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As Grace showed her around the house, she said, “You’ll never guess who I heard from recently.” She didn’t exactly seem thrilled by the news she had to share.
“Who?”
“Remember that critique group a few years back? The one you and I met in.”
“Of course.” Her friendship with “Caressa” had been one of the benefits of being a part of that group.
“Okay, do you remember that guy who wrote the, um…I’m not even sure what to call it…”
Veronica chuckled as she guessed at who Grace was talking about. “Lucas?”
Grace’s eyes went big. “Yes. He contacted me online.”
“What for?”
“He wanted me to put in a good word for him with my publisher.”
Veronica blinked in surprise. “Your publisher specializes in erotic romance. He needs to find a publisher that sells a lot of…what he writes. Did you reply?”
“And risk the wrath of Lucas? Are you kidding? No, the e-mail somehow got caught in the spam filter. Yeah…that’s it…the spam filter.”
Kate was chatting with Duke when Veronica and Grace returned to the living room Kate said, “Well, I think I’ve had enough excitement for one morning. I’m going up to the ranch house with Grace, honey. Why don’t you take a few hours and get yourself settled.”
“Sounds great. One question, Caressa—I mean Grace?”
“Sure,” her friend responded with a smile.
“Do I call you Grace around here?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind. I catch enough flack for being in a ménage. I’m content not to reveal my other persona in Divine, at least not yet. Anything else?”
Veronica decided to go for it and blurted out. “Grandma Kate told me that you have some friends who are familiar with the Dominant-and-submissive dynamic.”
Grace nodded, kindness in her eyes, as though she understood the guts that question had taken for Veronica to ask. All her research up to that point had been impersonal and online in searches or in forums.
“I may be able to answer some of your questions,” she answered quietly. “And I can put you in touch with a Dom who could help you with your research as well. But before I introduce him to you, I want you to understand that like with me, that’s a part of his life that he keeps hidden. That knowledge probably wouldn’t go over well with his constituents.”
An elected official? How difficult it must be for him to keep that part of himself hidden. The writer in her wondered how he managed. “I’d like to meet him. And I’d be discreet. Does he have a sub right now?”
With the hint of a twinkle in her eyes, Grace smiled and shook her head. “No. Lately when I talk to him, he sounds like he’s given up on the idea of finding the right one.”
Without even knowing him, Veronica’s heart went out to this mysterious Dom without a sub. Talking to someone who understood the D/s dynamic would be a huge boost, but part of her also quivered at the idea of actually talking with him, face-to-face. What would he think of her failed foray into Dominance and submission? The thought engulfed her in embarrassment and didn’t bear contemplating. In hindsight, she understood her mistake in trusting someone who didn’t deserve it. She wished she was as clear on what she truly needed.
Chapter Three
Travis and Hank stood a short distance from the altar set up near Divine Creek in the Memorial Rose Garden, which was filling with wedding guests. Travis leaned close and said, “You weren’t kidding. Those guys are enormous.”
The three grooms, who Hank and several others had referred to as “the bears,” were lined up, talking quietly amongst themselves as they waited for the wedding ceremony to begin. All three exuded strength and confidence that Travis imagined made them exceptionally good at their jobs.
The scent of late-blooming antique roses hung in the crisp November air. The guests gathering for the ceremony chatted quietly as they found spots up and down the rosebush-lined walkway and in the central area at the end of the path. He and Hank nodded to several acquaintances as they backed up and made room for those who were not as tall to stand in front of them. He’d grown up in Divine but had never known that this rose garden, near the creek that ran through the center of town, had even existed.
