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I recovered from my shock first. Years of training took over, and I went to them and held out my hand, while I braced Prospero with the other so he didn’t fall off my shoulders.
“Loïc, what a surprise,” Tarryn said brightly, her smile as tightly polite as my own. She shook my hand, and I decided that kissing hers might be a bad idea. I wasn’t sure how much they wanted Rodrigo to know, but at least we didn’t have to pretend we didn’t know each other. Hopefully, this wasn’t going to cause a problem.
“Small world.” Valor sounded as if he would have gladly never seen me again. The feeling was entirely mutual.
“Nice to see you again,” I lied, shaking his hand when he grudgingly offered it.
Rodrigo ruffled his son’s hair. “This is our eldest, Prospero.” He looked exceedingly proud, as though he’d done all the work to make him. I never could tell which father the boy took after most. He looked like his mother, with his brown hair and brown eyes. Then again who he was biologically related to didn’t matter to his parents, so it definitely didn’t matter to me.
“You’ve already met each other?” Rodrigo looked from me to them.
An awkward silence passed, and Valor cleared his throat, then didn’t say anything. Rodrigo’s dark brows shot upward.
“Oh.”
“Uh…yeah.” Valor looked like he was about to melt into the hardwood floor.
“It really is a small world. I’ll give the three of you a minute. I have to check on the food anyway.” With that, he left us alone together with Prospero as our chaperone.
“This isn’t awkward at all,” Valor said, his expression sheepish.
“I didn’t think we’d see you again.” Tarryn’s smile was warm, but I wasn’t sure if it was sincere. “I know they say that in this day and age there’s no such thing as anonymous hook-ups, but this is ridiculous.” Her laugh was like magic in the air, cutting the worst of the awkwardness.
Prospero started to wriggle, and I lifted him off my shoulders and put him down. He scurried under the table, where he went bumping along underneath.
“We hadn’t seen Rodrigo and Minnow in a couple of years, and thought it would be fun to catch up,” she said.
Prospero shot out from under the table and scampered down the hall toward the kitchen. I went to the door, keeping an eye on him until he disappeared. Knowing the household, when Sev had told me to keep an eye on the boy, he’d only meant around the strangers.
“So, you and they…”
She shook her head. “We’ve done things in front of each other, but that’s it, and the last time was years ago, like I was saying.”
“Were you in town to play with them?”
“No. I was in the area for work. This is only a social visit. We enjoy their company even when they have their clothes on.”
The statement hung awkwardly in the air, like the leg of a urinating dog.
I scrubbed my forehead, not sure how I felt about any of this. I hadn’t wanted to see him again, but now that she was here, I was…glad? Seeing her was worth the aggravation.
But why?
They had been too much of a temptation to resist the first time, and the last thing I needed were extra people in my life to complicate things. I’d thought I was wired to be the same kind of recluse as my brother, but I'd regretted not having a way to contact her again.
Valor took a pen and business card from her bag and scribbled something down.
“I know things got a little weird between us, but we enjoyed ourselves with you even if it wasn’t exactly what we had in mind,” Valor said.
I nodded and busied myself with setting out the wine glasses.
He came closer, and I could feel the violent electricity snapping between us, the way it had last night. He took my hand and pressed the business card into it.
“I wrote her number on the back. If you want to see her again, you’rewelcome to.”
If I wanted to seeheragain, not him. It was nice to know he didn’t like me either.
As for Tarryn, her eyes were wide and a bit panicked. He probably should have talked to her before throwing her to the wolf. I understood power exchange, more or less, from watching my brother with his submissives. The way Valor had done this didn’t seem fair. Offering her to me without checking with her ahead of time felt wrong. If she were mine, I wouldn’t share her with anyone, let alone a stranger who could be a stalker.
