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“Okay. I won’t go.”
“Fuck! You know that’s not what I want.” Lukus willed himself to calm down before speaking again. “What is it you think is gonna happen if I go home with you that’s so bad?”
“First, I almost never have taken any guys home, so that will surprise them.”
“That’s good. I hate thinking of anyone touching you before me.”
“They’ll ask for your full name, and I guarantee you that, within five minutes of getting it, they’ll be running a background check on you. My dad is a retired cop. Liam and Aiden are cops. Colin was a cop and is now a district attorney. They’ll find your arrest record. They’ll know what it was for. They’ll find out that you own this club, and what kind of club it is. They’ll figure out that I obviously come here, and what kinds of things I’m into. First, they’ll be scandalized. Then they’ll blame you for ruining me. It’ll get ugly. I love them, honey, and I love you. Please don’t make me choose between you.”
Lukus had listened. He understood her fears. He felt bad his past actions would cause problems with her family, but in the end, it didn’t matter.
“Tiff, by not telling them about me, you’ve already made your choice. You’ve chosen them.”
“Oh, God. This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“So, why did you tell me?”
A big fat tear escaped down her cheek. “I told you because I love you. And because I promised I wouldn’t lie or hide things from you. I told you because I agreed to be your sub. To let you be my Dom. My HoH.”
“Aw, baby. Come here.”
She melted into his arms. They snuggled quietly while Lukus sorted through what he needed to say. He gently pushed her away from his chest. He needed to see her eyes.
“I understand why you don’t want me to go with you, Tiff. I hate it, but I understand it.” She started to look relieved but he quickly dashed that. “I’m honored that you trust me to be your Dom—and, more importantly, your HoH. That means you trust me to guide us and our relationship, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.” She didn’t sound so sure.
“Then you’re going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing when I tell you there’s no way you’re going without me. We are going. Together. Period.”
“But—”
He held his fingers up to her lips to shush her. “No buts, baby. Now, it’s best if you give them a warning that I’m coming with you. You’re right to withhold my name until I get there, though. You let me deal with your brothers.”
“It’s my dad I’m worried about.”
“Fine. Let me deal with your dad.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing… Sir.”
I hope I know what I’m doing too, baby.
Chapter Thirteen
Tiffany
“You know, if you squeeze my hand any harder, it’s gonna fall asleep. You need to calm down.”
“I’m trying.” Tiffany forced herself to relax the death-grip she had on Lukus’s right hand, but she didn’t let go. She needed to maintain physical contact if she hoped to fend off the threatening tears.
The past week had flown by in a whirlwind of ups and downs. The high point was easily Lukus telling her he loved her over a week ago. The low point: finding out Jake was threatening not only Brianna and herself, but many other women in California. She was thrilled Lukus had insisted on her moving into his loft for safety’s sake. As a result, they’d been almost inseparable.
Jake had turned up back in California last Monday morning, letting everyone heave a sigh of relief as Z and Dylan could begin tracking him again. As Lukus had observed, however, Jake was a pro at dropping off the grid—since no amount of tracking by Cameron, Lukus’s high-tech genius, could find him until he wanted to be found.
Lukus and Markus had insisted on shortening the salon hours and deploying constant bodyguards for Tiffany and Bri. Those same guards delivered the women into the hands of their Doms at the end of each day.
Unfortunately, the stress of knowing they were basically at war with Jake had taken its toll on Tiffany’s sleep. She woke every few hours in a cold sweat, often crying.
When she wasn’t thinking about Jake, Tiffany had been dreading her family meeting Lukus. Now they were less than an hour away from her parents’ bed and breakfast on the shores of Lake Michigan. Even Lukus had shown cracks in his nerves of steel, and that made her more nervous. With each passing mile as Lukus navigated his BMW, her feeling of dread grew. She prayed her father and brothers didn’t make a scene. Her biggest fear was that the people she loved most in this world were going to make her choose between family and Lukus.
