Secrets Dispelled by Raven McAllan Page A

knew there were a lot of decisions to make before they got to that point, but at least his kitten liked the idea. He made a mental note to see when was the best time for them to visit the cottage together.
    “We’ll find a time that suits so I can show you round, but I must say, I never ever thought we’d make our vows over bacon fat and fried eggs. Argh, talking of which.” He swung around to the range and lifted the frying pan away from the heat. “Saved by the smell.”
    The intercom buzzed and Coll snorted. “Can you release the lock, please, kitten. I’ll shove some more bacon on. If that’s Jeff and David, we’ll need it.” He assembled a bacon and egg sandwich and put it on the breakfast bar. “Then this is ready for you.”
    Finn slid off the stool and went to the phone, pressed the button to release the lock and went back to clamber onto her seat. At five foot six, she could do with an extra three or four inches to get onto it elegantly. She sat with one foot swinging, and bit into the sandwich. Egg yolk spurted out and her taste buds responded in delight.
    “S’dilicus,” she mumbled, her mouth full of smoked bacon and perfectly cooked eggs. She swallowed the food. “Thank you, Sir.”
    Coll chuckled. “You’re welcome.” The door opened. “Be ready for the inquisition.”
    Eh? Finn swiveled around and noticed the narrow-eyed stare she received from Jeff. As he was, she supposed, the man who ultimately decided if she had a job or not, he might want to know she was happy, but other than that he could butt out, Dom or not.
    She returned the stare and Jeff held it for a long second. Then he smiled slowly.
    “Is this where congratulations are in order?”
    “What?” It was a lighter, female voice. “Who, what, why, how?”
    Jeff broke his gaze and turned to face his wife. “It looks like we have a new subbie in our midst.”
    “And you know that how?” Kath asked him as she advanced into the room and hugged Finn. “Your joy is showing, mind,” she whispered into Finn’s ear. “And I’ve never seen the satisfied Dom look on Coll’s face at this time of the day. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it quite so definite.”
    Finn couldn’t help the swell of satisfaction that filled her at Kath’s words. She wondered just how often Kath had seen him so early in the morning. Her query must have shown in her expression because Kath grinned. “We do a weekly early-morning meet up to see what’s what. It has to be early so those who need to can go to work and those of us with children can do playgroup or nursery runs or whatever.”
    “And those of us whose children aren’t as old, just bring them with us,” Jess said as she shut the door behind her and David. “Ailsa rang, she’s on duty and Aidan is at the dentist, poor thing. He’s broken a tooth.”
    “Us tough subbies are hard to bite on,” Kath said, straight-faced, then burst out laughing. “You should see your face, Finn, the look in it is priceless. Don’t you agree? We need to be tough to survive in a world of macho Dom-dom.”
    Finn smiled. “Yeah. And on that note, I think I’d better get dressed.” She got off the stool and wrapped the robe tightly around her. The belt had worked loose and she was certain she’d shown a bit more leg than she intended.
    “Not on my behalf,” four voices said instantly.
    Coll’s wasn’t one of them. She looked up at him. The word, Sir? , hovered on her lips, but somehow with the others around it was hard to say. Which considering who they were was stupid. However, she couldn’t help how she felt.
    “Go and dress, kitten.” It seemed he had no trouble saying how important she was to him. “We’ll wait until you get back. I’ll feed them, and their mouths will be too full to talk.”
    All of a sudden Finn’s doubts vanished.
    “Yes, Sir.”
    Jeff nodded, seemingly in satisfaction, and Jess high-fived her behind her own Sir’s back.
    “I saw that,” David said calmly.