The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton Page A

him harder than a rock.
    "Any house rules I need to know about?” he asked to distract himself more than anything.
    Kaden shrugged. “Toilet seat down after you go but you're good about that anyway."
    "I figured you'd tell me rules about the dungeon,” Seth snarked.
    Kaden laughed, then sighed. “Honesty. Never lie. The only way this works is if we all talk to each other. It's going to feel weird and uncomfortable at first. It will get easier, I promise."
    "Can't get much fucking worse,” Seth muttered.
    Kaden continued. “Whenever red is called, whatever's going on immediately stops without question, regardless of whether it's her or you or me calling it. You'll learn the routines and protocols as we go. It becomes automatic after a while. Oh, I'll give you keys in the morning. You already know the gate code, and the house alarm code is 1218."
    "Leah's birthday.” Seth didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until he looked up and saw her sad smile.
    "You remember."
    Kaden also smiled, to Seth's surprise. His friend clapped him on the arm, squeezing briefly before letting go. “See? You'll do fine."
    They finished. Finally, Seth excused himself. “I need to go to bed, guys. I'm worn out. Frankly, my brain's fried. I don't know how I'm going to get through class tomorrow."
    He walked to what was now his bedroom and closed the door behind him. Looking around, even though he'd stayed here before, he saw it for the first time. The bed was perfect, king-sized, a helluva lot better than the rock-like mattress at his brother's. Not that he'd ever complain to his brother, because it had been free and a roof over his head. He always slept good when he spent the night at Kade's. The room was nearly twice as large as the one at his brother's, and the attached bathroom as large as many master bathrooms in smaller homes.
    He'd started unbuttoning his shirt when he heard a soft tap on his door. He opened it. Leah stood in the hall. Kaden had apparently gone on to bed, because their door was shut.
    Seth's heart hammered, panic threatening. “Leah, I meant it when I said I can't do anything—"
    She shook her head. “No! No. I ... I just wanted to say goodnight. And thank you.” She looked up at him. “And you didn't give me my hug when you got here tonight."
    He laughed but it came out sounding harsher than he intended. “You sort of caught me off guard with that outfit.” This one wasn't much better, especially now that he knew what was under it. Or rather, what wasn't.
    After a long moment, he opened his arms to her. Even though he tried to lean his upper body into it, to keep her away from his hips and feeling his hard-on that demanded attention, she pressed into him. Not lewdly or even seductively.
    Desperately.
    When he realized this he relaxed and held her tightly, worried she'd cry. But she didn't, despite clinging to him like a drowning woman.
    It took several minutes before she relaxed a little. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I know this sucks for you. I'm sorry."
    "Hey.” He made her look at him. “Stop. If things were different and we were single, I'd...” Suddenly, that sounded like a really stupid thing to say under the circumstances.
    But she smiled again. “Yeah. I would, too.” She rested her head on his chest for a moment longer and he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it.
    "Just ... go easy on me, okay?” he said. “You guys are going to fry my brain at this rate."
    She stretched up and kissed his cheek. He was a little taller than Kaden's five-eleven, and knew that would be an adjustment for her.
    "Just remember, I can and do have the ability to stop anything I don't like,” she assured him. “I always have. There have been times in the past I've red-lighted a scene. Kaden usually does before I do, but I have. So don't ever worry about going too far. As long as you respect the safe word, you won't hurt me."
    She left, quietly closing the door behind her.
    * * * *
    Seth got up around two a.m. to