Free Broken Toy [Suncoast Society] (Siren Publishing Sensations) by Tymber Dalton

yet. She’ll have to come to the class first. And he wasn’t even sure she’d do that. He had prepared himself for that possibility. She might get cold feet somewhere in the middle of the week, and he’d never see her again.
    He was definitely a realist. Especially after what he’d been through with his Ella. He’d had every expectation of her coming home the next day following her surgery, and everything being fine. Not spending four weeks praying she’d miraculously wake up before finally agreeing to life support being discontinued.
    Yes, he’d quit believing in miracles that afternoon, in lightning strikes of the good kind. As he’d watched the monitors chart her decline, so left his faith in happy endings. He’d lost more than just the love of his life that day. He’d lost all the hopes and dreams and plans they’d had. He’d never been much of a “greater power” kind of guy, but that afternoon cemented in his mind that there couldn’t be a god or anything else.
    And if there was a god cruel enough to take his Ella from him like that, he didn’t want to believe in it anyway.
     
    * * * *
     
    Thursday afternoon, his former brother-in-law Craig called him. “Any plans for this Saturday night? Melody’s thinking about throwing a cookout.”
    Bill silently groaned. Normally he enjoyed going over to their home. They’d been an important part of his life, his support during the four weeks following Ella’s stroke, and in the weeks and months after her death.
    “I can’t this Saturday. For once, I actually have plans.”
    Craig laughed. “Please tell me it’s a woman? Mel’s bugging the crap out of me to try to set you up again.”
    Bill leaned back in his office chair. “Sort of. I did meet someone last weekend. Going to go out to dinner with friends.” It wasn’t technically a lie. He did hope Ella would join all of them for dinner at Sigalo’s after the class. He just hadn’t confirmed that, and couldn’t until he saw her again.
    If she even came to class.
    “That’s great! Any intel I can pass along to you-know-who? She’ll bug the crap out of me, you know.”
    “I met her through friends last weekend. I don’t even know if anything will come of it.” That was also the truth.
    Technically.
    It didn’t escape him that “met through mutual friends” was also a phrase the Suncoast Society group had told him they used a lot when introducing their kinky friends to vanilla friends and family. “Met through mutual friends” could cover a lot of ground without forcing anyone to outright lie or triggering most people to dig deeper for details.
    “Well, I’m sure she’ll give you a pass on dinner then. Just don’t be surprised if she calls you and bugs you to bring your friend over to meet us.”
    Melody meant well. She and Ella had gotten along like a house on fire, close friends from when Craig, who’d been three years older than Ella, had brought her home while in college to meet their family.
    Bill still felt convinced the death of their daughter at such a young age had contributed to the deaths of Ella’s parents. Her father died of a heart attack two years later, her mother nine months after that. Bill suspected her mother had died more of a broken heart than the nebulous “heart failure” listed on her death certificate.
    It had hit him as hard as it had Craig, considering he’d lost his own parents years earlier and they’d been like parents to him.
    “Please tell her I appreciate the invite, and if anything develops, I’ll be sure to let you guys know.”
    “Yeah, well, I guess she’ll have to be happy with that.” Craig laughed. “A couple moved in next door last week. There’s a few eligible women in their family in your age range, apparently.”
    Bill couldn’t help but smile. “How long did it take Mel to suss that out?”
    “About five minutes, I think. Maybe less. You know her.”
    “Yes, I do. And again, tell her thank you for thinking of