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He’d completely forgotten about that. His eyes darted back to the hanging tuxes. “I’ll make an appearance.”

She smiled softly. “Goodbye, Damon.”

“Goodbye, Lissa.”

He wanted to kiss her so badly. To hold her one last time.

Was it obvious how much he was going to miss her? Could she sense what he was feeling? That metal band wrapped around his chest, ratcheting tighter with each second.

What was he going to do?

On her way out of the closet, she stopped and cast a glance over her shoulder, her blond hair bouncing in those styled curls. “For what it’s worth, I think you should go with the black tux. You look very suave in it.”

He smiled. “Thank you.” With a nod, he added, “Give my regards to Max.”

She nodded back.

And then walked out of his life.

Chapter Three

“Max doesn’t really want her! This is all about image. A Hollywood power couple and all that garbage!”

Damon tossed back the last of his bourbon and placed the glass back on Athena’s kitchen table with a loud clack.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Don’t be. Another?” Athena asked from her chair across from him. Her red fingernail tapped the bottle of amber liquid on the table between them.

Her nails were nicely kept but they weren’t too long. He knew the reason why. As a Nanny to dozens of Littles, she didn’t want to hinder diaper changes, feedings, spankings, and the like. She used her hands a lot.

“Maybe one more,” he said. “But then you should cut me off.”

Athena laughed, her raven black hair shaking as her head bobbed. “I’m not a bartender. But I want you to be safe.” She poured another splash into his tumbler and then a bit in her own. “You can always call a car to get you home. Or just sleep here. The Littles would love that.”

He took a sip and then placed the glass back down, this time more carefully. “How many do you have here tonight?"

“Just the crew from the Daddy Guard and their new friend,” Athena said.

Damon smiled, realizing just who Athena was talking about.

Iris, Cami, Lana, Samantha, and Annika were the Littles of a group of ex-cops now known as the Daddy Guard. They were sort of like an A-Team for Littles: if cuties needed help, they called the Guard.

They were all close to Athena, and slumber parties at Auntie’s house were frequent occurrences.

Damon almost asked who their new friend was, but his thoughts immediately shifted back to Lissa and his very fresh and painful breakup.

“What am I going to do, Athena? I’m telling you, this doesn’t have a thing to do with love or a real relationship. Like I said, it’s a power couple thing.”

Athena raised an eyebrow. “You two were a power couple.”

Damon poured some more liquor down the hatch. He didn’t even bother setting the glass down this time. “True. But what we had was real.” The words hit him. Mounting tears threatened to spill out. “Or at least I thought it was real.”

They sat in silence for a moment as Athena reached across and laid her hand on his.

“I’ve got to win her back. She’ll see that Max is just in this to have the biggest actress on the planet on his arm. I bet you anything he’s not even a real Daddy! How come I’ve never heard of him being in the community until now?”

Athena didn’t answer him, which was okay because he hadn’t really said any of that wanting a response.