Page 5

The dry-cleaner’s wrapping rustled as he hung both tuxes back up. “Okay. What’s going on?”

Lissa looked at her phone again. Damon cleared his throat.

“What?”

He smiled. “If you’re going to break up with me, you could at least do me the courtesy of not staring at your phone the whole time.”

She placed the phone on top of the chest. “Is it obvious?”

“Has been for a couple of weeks.”

A heavy silence followed the answer. Both looked in each other’s general direction, but their eyes didn’t meet for a long few seconds.

The loud buzzing of the phone as it vibrated on the wooden chest broke the quietness.

Damon jerked his head toward the phone. “Is that him?”

“You don’t know there’s a him.”

“There’s someone else.”

She finally looked at him, shifting on her feet and thrusting her hip out, a fist resting on it. “Why? Because the only reason anyone would dare break up with the great Damon Drake is if there was someone better? And that would be tough, right, because who is better?” She sighed. “Come on.”

“Wow.”

“What?” she asked with a glare.

He smiled. “That’s quite a performance.”

For a moment, he thought she was going to smile too, but she managed to keep a straight face.

Finally, she said, “It’s Max Arden.”

“The studio chair?”

Damon felt silly as soon as the question left his mouth. Of course it was Max Arden, the movie producer turned studio exec who ruled over a significant portion of Hollywood.

Lissa confirmed the silly question’s answer with a slight nod.

“Is he even a… Daddy?”

“He is.”

“Why haven’t I seen him at any events around town?”

As members of the ageplay community, Damon and Lissa didn’t know everyone in Hollywood who participated in the lifestyle. But they knew quite a few. It was a tight-knit bunch.

Lissa shrugged. “He’s private. You can see how someone in his position would be selective of who they allow in.”

That made sense. Of course, Damon and Lissa probably had a higher profile than Max did. He was certainly well known around town. Very respected in the industry. But the average person on the street wouldn’t have a clue who he was.

Damon and Lissa, on the other hand, were known by people the world over.

They had a lot to lose if he was ever outed as a Daddy and she a Little.

Now wasn’t the time to go into all that, though. So, he simply shrugged and said, “I’m happy for you. This sort of saves me from having to break the ice first.”

He only had a vague notion of where he was going with all this. But he just couldn’t stop himself. Words simply spilled from his mouth.