All First Chapter Samples

“Don’t waste your money. He’s not gonna take a drink from you.” The bartender gave me a snide look like he thought I was a moron as he started to walk away.

“Guess you don’t want a fifty then.” Shrugging as I not-so-subtly waved the folded bills around, I turned to head back over to my table where I knew the twink that’d been serving us would do what I wanted in a heartbeat.

“Wait.” The asshole bartender who thought he was hot shit leaned against the counter and studied me. “You have thirty seconds to satisfy my curiosity or I’ll have security toss you out.”

God, he was so full of himself.

It made me wonder if he knew that Niko only kept him around because he thought the guy was hot and he didn’t flirt with the dancers. I was starting to get the impression, though, that the only reason he was so professional with the other staff was because he was straight.

Panic or laugh?

That was the question running through my head like a rabid Pomeranian as I looked down at the present in my hand.

Weren’t Secret Santas supposed to be funny?

This was work, not family.

That was supposed to mean presents were silly and cute and low stress. That last one was key because the only reason management had even agreed to let us continue the tradition was because we’d promised not to take it too seriously or to get in a competition this year.

Last year had been…stressful.

So far everyone had obeyed the rules…well, everyone but my Santa.

Looking down into the decorated bag piled with tissue paper, I thought it should’ve just been filled with candy or something silly…nope. My Secret Santa had gotten me a big baby bottle filled with Hershey’s Kisses and a new binkie.

A fucking binkie.

I still couldn’t figure out how I’d ended up at the surprise wedding, but the one thing I was confident about was that I wasn’t answering any more calls from that neurotic fucking omega.

“We’re so glad you could make it.” Austin beamed but I wasn’t sure who the we were. It could’ve been in the royal sense or he could’ve meant the people in his head. “Did you have a chance to talk to the happy couple?”

He raised one eyebrow challengingly, even though his smile was still firmly in place.

“Yes.” That wasn’t good enough for the dramatic omega, and in other social situations I’d have been a dick, but it was a wedding.

And I wanted something from the crazy man.

Maybe.

“My mother said I’m supposed to put myself in your hands because I can’t be trusted to pick for myself.”

Had that come out weird?

The way the owner Conner was staring at me with his mouth open said I’d been awkward in some way. Taking a guess, I smiled and expounded. “The last Dom. Well, he said he was a Dom—wait, where was I? Oh, yes. Well, he stole my TV, and the guy before him tried to get me to do some sort of auction where I’d submit to a Master for a month, and that just didn’t seem like a good idea. I have to work and my mother said the whole thing sounded fishy.”

She was probably right, but he’d been wonderful at giving me attention.

She kept saying that attention whores attracted trouble—and she would know.

I thought explaining my questionable dating history would clear up the curious looks I was getting from the half-naked club owner.

“Could you be a bigger fucking dork?” Who just randomly showed up with food and said “Date me”?

I continued to mumble to myself. “He’s going to think I’m insane.”

And he’d probably be right.

This was all that wide-eyed sub’s fault.

He just had one of those faces that seemed too earnest to question. It hadn’t felt like he’d been lying. No, he’d been telling the truth. Fuck. Please let him have been telling the truth—because walking up to Warner’s door wasn’t the time to start second-guessing bringing dinner to the sexy man.

This was definitely all Asa’s fault. He’d turned my life upside down in a matter of seconds. One slightly awkward conversation at a coffee shop had been all it had taken to have me walking up to Warner’s house with a pizza in hand when he had no idea I was coming, much less that I was interested in him.

“There is nothing wrong with finding competence sexy.” Sitting up straighter, not that it helped make me look taller, I stared at the wiggly, nearly naked man. “You asked what traits I find sexy in a man and I told you. Competence. Intelligence. Emotional stability.”

This was not rocket science.

Conner didn’t seem to agree with that sentiment, however. He was gaping at me like I was a bizarre new species of bug he’d just discovered. But since that was an improvement over his initial reaction to my clothing, or just the fact that I was wearing them, I didn’t worry about it.

Shaking his head, he gestured around the room. “Those are important characteristics in a good person, especially a good Dom, but what about looks?”

The expression on his face said he had no idea what I was talking about, but he was trying to be polite. Unfortunately, it was one I was familiar with.