Maybe he could be a good manager after all. He had the knowledge and patience to get the job done. And if he needed support, there was an entire team of people behind him who wouldn’t hesitate to have his back.
“I think you might be right,” he said, startled by Shaniah immediately clapping her hands.
“Of course I’m right!” She danced in her seat, earning a bewildered look from the server who’d approached their table to drop off two big plates of tacos. They smelled heavenly, the aromas of melting cheese and tart cilantro mixing together to make Jay’s mouth water. He attacked his meal, and Shaniah wasn’t far behind, both of them concentrating on their plates until there was nothing left.
Jay pulled out his wallet and set a few bills on the table, enough to cover their meals and the tip.
“Ready to go?”
“Nice try.” Shaniah wiped her lips with a napkin and leaned back in her chair. “You distracted me with the whole promotion thing, but I still want to know why you’ve been glaring at your phone all day.”
Right. The original reason he wanted to talk to her—he’d wanted someone to listen to him while he whined about Aaron’s silence.
He quickly filled her in on the basics of their relationship, skipping the parts about the club. It was easier to pretend they were just two normal, vanilla people who’d met at a bar and hooked up.
When he finished speaking, Shaniah’s gaze softened with pity, her expression a mixture of sympathy and indignation. “So he ghosted you to get back with his ex-husband?”
Jay had asked himself the same question after seeing the selfies on Mark’s profile. All signs pointed that way. Except now that Shaniah had given voice to his worries, a strong impulse to defend Aaron slammed into him. “No. He wouldn’t do something like that. Not without talking to me first, at least.”
She scrunched her face, giving him a disbelieving look. “Why? You said you’re just having fun, not dating.”
He couldn’t explain it, couldn’t put it into words without betraying the depths of his own feelings, but he knew Aaron wouldn’t just hop into someone else’s bed. Despite the unconventional start and casual arrangement, their relationship had blossomed into something deeper and more meaningful. Jay was sure Aaron felt it too.
Shaniah sensed the shift in his mood, changing the subject back to his promotion as they walked back to the office, running through the list of projects he could assign to his employees as soon as they were hired. He didn’t point out that most of the projects she mentioned were hers.
“Jay! You had a phone call!” Hailey, their enthusiastic part-time receptionist, shot up from her chair and waved him over when they stepped off the elevator. He groaned in frustration. Ever since the school project had moved into the testing phase, his clients had been calling on a daily basis for status updates. It wasn’t enough that he provided detailed timelines and promised to email with any developments—they demanded to hear every tiny detail straight from his mouth.
“Did they seriously call reception because I went to lunch?” he grumbled and approached the front desk, where Hailey was practically vibrating with excitement. “Did they leave a message?”
“Yes! Someone named Aaron asked for your phone number, but you know, our policy is to not give out any personal information, and he was really nice about it. He said he totally understood and asked me to tell you that he lost his phone and the replacement was delayed, but he would message you as soon as he could. He hadsucha dreamy voice. I totally should have sent him to your voicemail, but I didn’t think about it until after he hung up.”
Jay’s breath caught in his throat at the sound of Aaron’s name, a pleasant warmth spreading through him as he listenedto Hailey’s enthusiastic chattering. Dizzy with relief, he thanked her and followed Shaniah back to their corner on autopilot.
“I’m sorry I doubted your man,” she said, patting his shoulder before settling at her desk. Within seconds, her fingers were flying over the keyboard, her attention already on something else, while Jay stood rooted in place.
Aaron called him at work to let him know what was going on. A few days of silence didn’t require a check-in, yet Aaron must have felt the separation as keenly as Jay did to reach out.
Jay wasn’t alone in his feelings.
Kink Talk
DomOliver: So, I’ve read my share of romance novels and watched plenty of porn, but now I’m wondering… how much of it is real? What’s the biggest difference between fantasy and reality?
SubMarine: I always thought submission was just about following orders. But reading everyone’s posts here made me realize it’s not just about obedience—it’s emotional, and I have no clue how to handle that.
SubAir: For me, it’s the communications behind the scenes. In books and porn, everything just happens in the moment, but in reality there is a lot of planning and negotiating. You can’t have trust without that piece.
DomicronPersei8: Same. I used to think I’d be some suave Dom, but honestly, half the time, I’m anxiously making sure my partner is comfortable.
DomAndDommer: Yeah, like in movies, the Doms always seem to know exactly what to do. Meanwhile, I’m over here googling different rope types and the pros and cons of each.
SubZero: Spoiler alert: reality includes a lot of fumbling.
SubLily: I don’t see why that’s surprising. Of course it takes effort and practice to do things properly.
SubScribble: I mean, yeah, but we’re allowed to be surprised by how different it feels, Lily. Like, I thought impact play would be super intense and dramatic, but my first scene just felt… cozy?
DommyBoy: Cozy impact play? That’s a first. I was more shocked by how goofy things can get. In my head, it was all smoldering looks, but watching the couples at the kink club, there’s a lot of awkward giggling.
