“You’ll have to find me. Good luck. I don’t write under Nell Finn.”
“All I have to do is look for the story that has some message about recycling.”
Damn him. He knew her too well. “I’m sure I’m not the only activist who writes fan fic.”
His smile dimmed slightly. “What do you know about this guy, Nell?”
She stared at him.
“I’m not going to be protested, Nell. You don’t have a man. We have to look out for you.”
The men of Bliss seemed united on that front. “There is so very much wrong with that statement, Stef.”
He held his hands up. “Would it help if I told you I would do the same for Logan? Hell, I’m trying to convince Noah that he’s in trouble. I don’t like the woman he’s dating. She tried to hit on me two days ago, but Jamie doesn’t think Noah is willing to listen.”
So it wasn’t a completely sexist “protect the women” play. She couldn’t exactly protest if Stef was treating her the same way he treated Noah. And Noah was in for some trouble. She’d met Ally, an actress working with the Bliss Repertory Theater, and Nell hadn’t been impressed. Ally had seemed very interested in moving up the social ladder, and she needed money for that. Noah had recently come into a trust fund and Ally had moved her attentions from his brother, James, to Noah.
But she didn’t have Noah’s problems.
“Henry isn’t after my money, Stef,” she assured him. “He knows I don’t have any.”
“I’m not worried about him being after money. You have plenty of other attributes a man could want.”
Oh, yes, now she was curious. “Like?”
Gray eyes rolled. “I don’t need to go into that.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Nell, come on. Don’t make me say it.”
She was pretty sure she knew what he was talking about. “Is this the submissive thing?”
“Yes, Nell. It’s the ‘submissive thing.’” He used very sarcastic air quotes. “It’s not a thing. It’s reality. You would most likely be very happy if your sexual relationship was controlled by a strong partner.”
Stef was a true believer. Unfortunately, in this case, he was also right. “I know.”
A long sigh came from his chest. “Nell, a lot of men would love to take advantage of your nature. I think you would be happier with a Dom. Not a full-time D/s relationship. I think that would be too confining for you, but you need a partner who can be patient because he loves you and adores you for the unique woman you are. He needs to be able to understand you.”
“Jeez, Stef, you’ve just described like one person in the whole world. Where on earth do I find this saint?” She felt like crying. Henry couldn’t understand her. He’d said it last night. They were so far apart when it came to their ideals. Henry was smart, but he didn’t seem to care about the same things she did. He would put up with it during their affair, but he would be gone in a week or so and he would find someone who wasn’t as difficult as she was, someone who could get along with people and who didn’t protest businesses on a regular basis.
Someone who wasn’t so weird.
“I can introduce you to some people,” Stef said. “Give me a couple of weeks and we’ll go to Dallas. I have a friend there who’s quite good at matching submissives with well-meaning Doms.”
She shuddered in horror. The thought of getting set up was awful. She was just about to tell Stef all the problems with that scenario when a low voice cut through the quiet bubbling sound of the spa.
“She has no desire to go to Dallas.”
“Henry.” She looked up and realized he’d stepped into the spa room, and she hadn’t noticed. She’d been so involved in conversation with Stef that she hadn’t realized they weren’t alone.
“Mr. Flanders.” Stef didn’t look put out. He actually stood up and held out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Is it?” Henry asked. “Tell me, what sort of protocol do you follow that you feel perfectly comfortable being alone and naked with another man’s sub?”
“Henry!” That wasn’t very polite. Henry looked positively territorial as he stalked forward.
And Stef squared his shoulders, too. “I follow the protocol where a Dom puts a collar on a sub and then she’s off-limits. Until then, she needs the men who give a damn about her to watch her back and make sure she’s taken care of.”
The testosterone was flying around. She needed to calm the situation down. “I can make my own decisions.”
They completely ignored her. Henry had a small bag in his hand and looked completely delicious. He’d shed his coat and wore only jeans and a T-shirt that showed off his leanly muscular arms. “You can’t expect a man to put a collar on a woman the day after he meets her. These things take time and honestly, I think putting a collar on this one will be tricky.”
“I wasn’t aware you had that kind of time here.” Stef stepped out of the hot tub. If he was uncomfortable being naked around a clothed man, he didn’t show it. He simply reached for a towel and took his time drying off.
And Henry stepped between them, obviously trying to eliminate her line of sight. “And I was unaware I needed to ask you if it was all right to have a relationship with Nell.”
Stef slipped into his robe and turned back to Henry. “She’s special.”
Nell sat back, well aware that those two really didn’t want to hear from her. “Special.” Yuck. Everyone said that. She kind of worried they meant it in a “she’s not all together there” way. The other men of the town could talk about her specialness all they liked, but none of them had ever made her feel the way Henry did. Even if he was leaving, she wanted her time with him, and she resented Stef’s interference just the tiniest bit. Not enough to actually protest him because his heart was in the right place, but certainly enough to sulk just a little.
But then she also resented the fact that Henry had walked in acting all caveman like. He really was leaving so she wasn’t sure what was up with all the possessiveness.
Of course, on the other hand, the possessiveness made her feel cherished and beloved, but she rather thought that was her vagina talking. She’d recently learned that sexual activity had caused her vagina to revert from its pure feminist roots to something primal that didn’t care about anything but getting some more sex from the right man. Perhaps when Henry was gone, she could find her vagina a proper organic, earth-friendly vibrator that ran on rechargeable batteries. Maybe then it would stop screaming at her to pounce on Henry.
“Earth to Nell.” Henry had turned and stared down at her.
“Sorry, did you say something?”
Stef chuckled. “We just worked a few things out while you were thinking. You’ll find she can drift away at the oddest times.”
“She’s a writer. She’s creative. It’s only to be expected.” Henry’s voice had gone a little gruff while he defended her. And her vagina was talking again. Yep, it didn’t seem to want to shut up while he was around, and it really didn’t like the idea of an organic vibrator. It wanted the real thing.
Stef crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, all right then. Nell, you take care. Henry, if there’s anything I can do, I’ll help out.”
Henry didn’t miss a beat. “You can figure out a way to lock the door on your way out.”
He couldn’t be thinking that way. Nell looked up at him. “Henry, this is a public space. It’s meant for everyone.”