The Dom With the Perfect Brats (26 page)

He continued to ignore the flashing of his voicemail as he grabbed
his wallet and keys, then ushered the girls down the stairs and into his truck. There was no helping his instinct to make sure they were buckled in before he put the truck in gear, but it only took a minute and then they were off.

Izzy silently offered Gemma a brush that she’d pulled from her purse.

“Doms have no respect for a girl’s hair,” she grumbled as she brushed it hurriedly.

They checked each other’s make-up and teased him for not giving them longer to get ready.

He chuckled. “I was too busy getting my cock sucked to worry about your make-up.”

Cross parked behind Jude’s new pickup, the truck slick and professional looking compared to the old beater he used to have.
It even had his company logo on the side. Good advertising. Business was booming, and Cross felt bad he’d been slacking on helping him out. He loved the work, but all of his free time was occupied lately, for some strange reason.

“Is this place haunted?” Izzy asked as they walked up the steps. “It’s a little creepy.”

“Jude was going to restore it as a model home for his business, but Q loved the creepiness of it so much that he decided to stick to necessary repairs and upgrades.” He laughed, remembering the conversation.

“What kind of woman would want her boyfriend to leave the creepy house creepy?” Izzy’s brow arched in curiosity.

“Q.”

The door swung open almost before Cross knocked, and there was Jude in all of his blond surfer-looking glory. He nodded to Cross and gave Isadora and Gemma a charming smile. “Come in, come in. Sabrina was watching out the window so I knew when you pulled up.”

Cross noticed both of his girls looking his friend over with interest. A weird feeling clutched at his stomach. He had the urge to grab them both and remind them explicitly that they were his. If they’d wanted a gregarious pretty-boy that would let them get away with murder, they’d picked the wrong fucking Dom. He quickly caught himself and reeled his feelings back in. Fuck, he’d been a step away from biting them and beating his chest. Jealous much?

It was so unlike him. He’d gladly have shared any of this other girls with Jude, if Jude had been interested in playing with them. Cross gritted his teeth and hoped no one decided to shake hands. It wasn’t just Jude, he realized. He didn’t want any man touching what was his.

“She was watching for us?” Gemma asked.

“Yes. She’s all excited that
Cross’s girls are coming over.” Jude laughed, oblivious to the clamor in Cross’s mind.

The gorgeous blonde in question came into the room and linked an arm through Jude’s. Cross had to admit that her mannerisms were getting more like Q’s over time, rather than vice versa. Long ago she would have skipped into the room, but now she walked with purpose, looking much more self-possessed.

“Shut up!” She laughed, poking Jude in the ribs. “I don’t get to talk fashion with anyone but you and my friend Reece and we don’t have the same taste in clothes.” She smiled conspiratorially at the girls. “Q doesn’t even think about clothes unless she’s putting them on.”

“Or taking yours off
.” Cross chuckled, shaking off his idiot jealous self. He knew these people. This was safe. The two of them together looked like characters from a beach-themed soap opera. Almost too perfect to be real. But they were down-to-earth people, for all of that. “How’s Q?”

“I’m not a fucking invalid, Cross. Get in here and say hi,” Q growled from down the hall
, in the living room. He shot Jude a meaningful look but Jude just shrugged and grinned. Since she’d gotten pregnant he found that Jude let her switch back and forth between being submissive and dommy even with him – as though the pregnancy hormones excused the behavior.

Maybe to make things work with a sub like Q, a Dom had to be lenient. He’d seen how beaten down she’d been with her ex, Nico.

Shit. Was that how it was with Gemma? Maybe she needed a Dom who was more easygoing, but did he want to be soft like Jude?

He led the way into the living room, where Q was sitting on the floor, surrounded by piles of books.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Cross
eyed the stacks, brow raised.

“The categories I had them in were all wrong.” She shook her head.

Gemma and Izzy looked down at her, and Cross could see them taking in the curtain of black hair, the blue eyes, pale skin. The black clad thin frame and huge belly. Q looked like she belonged at a punk concert, not as the lover of two extras from
Baywatch
.

Jude crouched down in front of her and kissed her forehead
. His lips lingered there a moment. Q’s eyes closed and she looked like she would readily melt under his ministrations. “She reorganized the kitchen yesterday. Sabrina let her, for the sake of peace, but I have the feeling it’ll be going back to the way it was in a few weeks.”

“Being pregnant is turning her into some kind of cleaning freak,” Sabrina said.

With a rumbling laugh, Cross sat on a couch. “I didn’t know she could find the kitchen on her own, unless her Sabrina radar led her in there.” He usually sat in the chair by the living room door when he came in, but that wouldn’t do anymore. His girls sat on either side of him, Izzy’s legs curled up under her and Gemma had her ankle crossed over her knee, like Q usually sat. Q and Gemma held each other’s gazes for a moment, as though sizing each other up.

“This is new. They’re not
half-naked
and
you let them sit on the furniture?” Sabrina teased.

Q snorted. “They look smart too. Go figure.”

Gemma eased back into the crook of Cross’s arm and smiled. “Yeah, he allows us independent thought on special occasions. Although he’s turned Izzy into a sex zombie before. I was a witness.”

“Shut up!” Izzy reached over Cross’s chest and smacked her.

Smiling evilly, Q looked at Cross. “Any Dom worth their crop can make their sub a sex zombie. It’s whether he or she can win their true submission that’s the true measure.”

“You’re not very submissive, Q. Does that mean Jude’s an
inferior-quality Dom?” Cross asked innocently.

“No, that just means you haven’t seen him beat me hard enough.”

Sabrina waved her hands around frantically. “No beating talk! She’s been depressed enough as it is, waiting for the baby to come. The doctor said no more rough play until at least six weeks after she has him or her.”

“Him,” asserted Jude.

“Her,” Q disagreed. “I refuse to have a boy, since you’re insisting we have to give him such a milquetoast name.

“What’s wrong with
Jacob? It was my father’s name.” Jude’s brow lowered into a frown.

“I’m sure we would have loved your dad, Jude, but it’s just not a name I can picture myself yelling at the playground – you know? Save it for one of Sabrina’s babies.”

Sabrina grimaced. “I’m not breeding anytime soon. The way Jude’s spawn has been making you puke for the last nine months, I’m in no rush. Isn’t morning sickness supposed to go away after the first trimester? Besides, the women in my family get fat and matronly after their first baby. I want to keep my girlish figure as long as possible.”

“So we’re going to have a horde of children, but I have to grow them all myself? How is that fair?”

Izzy and Gemma watched the conversation like it was a tennis match.

“Let me guess,” Cross interjected. “If it’s a boy, you’d prefer to call him Genghis, Q?”

“Genghis would be way better than Jacob at least.” Jude and Sabrina burst out laughing. Hard enough for a couple to decide on a baby name, Cross thought, with three parents it would be that much more difficult.

“What name are you rooting for, Sabrina?”
Gemma asked as Cross shifted, pulling Izzy back into the couch with him.

“I liked Ava for a girl, but apparently it was really popular again this year, so Q says it’s out. Q made us a short list of girl names she liked, and now she’ll only let us choose from those.”

“She almost lost her voting rights when she added the name Valentine to the name list on the fridge,” Jude grumbled. “That’s a beat-me-up name.”

“It’s a hot name for a guy,” Sabrina protested.

“Even Valentine is better than Jacob,” Q commented sardonically.

“Are you due soon?” Izzy asked, looking more interested than Cross would have liked.

“Yeah, next week. First baby, though. I could go two weeks late before they’d induce me.”

Izzy
nodded. “They induced my sister, but they ended up having to do a c-section.”

“Hey, enough girl talk
,” Cross complained.

“Just wait until they start talking about their periods synching up
.” Jude groaned. “We’re outnumbered. The conversation is going to happen.”

“Yeah, does that actually happen?” Izzy perked up.

“It did for us pretty quickly, actually.” Q said. “But after the baby, who knows?”

Jude
squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Okay, now that we have that inevitable conversation out of the way – anyone want a beer?” Gemma and Izzy both accepted, but Cross declined so he could drive later.

Q stacked
a few books together and Sabrina jumped up to take them away, putting them on the shelf where Q wanted them. “Oh, Sabrina. You don’t need to be so overprotective.” She rolled her eyes, but let her do it again a minute later. “So, Cross told us that you’re a tattoo artist, Gemma? He showed us the gargoyle you did on his calf. Beautiful work. He looks like he could jump out of the tattoo and take off.”

Cross tried not to look smug. It wasn’t as though her work
was a reflection on him, but he was proud of her and Izzy both.

“Thanks
. I started working at the tattoo shop in Cross’s building a few months ago. His tattoo got me the job.”

They talked tattoos for a few minutes then Gemma
turned to Izzy. “And Izzy is a romance writer.”

Everyone
looked to her as Jude came into the room and handed out beer. Izzy’s cheeks went pink. “Well, I’ve been freelancing too, writing articles for the Cobalt Harbor Expositer. They’re picky so they’ve only taken two articles so far, but I’m hoping to edge my way in and get more work. I’m almost done my first novel, though. I’m not sure whether I should submit it to a publisher or just go ahead and self-publish. But first I have to save up some money and pay a professional editor.”

“Cool! I read romance novels.” Sabrina smiled. “Are you going to publish under your own name or a pen name?”

Izzy shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about that yet.”

“
If you self-publish and need a book cover, let me know. I have a graphic arts business.”

As the two girls launched into a
deep a discussion about book covers and artwork, Jude slipped away to check on dinner.

“Ready to eat?” he said when he returned a few minutes later.

“Yes!” Q struggled to get up off the floor. “I’m starving.”

Sabrina rushed to grab her hand to help her but Q batted her hands away.

Everyone made their way to the dining room while Cross lagged behind. To his surprise, Gemma stopped him in the hallway, just around the corner from the formal dining room.

She
stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Having fun?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “They’re nice.”

Her smile had an edge to it.

“What do you want?”

With a hand on the back of his neck, she pulled
his mouth down to hers. She kissed him hard, grinding her sweet body against him. He let her have her way for a moment, then grabbed her by the upper arms and spun, shoving her against the wall. He crowded in, pressing up against her before he took her mouth with his. She kissed him back hard, running her hands up his ribs under his t-shirt. Slowly, she calmed under his mouth, responding eagerly but no longer trying to control him. His thigh pressed up between her legs and she whimpered quietly into his mouth.

He raised his head and looked down at her tenderly. “Are you still in a bad way, my girl?”

She pouted up at him and nodded. Cross cupped the side of her neck with his palm, then slid his hand around until thumb and fingers collared her neck to the wall. So tiny, compared to him.

Eyes strangely docile, Gemma looked up at him, waiting. Desire pumped through him and he wondered how he’d manage
to eat when all he wanted at that moment was to be inside her.

“You don’t take what you want from me
. You take what I give you. Is that clear?”

“Yes, I take what you give me, Sir,” she whispered back.
Her eyes were wide and guileless, her lips parted.

“And what do you want me to give you, girl?”

“Anything you want.”

Anything?
He wanted to make her scream. Maybe he’d finally found a way to get at Gemma’s submission more easily. Maybe keeping her frustrated was the way to make her doe-eyed and compliant like Izzy.