Cherished: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella Read Free Page A

rather for the characters in her books. When she sat and interviewed the Doms who would talk to her, like Jesse and Alex McKay and Mitchell, she wasn’t looking for someone for herself. She was merely thinking in terms of backstories and characters and good scenes.
    Will Daley made her think of what it would be like to have her own Dom.
    And that was precisely why she was going to stay away.
    Decision made. “All right then. I think I’ll talk to some of the baby Doms since Serena is so very selfish and you are incapable of looking like you want to sleep with me.”
    Serena pouted a little. “It’s not selfishness.”
    She let her friend off the hook and leaned in for a hug. “I’m teasing you. I honestly couldn’t handle Adam anyway. We would fight over the mirror.”
    Jake laughed and started teasing Serena about how Adam sometimes used her hair products. Chris’s Dom returned and settled him on his lap.
    Happy couples. Yep. They were all around her. Well, couples and trios. She noted Karina Mills walking into the bar holding hands with her fiancé, Derek Brighton.
    So much happiness and not a bit of it seemed to be slated for her.
    Great, now she was holding a pity party. Lovely.
    She looked around. Beautiful men were everywhere. Even the ones who weren’t conventionally attractive had character stamped on their faces. There was no doubt about it. It was a smorgasbord of male beauty.
    Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to pretend to have a boyfriend for a while. Hell, maybe she’d even find someone she liked. Someone who wouldn’t cheat on her and spend her money.
    Or she could settle for not humiliating herself.
    “Tomorrow. I’ll make a list tonight and ask them tomorrow,” she said more to herself than anyone else.
    But her best friend was right there. Serena smiled and put a hand in hers. “I’ll help you. Let’s go get dressed and head back to our place for coffee.”
    “And baby watching,” Bridget said quickly. Watching Tristan Miles-Dean had become her favorite pastime. She’d never really thought about babies until her best friend had one, and now she loved to look at the expressions he made while he was sleeping and the way he tried to eat his own foot.
    Serena nodded. “And baby watching. We’ll figure out the perfect guy to ask. It’ll be fun.”
    Bridget doubted that it would be fun, but at least she wasn’t alone. Chris gave her a wink.
    No. She might not have a guy, but somehow she’d found the best friends a girl could ask for.
     
    * * * *
     
    “You’re pathetic, you know.” A sarcastic voice had Will Daley turning away from his current occupation of eavesdropper.
    It didn’t matter. It seemed the relevant conversation was over, so he flipped Mitchell Bradford off and slunk out from behind the sofa he’d been sitting on in time to watch Bridget Slaten saunter off in her heels and a miniskirt that left just the tiniest smidgen to his imagination. Fuck, that girl had the sweetest ass he’d seen in forever.
    Unfortunately, it was attached to a banging body and the brattiest mouth he’d ever come across.
    “I have to listen in because she won’t talk to me.” Will crossed his arms over his chest as she turned toward the locker room. He kept his voice down because Chris Roberts, his boyfriend and Dom Jeremy Hill, and Jake Dean were still talking.
    Mitch shook his head. “I think that’s what we call a signal in our world. You see, we’re supposed to read body language and be able to tell when a sub is happy or distressed.”
    Will sighed and wished law school had made Mitch less sarcastic. “She’s not unhappy. She’s afraid of something.”
    Bridget Slaten was a complete mystery to him, and he wasn’t exactly sure why, but he felt a desperate need to solve her. He’d first met her when Derek had found him a condo. Will figured Derek owed him since Derek and his fiancée, Karina, were the reason he’d nearly been murdered and humiliated horrifically, so when he decided on