The Shy Dominant by Jan Irving Read Free Book Online

Dreams. She expertly made then slid a decaffeinated red-chocolate mocha in front of Dharma, who was slumped at one of the tables.
    “Disaster,” Dharma moaned. “Disaster upon humiliation.”
    “Oh, good.”
    Dharma lifted her head from her crossed arms and gave Sian a glare. “Hey, you’re supposed to be part of my support system, remember?”
    “I remember you’re part of mine.” Sian rubbed her pregnant belly gently. She was only working half shifts now on Luke’s insistence. Both of them were wildly anticipating their baby. Sian had decorated a bedroom in their fancy beach house to mimic a carousel, going so far as to hire Dharma to do a beautiful mural on the wall of prancing horses. The crib itself was inside a carved dancing pony with a black mane—in case it was a boy—sporting blue and purple roses decorating its saddle. Dharma figured this was going to be one spoilt kid.
    She raised an eyebrow at her friend. “Ahem, support system?”
    Sian grimaced. “Okay, Luke’s been harsh on the subject of you and Fred.”
    “If he disapproves he can stuff it!” Dharma began hotly.
    “Whoa, no, you don’t! You are not putting me between my soon-to-be husband and my best friend.” Sian sat down next to her. “Dharma, the men at the station all work together, put their lives in Fred’s hands. Luke is protective of him. He doesn’t think he’s sophisticated enough to deal with a light affair with ‘La Dharma’.”
    Dharma had to smile at her friend’s nickname.
    “You and Fred are such opposites.”
    “I seem to remember you being sensitive about Luke being younger than you are, but it’s not relevant anymore,” Dharma said.
    “From what I’ve heard, Fred’s wife was a free-spirit. And you’re a free-spirit times a thousand. You could break him, Dharma. He’s an old-fashioned man about love meaning commitment.”
    Dharma sucked in a breath. Oh, Goddess, her eyes were stinging. “I wouldn’t,” she croaked. “And anyway, he hurt me .”
    “Tell me what happened?”
    “I thought we were going to have sex on his kitchen counter,” Dharma admitted defiantly. “This is me, remember? So I offered and he, uh, turned me down.”
    “Kitchen counter?” Sian flushed. “What is it with the men of Station 57 and kitchens? Maybe it’s the thing about the hearth being in the kitchen. Hearth equals fire…”
    “You’re trying to distract me and it’s working.” Dharma put her chin in her hand and stared at her friend. “Do share, girlfriend. Is that where my future painting student was conceived?”
    “Never mind. Okay, so you didn’t have sex. Big deal.” Sian sucked in a breath. “Oh, shit, it is a big deal. I’m sorry.”
    “After he rejected me his ex-wife showed up,” Dharma related with brittle humour. “Ouch.”
    “I shouldn’t want him because he’s a straight-laced fuddy-duddy, thinking he needs to protect me.”
    “With an extremely gorgeous non fuddy-duddy body,” Sian put in, smiling.
    “Very. I only wish I’d seen more of it,” Dharma moaned.
    Why couldn’t Fred have a younger, spirited girlfriend? If he’d married a free spirit, then it seemed to Dharma he was attracted to her kind of woman. Opposites attract. Put opposites together and you had fire. And controlling fire was what Fred was all about.
    Her toes curled at the thought.
    * * * *
    “I just need some, ah, pointers on dating a young, hip woman,” Fred said.
    “So you want me to mentor you on how to dominate Dharma sexually? Shit, boss.” Taz ran a hand through his hair, more agitated than Fred could remember seeing him. Normally nothing shook Taz, though Fred had his own ideas on that. As a commanding officer he had worked with a lot of younger men. Some were messed up because their parents had taken their own shit out on their helpless kids, and Fred had always had the feeling this was the case with Taz.
    In the workplace, Fred was used to doing the mentoring, to being someone his people could look