his puzzled expression. “Could you fasten this for me, honey?”
“Um, sure, sweetheart.”
Her father stood up, saying, “Well, I think that’s my cue to head inside.”
Kat glanced at her husband, giving him a look that made Brant turn quickly away. The love and passion between them was obvious in every interaction they had with each other. “Honey, you’re welcome to stay. We have another man in the group tonight, so you might be more comfortable.”
Ken leaned down and gave his wife a lingering kiss before straightening. “I’ve got some calls to return. I’ll see you when your friends leave. Do you want me to open your bottles of wine before I go?”
As Kat nodded, Ken grabbed a couple of wine bottles from the kitchen, returning with one of them open. Brant saw the Sancerre label on the bottle and thought it was a strange pick for a book club meeting, but who was he to say since this was his first time. As Ken walked by him on the way into the house, he clapped a hand on Brant’s shoulder, saying under his breath, “Good luck, son.”
Twenty minutes into the meeting was all it took for Brant to go from alarmed to traumatized. When Doris was asked her favorite part of the book, she said, “I loved it when Christian took Anna into the red room ofpain because nobody wants a vanilla relationship, do they?” He jerked back in alarm so hard that Emma almost tumbled off the seat beside him.
While the others at the table went off into a very long and detailed discussion of floggers and paddles, he pulled Emma closer, whispering in her ear. “What the fuck kind of book is this?”
She gave him an innocent look but couldn’t quite keep the mischievous expression off her face. It was there dancing in her eyes, impossible for him to miss. “Why, honey, I thought you knew that
Fifty Shades
was erotica.”
He gave her an incredulous look, hardly believing the shitstorm he had walked blindly into. “You set me up. Have you read it?”
Smirking, she admitted, “It’s one of my favorites; I’ve read it twice.”
Part of him was still pissed, but another part, mainly the one between his legs, was dying to know what
her
favorite part of the book was. As intrigued as he was, he knew one thing: He had to get the hell out of here before her mother detailed her favorite part and scarred him forever. He couldn’t bear the idea of accidentally picturing her and Emma’s father re-creating some scene complete with a spanking for the bad girl.
He jumped up from the table, causing all eyes to land on him. “I, er . . . just remembered that I need to call my brother about some business. You ladies go on without me . . . please.”
Emma didn’t look as amused when she realized shewas being left to have what Brant considered a porn discussion with her mother while he hauled ass. He trailed a finger over her chin, returning the smirk she had given him earlier. “Take your time, precious, I’ll be upstairs.” Yeah, he might never get the images out of his head, but he had gotten the last laugh and that had to count for something.
When he walked through the family room on the way to the stairs, Emma’s father looked like he was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Brant shook his head, saying, “I guess you knew what that book was about.”
“Yeah . . . sorry, son. This is far from my first rodeo. Kat makes sure I get a summary of every book she’s reading. I don’t think there’s any such thing as a good old Western anymore. Nowadays, the cowboy would be whipping the girl instead of the damn horse.”
Brant burst out laughing. Ken sure had a way with words. “No kidding. If anyone ever mentions a book club to me again, I’ll probably start running and never stop.”
Ken waved the beer he was holding. “You look like you need a drink. You probably need something stronger than beer, but Boston is never around when you need him.”
Apparently, Boston’s activities were well known in the
C. J. Cherryh
Learning to Kill: Stories
John O'Riley
Brenda Sinclair
Christopher George
Stephen Lloyd Jones
Karl Iagnemma
Celya Bowers
Jill Gregory
Aria Cunningham