and he grinned, unable to keep the goofy smile off of his face when she smiled back.
The moment stretched, the inside of his chest filling with warm happiness. There was nothing awkward about the silence. He was here in the moment with her, and it was perfect.
Camille
As if she needed more proof that Freddy was the perfect man, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
“Are you ready for dessert?”
See? Perfect man.
“What’s for dessert?” she asked, even though it didn’t really matter. She was going to eat whatever it was, regardless. Thankfully, Freddy was a fantastic cook. Clearly, it made him so happy to feed her, she would have faked it even if he wasn’t.
“Chocolate mousse.”
“You made chocolate mousse?” Her voice squeaked, and his smile widened, blue eyes bright with happy pleasure.
“Sure. It’s not that difficult. I made it last night, and it’s been setting in the fridge since then. Whipped cream on top?” He started to get to his feet, but Camille didn’t let go of his hand. Raising his eyebrows questioningly, he looked down at her when he realized he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Any objection to having dessert in bed?”
His eyes widened.
“Are you suggesting we bring it back to the bedroom and lick it off each other or that we bring it back to the bedroom and sit in bed to eat it? Either way, yes.”
Laughing again—God she loved how much he made her laugh—she let go of his hand.
“Whichever makes you more comfortable. They’re your sheets, but I was kind of hoping for Door Number One.”
“Door Number One sounds perfect. Sheets are washable and licking chocolate mousse off of you—or vice versa—sounds like the perfect way to end the evening.”
Getting to her feet, Camille helped him get the dishes into the kitchen.
He looked like he wanted to tell her not to but bit his lip and kept it to himself.
The mousse was in the fridge, as he’d said, already in fancy little individual glasses that made her think of old-fashioned ice cream sundaes.
Grabbing the whipped cream, Camille winked at him as she sashayed away, heading toward the bedroom and leaving him to follow her.
“So how do you want to do this?” he asked, when they reached the room.
“Well, let’s get the covers pulled back, so you only have to wash the sheets and not your comforter.
” She set her glass of mousse down on the nightstand, Freddy following behind her, before pulling back the navy-blue sheets.
If some mousse dripped on the soft cotton, they wouldn’t show stains as much.
Though she had a feeling Freddy probably had all sorts of tricks for getting stains out, so she wouldn’t worry too much about it.
“It’s okay if we get messy,” he said, like he was reading her mind.
Shaking her head, not to say it wasn’t but because he always surprised her with how astute he was, Camille straightened and leaned over to kiss him again, a slow, drugging kiss, intimate rather than passionate, at least initially. Then it heated up quickly.
He tasted like red wine and the quintessential flavor that was Freddy.
Her body hummed to life as it pressed against his.
Their lips separated and came back together, again and again, as they stripped off each other’s clothes.
It was more a joint effort than playing with domination and submission, though she was the one leading the way.
Skin touched skin, satiny soft, his body hair rubbing against her sensitive nipples as lips touched again.
Camille moaned as his fingers moved over her body, caressing her curves, stroking her with erotic intent.
Running her nails lightly across his shoulders and down his chest, she teased his nipples, making him groan in turn.
“Fuck, Mistress…” He gasped out the words when she reached down, cradling his cock and balls in her palm, squeezing them just hard enough to hurt a little. His dick pulsed, jerking in her grip, and she moved her hand up and down the shaft, making him whimper as his head fell back.
“Up on the bed, Freddy. On your back. I want to have my dessert first.” He’d been such a good boy, making a lovely dinner for her and dessert, and he deserved a reward. Letting go of his dick, she grabbed her cup of mousse while he got on the bed and rolled onto his back.
“Hands up and grip the headboard.” She wasn’t going to tie him in place, but she wanted full access while she was playing.
Thankfully, he had a very grippable headboard, with lots of vertical bars to wrap his fingers around.
Knowing Freddy, he’d probably picked it out on purpose for exactly that reason.
“Yes, Mistress.” Stretching out, he arched his back slightly, showing off his muscles as they rippled with his movements. He was stunning, both in appearance and in his submission… and he was all hers.