He had an air about him of quiet confidence. If she’d met him in any other place under any other circumstances, she wouldn’t mind chatting him up for a phone number. He looked like Joe Anybody.

Albeit on the pleasing end of the scale.

As she followed Loren into the parking lot to their car, Shayla mentally smacked herself. Duh, he’s a Dom. He’s probably married or dating or whatever. Loren had a slim, trim figure Shayla knew she could never compete with. While a few of their fellow students in the class had larger builds than Shayla did, the majority of the women were younger, prettier, and thinner.

I look like a frump compared to the rest of them. She’d opted for jeans to be on the safe side, and a black, long-sleeved, button-up shirt open over a royal blue cami top.

At the car, Loren immediately headed for the backseat, but Tony stopped her. “I’ll sit in back with Shayla,” he offered.

“But my legs are shorter,” she countered.

“I don’t mind.”

Shayla didn’t miss how Loren looked to Ross for a ruling. He tipped his head toward the front door.

Without further argument, Loren opened the front passenger door and climbed in.

Tony opened the back passenger door for Shayla and held it while she got in. One more misconception blown to hell. She was glad to see being a Dominant didn’t conflict with gentlemanly manners.

He walked around the car after closing her door and slid in behind Ross. “So how did you enjoy the class?” Tony asked her.

She swallowed, silently cursing herself for letting her gaze dart away from his green eyes again. Normally she didn’t have problem maintaining eye contact with someone. She nodded. “It was good. Enlightening. Lots of information to digest.” She quickly opened her notebook, as if to browse through it. “I’m not sure where I’ll start my first article because there’s just so much to cover.”

“How many articles are you planning?”

She shrugged and made herself look at his face again. What the hell’s wrong with me? She focused on his chin. “I don’t really know. I don’t have a word count limit. Since it’s a web series, length and space aren’t an issue.” She closed the notebook and wrapped her fingers around it to have something to do with them. “My publisher gave me free rein. There’s a big fetish convention in Tampa in a few months. All the articles sort of lead up to that.”

“FetCon,” the others said at the same time before laughing.

She blinked. “Oh. You know about it?”

Loren turned as far as her seat belt would allow, a smile on her face. “It’s an annual tradition with our gang,” she said. “They have a huge vendor floor.”

“Lots of fetish models,” Tony added.

Shayla felt a little ill and shoved a memory back into its hole. She wouldn’t let thoughts of her experience with James spoil what had been an otherwise nice experience so far. “Models?”

Tony shrugged. “Not my thing. They have to make a living though, I guess. I go for the vendors, sometimes the classes, and the dungeons at night.”

“Don’t let him fool you,” Loren said. “Tony usually teaches. And I think Seth and Leah will also be teaching this year, too. You’ll meet them at dinner.”

Shayla was still trying to process and interpret Tony’s dismissive, yet not derogatory comment about the fetish models. “What do you teach?”

“Depends on what they need. This year I’m teaching a class on negotiations.”

“Oh.”

He smiled. “No clue, huh?”

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Not really.”

She loved his smile. “Scene negotiations. Communication skills. How to make sure everyone’s clearly setting their boundaries and expectations out on the table from the start so there are no misunderstandings later.”

“You’d be surprised how many people lack that basic skill,” Loren said. “A lot of newbies come into this totally clueless. That’s why Maria covered some of it in class.”

“Ah, I see. That makes sense now.”

“What does your boyfriend think of you coming out to class and the dungeon?” Tony asked.

Shayla shrugged. “Don’t even have a cat waiting for me at home.” She hoped it came off sounding as nonchalant as she wanted it to.

* * *

Tony didn’t miss how Loren quickly turned to face the front again. He also didn’t miss the brief smile she vainly pursed her lips against.

“Same here,” Tony said, trying to keep one eye on Loren. He suspected while legitimately bringing him in to help Shayla with her article, his first instinct about a setup had been right after all.

Damn sneaky subs.

Well, he was attracted to Shayla. He wouldn’t deny it. Might as well test the water. “Have you read any of the BDSM fiction out there?”

Shayla rapidly shook her head. “No. I’m more a lighthearted, chick lit kind of girl. Well, when it comes to romance. I like a wide variety of genres.”

“Good. A lot of BDSM fiction is completely unrealistic and written by vanilla writers anyway. Nothing wrong with that for escapism, but not good for education. You won’t have a lot of preconceived notions to overcome when you watch people playing tonight.”

Seth and Leah had pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot just ahead of them. And Tilly, accompanied by Landry and Cris, arrived a moment later. With the gang all gathered, he likely wouldn’t have a chance to get either Ross or Seth alone to ask them if they knew what their damn subs were up to.

It’d be pointless to ask Landry or Cris. Landry was sadistic enough to enjoy taking pleasure in any discomfort Tony might experience over a setup. And Cris probably wouldn’t be in the loop anyway if Tilly was a co-conspirator. He suspected if he tried to get the info out of Tilly, regardless of whether or not it was true, she’d simply smile and give him a friendly “go screw yourself” brush-off just to have her friends’ backs.

Damn switches.

Leah had called ahead to the restaurant the day before with their reservation. The hostess took them to their usual place in a far corner, where three tables had been pushed together to accommodate their party.

That was when he noticed extra chairs. “Who else is coming?” he asked Loren.

“Sully, Mac, and Clarisse said they’d be down.”

“It’ll be like old home night,” Ross joked. “I haven’t seen them in months.”

“How’s Mac doing, anyway?” Tony asked. Their friend had been the victim of a vicious attack by Clarisse’s ex a couple of years earlier. He’d only seen him a few times since then, once going up to visit him in the hospital after he regained consciousness, and then a few times here and there, usually at private parties.

“Sully said Mac’s pretty much back to his old self. Sometimes he gets dizzy spells, but all the physical and occupational therapy paid off.”

Right on cue, the three walked in the front door and were brought back to their tables. Tony didn’t miss how after introducing Shayla to everyone that Loren had made sure to sit her next to him.

He raised an eyebrow at Loren, who blushed a pretty shade of pink before quickly turning away and taking her seat on the other side of Shayla, next to Ross.

* * *

Shayla found it easy to like Loren. She felt as if the woman had taken her under her wing. And Loren’s friends were all nice, welcoming, and more than willing to answer her questions.

The gathered group of people was no more remarkable than any other group in the restaurant in the way that they were dressed. Although Shayla noticed Leah wore a necklace of braided silver chain that appeared to have a small, silver heart-shaped padlock on it. Anyone else might have thought it simply a pretty locket. Clarisse wore a silver choker necklace that Shayla suspected also meant more than others might think. Cris wore a heavy silver bracelet on his right wrist, as did Mac.

Landry and Tilly were married, and it wasn’t until Shayla was able to talk with them for a few minutes that she was able to clarify Cris’ place in their dynamic as an equal partner. Sully, who walked with a noticeable limp and used a cane, was married to Clarisse, although they were also apparently equal partners with Mac.

She filed those factoids away for future reference. She’d need an entire article dedicated just to poly dynamics to cover it properly. Even then she wasn’t sure she could do it justice.

Hell, it’s confusing enough trying to figure it out when the people are sitting right here talking with me.

By the time they finished dinner over an hour later, she realized all of these people were ones she could easily be friends with. They had widely varying interests. Sully, Mac, and Clarisse, who revealed they were expecting a baby in November, owned a boat and ran dive and fishing charters. Apparently more as a hobby than anything because Sully, a retired cop, was also a published and successful author and seminar teacher. Seth and Leah managed properties, but before that, Seth had attended nursing school. Both Seth and Mac were former military, although Seth seemed more open to talking about that part of his life than Mac.

“Would you be willing to let me interview you for my article?” Shayla asked them.

She noticed how both Mac and Clarisse looked to Sully for their answer. When he nodded, so did they. “We probably should do it tonight,” Sully suggested. “Maybe at the club after we play. Unless you want to do it over the phone or come up to Tarpon Springs.”

“Tonight would be great, thank you.”

Ross owned his own business, and Loren was usually a stay-at-home wife, although she helped Ross out sometimes. Loren, Leah, and Tilly were heavily involved volunteers and event organizers for local charities. Landry and Cris ran a software firm.