Free The Dominant by Tara Sue Me Page A

girlfriends—nothing
     more—and if anyone suspected there was anything different about my relationship with them, they kept it to themselves.
    Before they met my family, I’d given them a long list of expectations—how they were to talk to my family, what was acceptable
     behavior, what was not. I didn’t give any such instruction to Abigail.
    I wanted Abigail to be herself. To watch as she met the people I cared about. I wanted to see her talking and joking with
     her best friend.
    I wanted a piece of normal.
    I turned the radio on. One of my favorite piano concertos played, a piece I’d been working at mastering on my own piano. I
     wondered what type of music Abigail listened to. I knew very little about her outside of what she’d put in her application.
     “What kind of music do you like?”
    “This is fine.”
    I wanted to ask her more questions—what she was like as a child, how she had learned to cook, what her favorite color was.
     Details that didn’t mean anything, but when taken as a whole, created the woman that was Abigail.
    If I asked questions, would she answer honestly or would she answer the way she thought I wanted her to?
    This is why you don’t do normal, I told myself. It’s too confusing. Too many gray areas.
    I didn’t like gray—life was better in black-and-white.
    After we arrived and dropped off my coat and Abigail’s wrapper, I saw Elaina making her way toward us.
    “Nathaniel! Abby! You’re here!” Elaina said, dragging Todd behind her.
    “Good evening, Elaina,” I said, surprised at the way she hugged Abigail. I raised an eyebrow. Had they met recently, or were
     they past acquaintances? “I see you two have met already?”
    “Oh, lighten up,” she said and knocked me in the chest. “I had a cup of tea with Abby when I stopped by your house earlier
     today—so yes, Nathaniel, we’ve already met.”
    Abigail hadn’t mentioned her stopping by, but then again, we’d been apart for most of the day. Plus, she wasn’t the most forthcoming
     with her thoughts. Instead of saying anything further, I stood back and watched her with my old friend. She chatted politely
     with Todd, smiling and seeming at ease with everyone. While Todd had heard me talk about Abigail in the past, he had no idea
     she was the same woman he was meeting tonight.
    Linda approached us, and I introduced her to Abigail, who insisted that my aunt call her Abby. I had to smile at that.
    While Linda and Abigail chatted about books, I noticed Todd and Elaina giving each other strange looks, just as they had yesterday
     at my house.
    But it was Linda, my dear sweet aunt who loved me like her own son, whose expression confused me the most. It was a lookof the sweetest relief and joy, and I couldn’t make sense of it. I mean, they were talking about books, of all things.
    I took a step closer to Abigail. Nope, just books. I still didn’t understand the look.
    Wine. The night needed wine.
    “I’ll get us some wine,” I said to Abigail. “Red or white?”
    Her body tensed, and I looked at her in surprise. It was such a minor question.
    Then it hit me.
You’re not normal. You’re her dom. She probably thinks she’s supposed to answer in a certain way
.
    Damn it.
    “I don’t have a hidden agenda,” I whispered to reassure her. “I simply want to know.”
    “Red.”
    There, I thought, was that so hard?
    Yes, damn it, it was. The question of red or white wine should not be the cause of angst. It should be a simple getting-to-know-you
     question.
    But what about us was simple? I asked myself.
    Not a damn thing.
    As I walked off to get the drinks, Kyle ran up to me. I’d been on the Bone Marrow Registry since college, and a few years
     prior, I’d received a call telling me I was a match for an eight-year-old boy who needed a transplant. It had been a difficult
     procedure, but a year ago, I met Kyle—the recipient of my bone marrow—and knew the trouble had been worth it. He was now alive
     and well.