SATED: #3 in the Fit Trilogy Read online

  “I’ll have to thank her.”

  “You’re going to that comic thing this weekend and you said your Internet buddies bailed, right?” It wasn’t some comic thing, but Keira was too tired to correct him.

  “Yeah.”

  “You should meet up with my buddy, Daniel. His brother is involved with the show. I’m sure he can hook you up with some behind-the-scenes perks. Help you take your mind off this dating crap.”

  Keira remembered meeting Daniel once and she only remembered because he was an intensely hot Asian guy who’d had one of his hands amputated. He also had a really deep voice that threw her off a bit. They hadn’t said more than a hello to each other at Grant’s last birthday party, but he was hard to forget.

  “It would be nice not to walk around the convention alone.” She had planned to meet up with a few friends from the Galaxis blogs but, for one reason or another, each of them was unable to make the trip to Los Angeles this year.

  “Cool. I’ll text him. I’m sure he has some sort of VIP access. You’ll have fun.”

  Grant walked in then, face a little flushed, grinning from ear to ear. Lunch with Violet probably hadn’t involved any food.

  “Hey! What are we doing?” he asked, as he lightly slapped the heavy bag still hanging near Armando’s head.

  “I was just telling Keira she should go to the that Con thing with Daniel. You know, let him show her around.”

  “Daniel Song?”

  “Yep.”

  Grant’s hesitation made Keira’s stomach sink. They couldn’t even find people who wanted to spend an afternoon with her. “Bad idea?”

  “No, no. Not at all,” Grant said, cocking his head to the side. “I just realized you guys have never hung out. He’s a cool guy. And I think his brother is big in the sci-fi TV world. You should have a good time with him.”

  “See? Forget about dating for a while. Just go to the comic con and have some fun.” Armando patted Keira on the leg before he stood up and pulled on his shirt. Keira hoped this was a good idea. If not, she was fully prepared to ditch Daniel. She could geek out on her own.

  ✶

  Daniel stood in the middle of the arena floor, eying the stage. He hated last-minute jobs, but it kind of went against company policy at Fire In The Sky Pyrotechnics to leave a new client in the lurch.

  Forty-eight hours prior, as his first nationwide tour kicked off in San Diego, “teen sensation” Blake Carlisle had to end the show when not one, but two of his pyro effects malfunctioned. The first caught the pants of a backup dancer on fire, but roadies were able to stop, drop, and roll her before any bodily damage was done. She was back for the next number, in new pants.

  The fans to the left of the stage weren’t so lucky when a flame tower tumbled into the audience. Two dozen concertgoers were sent to the ER with severe burns and other injuries. Blake’s tour management had immediately fired the previous pyro team and stuck them with the legal problems, but the show had to go on. Daniel had a day to figure out how to fix or replace the stunts before the tour took up again at the Staples Center. He’d wished he’d brought earplugs though. They were doing a run-through of the whole show so Daniel could fix the issues, but the kid’s music sucked.

  “The stage is too small,” Daniel said to his partner, Mike. Daniel gestured to the right side of the stage with his prosthesis. Sometimes it caused some discomfort, but he always wore it to work. Helped him manipulate the charges better and it scared newbies who thought you could fuck around with fire and not get burned. The body-powered beauty was black with a black hook attachment. He did like that it got people’s attention. “And they based the tower right on that slope. I’m surprised it didn’t take out more people.”

  “Should we kill the fire all together?” Mike asked.

  “That’s what I’m thinking.” Daniel looked down, as his phone vibrated in his palm. He expected his mother, checking in after her shift at the casino, but the number of a good friend of his, a buddy-in-kink, Armando Vasquez, lit up the screen instead. He’d known Armando and his business partner Grant for years. Daniel had taught them both a thing or two about wielding a flog. And dealing with male submissives. He usually caught up with them a few times a month at the bondage club Daniel’s close confidants and mentors owned. Master Philip’s or “The Club” as it was also known, was where all three of them had come into their own as masters of their sexual needs and desires. He’d spent some of the best nights of his life in that refurbished warehouse, recovering, playing, growing as the man and switch he wanted to be. There was nothing on The Club calendar that coming weekend, but maybe Armando had something else in mind.

  Blake was still mid-performance, but Daniel answered anyway. He had the gist of this shit-show.

  “Vasquez, what’s going on?” Daniel asked over the music.

  “Not much. You busy?”

  “Sort of. Just a last minute consult. What’s up?”

  “Question for you. You’re still going to that convention this weekend, right?”

  “Galaxi-Con? Yeah. Why? What’s up?”

  “You feel like some company?”

  “You want to go?” Armando was cool and all, but conventions for popular sci-fi shows didn’t seem like his thing. Fan conventions weren’t really Daniel’s thing either, but he’d promised his mom he would show up and support his brother.

  “No, I had someone else in mind. I think you might know her.”

  Daniel listened as Armando laid out the particulars for what sounded like an adult play date with his co-worker, Keira. Daniel had only met her once, but she seemed like a nice girl and smoking fine, if his memory served him correctly. Armando was quick to explain that she was just looking for someone to hang out with while she took in the day’s events. Apparently Keira was a hardcore fan of Galaxis, but none of her local friends shared her enthusiasm.

  “Yeah, send me her number and I’ll call her. I’ll make sure she has a good time.”

  “Thanks, man. I appreciate it, but, uh, one more thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “She’s…not like us.”

  “What? A dude?”

  “No, dick. She’s vanilla. Very vanilla. She knows about Grant and I, but it totally weirds her out, so don’t—”

  “So don’t ask her back to my place to make a spanking video. Don’t worry. I’ll keep the kink talk to myself.”

  “Thanks. I owe you one.”

  Daniel ended the call and turned his full attention back to the train wreck falsely labeled as entertainment playing out on the stage before him.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Keira waited by the front doors of the LAX Westin. She’d decided against her Naymorian villager costume, which called for head-to-toe purple body paint, but only took one dedicated step down and dressed as Princess Orora from episode 1.16, “The Coronation”. It took forever and some serious online searching, and maybe a YouTube tutorial or two, or five, but Keira managed to fashion Orora’s teal gown and jeweled tiara. The makeup was simple enough, just a series of silver dots placed across her face, over the bridge of her nose. The gown though was a showstopper, as was evident by the number of people who had already stopped to take pictures with her in the few short minutes she’d been waiting for her con-companion for the day.

  When she agreed to meet with Daniel, the conversation had been kind of quick. They were both busy with work and ended up ironing out the details over text. She wasn’t sure what to expect when he showed up, but she just hoped he was ready to dive right in to all the Galaxis related fun. A nerd through and through, she was going to gush over the actors during the afternoon panel. She was going to get in line and ask some questions. She was going to partake in the trivia games, and she was going to take pictures, and buy a t-shirt, hopefully some original art, and the only Orora figurines she was missing from her collection. And she was going to be as happy as a pig in poop doing it all. Hopefully Daniel could keep up.

  “Keira?”

  She s
wung around at the sound of a deep voice. There was Daniel, just stepping through the hotel doors. Keira blinked. She’d remembered that Daniel was attractive—Grant and Armando were allergic to having ugly friends—but she hadn’t remembered him being quite so good-looking. And she’d forgotten just how resonant his voice was. She could feel it under her skin.

  Keira watched him as he came closer, all six-plus feet of him. He was dressed plainly, in a white t-shirt, black jeans and black boots, but his clothes fit him so well. You could see the muscle definition through his shirt. He wore his hair kind of like Armando did, shaved on the sides and along the back, but thick black waves on top were styled in a 50’s kind of way, with just a touch of hipster. It worked for him.

  “It’s nice to see you again,” he said, reaching out with his left hand to greet her properly. Too busy staring at his face, Keira stuck out her right hand, which resulted in one of those awkward upside-down handshakes.

  “Oh, sorry.” She laughed nervously.

  “It’s okay.” He smiled back.

  “I didn’t see you drive up.”

  “I got here earlier. Didn’t know what the parking situation would be like.”

  “Understandable. I made sure I bought parking vouchers with my convention pass.”

  “Smart.” He took a step back and looked her up and down. “I thought about dressing up, but I’m glad I didn’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want to take focus off you. Armando told me you were going all out.”

  Just then a mother and her young daughter walked over. The little girl was also dressed in Princess Orora’s coronation gown.

  “Hi, sorry,” the woman said. “Can we take a picture with you? You’re the first cosplayer she’s seen today.”

  “Of course!”

  Keira posed for a few pictures with the little girl, then Daniel snapped a few so the mom could hop in the photos as well. When they were alone again, Keira glanced up to find Daniel staring at her with his striking brown eyes. She felt her face heat up.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” he said with a hint of a smile. “After you.”

  Keira ducked her head to hide her embarrassment. She wasn’t used to guys looking at her like they were actually looking at her. That subtle smile still in place, Daniel guided her through the hotel doors with his hand gently touching her back, touching the skin exposed by the cut-outs in her Naymorian gown. She did her best to ignore the goose bumps that popped up all over her body.

  ✶

  Keira couldn’t believe how much fun she was having. She couldn’t believe how much fun she was having with Daniel. He stuck by her the whole day, as she bounced from vendor to vendor and panel to panel. He held the stuff she accumulated while she posed for dozens of pictures. He encouraged her to enter the costume contest being held before the main panel of the day. She didn’t win, but she won an honorable mention prize, a replica of the pins the Galaxis fighters wore on their uniforms.

  The highlight of her day came when it was time to head to the grand ballroom. The line was ridiculously long. Keira was afraid she wouldn’t get in, let alone get near one of the mics for the Q&A, but that didn’t matter. Daniel had an in. Turns out his brother’s “involvement” in the show really meant that his brother was JD Song, who played Orora’s love interest on Galaxis. A few words to the guys at the door got them to the front of the line and back to the green room after the Q&A.

  It wasn’t like she should have made the connection. It wasn’t like everyone with the last name Song was related. Plus JD spent his whole run on the show in full Naymorian make-up, complete with a flattened nose and massively enlarged eyes. Also, he and Daniel didn’t really look alike.

  Still, it was great to meet him. JD introduced her to the rest of the cast, including Selia Monroe, the actress who played Princess Orora. She went on about Keira’s costume and somehow Keira managed not to break down in crazed fangirly tears. There was a Naymorian ball that was meant to wrap up the day’s events, but neither Keira or Daniel were in the mood to dance, so Daniel suggested they continue their evening at a diner up the street.

  “I wish Armando had told me about your brother. I wouldn’t have dragged you around with me all day. You could have spent time with him,” Keira said, as they settled into the tiny booth. She felt bad for monopolizing Daniel’s time, but she could not stop smiling.

  “No, it’s fine. We hung out last night and this morning.”

  “But you had to listen to me all day. Sorry I’m such a dork about the show.”

  Daniel shook his head at Keira’s bashful smile. “Trust me, I enjoyed it. It’s nice to meet someone so passionate about something my brother works on.”

  “You mean disturbingly obsessed?”

  Daniel laughed and picked up his menu. “Maybe a little.”

  “I thought I was going to cry when he introduced me to Selia.”

  “I’m sure she’s used to it. It’s a popular show.”

  “It is.”

  Still smiling, Keira watched Daniel for a moment as he looked over their dinner options. He really was good-looking. And he was sweet, kind of soft-spoken—as soft-spoken as anyone could be with a voice like that—and witty. He only had nice things to say all day, even though Keira could tell he was having about an eighth of the fun she was. She liked him a lot so far, but she wanted to like him more. Which was good, right? Armando hadn’t meant to “set them up” so to speak, but if the shoe looked like it worth trying on…

  Keira squeezed her eyes closed and almost hid under the table. She’d really just compared Daniel to a shoe. At least she hadn’t said the stupid words out loud. Just a quick second to clear her throat and she gave not sounding like a complete dummy a shot.

  “We spent the whole day focused on me and my Galaxis problem. Tell me about you. What do you do? Armando never told me.”

  “Thank you for asking. I’m part owner of Fire in the Sky Pyrotechnics. Spend most of my time designing fireworks and fire displays.”

  “That’s so cool. I was going ask you what you do in your free time, but—”

  “But, what?”

  “Actually, I’m sorry. I was about to say something super rude.” See, this was the real reason Keira was single, her inappropriate verbal diarrhea. She did not know when to keep her mouth shut and that just plain turned guys off. Maybe if she buried her face in the menu Daniel would forget she was there.

  No such luck. He nudged her foot under the table. “I can handle it. Tell me.”

  “Oh, geez. Okay. I was going to ask what you do in your free time, but I know you hang out with Armando and Grant. And I know what they do in their free time.”

  “Did they tell you all about it?”

  “No…I just…know. They aren’t rubbing anything in my face, but they aren’t exactly hush-hush about it either. And Armando posts things on Facebook sometimes.”

  “And what do you think about it?”

  Keira shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

  “Do you know much about sadomasochistic practices and power exchange?”

  Keira’s mind blanked for a second. She had no idea what he was talking about, but she wasn’t about to admit that. “I just know they like control or whatever. They like bossing Violet and Nailah around, telling them what to do. And then there’s lots of sex involved. It’s not really my thing.”

  That small smile touched the corner of his lips again. Keira wanted to be annoyed with him but she couldn’t. And then she realized what she’d said.

  “No! I like sex! I definitely like sex—”

  “It’s more than that, but I see what you’re saying. It’s not for everyone.”

  “I’ll be honest. Most of what I know it, I learned from fanfiction.”

  Daniel’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

  He shouldn’t have said that. Keira felt her geek mode activating again. “There’s this AU fic where Orora— Are you sure you want to hear this?”

 
“After you tell me what the hell an AU fic is, yes I do.”

  “It means Alternate Universe. So Orora is a florist and she lives next door to JD’s character, and he’s a carpenter and he seduces her and ties her up and—”

  “Okay, stop. I don’t want to think about my brother seducing anyone or what follows.”

  “Right. Sorry.”

  “You liked the story though?”

  “Yeah. I like reading it, but the stuff he made her do? Not my thing.”

  “Why’s that? Not that I’m trying to persuade you.”

  “I don’t like being told what to do, even if sex comes as a perk.”

  “I gotcha.” Daniel let the subject drop and turned his attention to the menu, but then Keira’s curiosity was piqued.

  “What’s the draw for you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “I don’t mind, I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

  “I’m good. One hundred percent comfortable. Go.”

  “Alright. How can I put this? I may roll with Grant and Armando, but we’re into different aspects of the lifestyle. They are Dominants, clear and easy. I’m what you would call a switch.”

  “I don’t know what that is,” Keira said.

  “I like to play both sides. I can do what your boys do. Have a partner or partners who agree to follow my lead. I can act as Master and Dominant, give out the orders, take the control. And just as easily I can submit.”

  Keira swallowed as she felt her face heating up. She did not mean for the conversation to go anywhere near this direction, but now she was interested. And possibly picturing Daniel doing all sorts of things with his shirt off. “Which do you like more?”

  “I’m most at peace when I’m submitting. What looks good to you?”

  “Oh, ah. I think I’m going to get the waffles. I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about this. What are you going to get?”

  “The waffles actually sound pretty good. We can talk about whatever you like. Armando mentioned to me that you weren’t into kink. You just told me you weren’t into kink, but I’ll go on if you want to know more?”