Safeword: Arabesque (Safewords Book 9) by Candace Blevins Read Free Book Online

the horizon began to brighten, and were silent as the sky transitioned into a magnificent color pallet.
    When it faded to a normal blue Cassie leaned into him and said, “Thank you.”
    He kissed her temple. “Thank you right back, for being here to share this with me, and for trusting me when I said there was something worth walking along a dark trail in the early morning hours.”
    “I have a brother,” she finally told him what she couldn’t earlier. “He lived with us until I was fourteen, and some things happened and, well, my mom realized it wasn’t safe for him to live in the house with us anymore.” After a few moments of silence, she added, “I loved him, and understood him, and was pissed when she sent him away. I understand now it was the right decision, but I missed him terribly. Things were never the same again, without him around.”
    Frisco was quiet for so long Cassie wasn’t sure he understood what she was telling him. He finally asked, “Is he a resident? Do you see him when you go to work?”
    Relieved she didn’t have to go into too many details right now, she nodded.
    “Thank you for telling me. If you ever want to share more…” He shook his head. “I don’t want to pry, and I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I’ll be happy to hear whatever you’re comfortable telling me.”
    Cassie breathed out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure how Frisco knew the right thing to say, but she thought she might be falling in love with him.
    Somehow, he managed to get her talking about her therapist. Not the deep psychoanalysis stuff, but the inappropriate things you want to tell your therapist when they ask how you feel about something, or how fulfilling it would feel to pull a super-soaker out and drench your therapist when they suggest you aren’t being honest with yourself.
    Frisco’s phone chirped and he pulled it out, looked at it, and said, “What time did you need to call in to work?”
    Cassie pulled her phone from her pocket, saw it was dead, and asked, “Can I borrow yours?”
    They both made phone calls, talked another couple of hours, and Frisco finally took her home.
    She was so tired, she did something she’d never trusted another man to do. She let him tuck her into bed and lock the door on his way out.

     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Frisco had lunch with Sam in her office an hour later. She was worried about Cassie, plus he wanted to be sure Sam was in the loop in case Cassie needed the support of a female friend.
    Also, he was still ticked at Sam for putting him in a corner, where he had no choice but to break his long-standing rule of not scening with women.
    “I told you I don’t do that stuff with girls, Chica,” he told her, his voice gruffer than he intended.
    “No,” she said, not the least intimidated. “You said you don’t get rough with girls. You can do the D/s without the S&M, you know.” Frisco didn’t say anything and Sam said, “Just tell me she’s okay today, Frisco.”
    He nodded. “She’s good. I made it good for her.”
    “Was it good for you?” Frisco glared at her and she said, “If you’re this conflicted it must have been incredible.” He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to argue, but she jumped in to say, “Here’s what I think. You’ve been raised on a good helping of Catholic guilt and you were mostly raised by women. Your mamma taught you women are to be treasured and you’ve taken her words to heart, which is a good thing.”
    She was pretty much right on the mark, and he nodded and said, “Men aren’t supposed to hit women.”
    “Not unless they consent to it, and get off on it, but your mom isn’t going to tell you that part of it.” Sam wrinkled her nose. “Parents and kids aren’t supposed to have those kinds of conversations.”
    No way would he let the conversation head that direction. He scrambled for a way to change the subject, and asked, “What exactly did Cassie say to you last