Mastering Lexie (Stronghold Book 4) (36 page)

She also
dashed off a quick email to Jake, giving him a very brief and not too
informative update on what had happened between her and Patrick.  Hmm...
she'd need to tell her parents at some point too.  Definitely before
Patrick talked to them.  While she was pretty sure that they'd be okay
with it, although possibly a little worried about the age difference, she
didn't want Patrick to see any initial doubts or anything.  They were more
his family than his own parents in a lot of ways, and she knew how much their
opinion meant to him.  Definitely better if she prepped them.

So she called
them that night, while she was packing up her bag.  Two days’ worth of
work clothes, just in case, an outfit for Stronghold, some pajamas (if Patrick
even let her wear them), underwear, socks, toiletries...

"Lexie! 
Hello, sweetheart," her mother trilled, as soon as she picked up the
phone.  The excitement in her voice made Lexie cringe a little.  She
really needed to call her parents more often.  See them more often
too.  It was just that days went by so quickly and the next thing she
knew, a month had passed.  Although, her mom stalked her Facebook and left
comments on everything, so it's not like they didn't know what was going on in
her life for the most part.

"Hey mom,
how are you?"

"Good,
good.  I just got home from my book club."  Lexie's mom had been
an event planner before she'd had kids, even though Jake and Lexie were both
out of the house, she seemed happier doing her own thing rather than going back
to work.  Luckily, since Lexie's dad made good money as an engineering
consultant for the government, she didn't need to.  Plus, it made it
easier when they had to go overseas for her husband's job.

"Reading
anything good?"

"Mmm, a
biography about Marilyn Monroe.  It's not really my thing, but it's interesting."

"That's
good."

"Mmm
hmm... So what do you need, sweetheart?"

"Need? 
Who says I need anything?  I don't just call you because I need
something," Lexie said, partly teasing but also a little
disgruntled.  She didn't do that, did she?  A little bit, she
supposed.  But she did also like knowing what was going on with her
parents.  She really did need to call and get over there more often.

"You're
just calling to chat?"  Her mother definitely sounded a little
surprised.  Dammit.  Lexie vowed to herself that she was going to
call more often.  Just to chat.  Be a better daughter.  Geez.
 

"Well,
I'm calling with news... of a sort."

"You got
a new job?!"

Lexie rolled
her eyes.  "No.  I like my job, remember?"

"You
can't blame me for trying."

"Sure I
can.  I'm not quitting my job.  I love my job."  Except for
today, but that was different.  

"So
what's the news then?" her mother asked, sounding even more curious now.

Huh... this
was harder than she thought.  Lexie hesitated for just a moment, gathering
her courage and then blurted it out.  "Patrick and I are
dating."

Which made it
sound so much less than it actually was, but it was better to put it in terms
her parents could understand.  Although, they did know what kind of club
he owned, but it was one thing to know and another to
know.
  For
them, knowing was more an academic exercise than anything else.  Jake's
knowledge was a little more involved, and it still wouldn't encompass
everything.

"Brandon! 
Brandon!"  Lexie groaned as her mother excitedly called her father's
name.  "They're doing it!"

"Phrasing,
mom..."

"Who's
doing what?" Her dad asked, his voice sounding faraway since he wasn't
right up next to the phone.  Closing her eyes, Lexie stifled another
groan, along with the impulse to bang her head on the wall.  Well, she
hadn't wanted them to be upset.  

"Lexie's
dating Patrick!  Finally!"  Her mother had moved the phone away
from her mouth, but Lexie could still hear every word perfectly clearly.

"Isn't he
a little old for her?"

"Oh hush,
don't ruin this for me."  Mom suddenly spoke into the phone again,
her voice much louder.  "This is so sweet!  I just knew you two
would end up together."

"Geez
Mom, slow down, it's not like we're getting married!"  Lexie said,
with sudden wariness.  The last thing she needed was her parents putting
pressure on their newly-budded relationship.  Good grief, at least her dad
sounded a little cautious.  Her mom was sounded alarmingly like Hilary's
mother.  "We just started dating."

"Yes, but
you've had a crush on him forever, I remember when you used to follow him and
Jake around everywhere..."

Great, just
what she needed, childhood reminiscences about how much she'd embarrassed
herself mooning over Patrick.  Still, she couldn't help but smile at her
mother's enthusiasm.  In the background she could hear her dad grumbling
about how there was no rush.  At least one of her parents wasn't going
full steam ahead.

It occurred to
Lexie that she took after her mom a bit more than her dad, and she suddenly had
more sympathy for Patrick's position.  It was a good thing he was such a
strong Dom or she'd probably end up steam-rolling him.  Not that her own
father was a pushover, but he did have a tendency to just do his own thing
while letting his wife do hers.

"Does
Jake know?  Or are you telling him when he gets home?"  Not that
her mom seemed to really care either way, she sounded like she was just asking
because she wanted to make sure she could talk to him about it too. 
Probably because Lexie's dad wasn't giving her the enthusiastic response she
desired and she was hoping for something more from Jake.  Poor mom.

"Patrick
talked to him."  Which she was really, really trying not to be bugged
about.  Yeah, it irked a bit that Patrick had wanted to talk to Jake
first... but her own conversation with Andrew had helped a lot of her
irritation over that.  Besides, the point was that now Patrick was being
wonderful and possessive and all the things that she'd wanted in the first
place.  

If he'd needed
to work out his friendship stuff with Jake first, then she needed to accept
that and just be happy with the outcome.

"You two
should come over for dinner sometime this week, so that we can catch up with
both of you.  We haven't seen Patrick in a while.  How long have you
two been dating?"

"Not long
mom... officially, since last night.  I'll talk to him about coming over,
but no interrogating okay?"  Even as she said it, she knew that the
plea was probably useless.  On the other hand, it was probably going to be
pretty entertaining watching the ever suave Patrick dealing with her mom in
matchmaker mode.  It was something he'd always managed to avoid before, by
pushing her attention onto Jake instead.  

Her mom
sighed, that awful guilt-tripping sigh that only a mother could do.
 "Goodness Lexie, you make me sound like the Inquisition."

"Just
leave the thumb screws in their drawer, okay?" she teased.
 "So... how are you and Dad?"

It was
actually really nice chatting with her mom while she packed up her stuff. 
When she'd been living at home, she'd always kind of dreaded the nightly 'how
was your day' conversation over dinner.  Trying to find something to say
that would placate her mother's need to know what was going on in her
children's lives, while still maintaining her growing desire for privacy hadn't
always been easy.  Mostly she'd gotten around it by asking her mom a lot
of questions about her own day.  Now, she realized she kind of missed
listening to her mom prattle on about whatever she'd been up to.  After
all, most of Lexie’s current dinners were eaten in front of the television,
unless she was visiting her parents (which she was definitely going to do more
often) or was eating with friends.

Of course, now
her evenings were going to be filled with Patrick.  She had no doubt that
he was going to have dinner ready for her tonight.  One of these days, she
was really going to need to cook for him, instead of the other way around.
 

******

Wanting to
spank Lexie for sharing her happiness with her friends wasn't entirely fair,
but he was considering it anyway.  He'd fielded calls from Olivia and
Andrew first thing that morning, who had been supportive, if a bit wary. 
Adam's phone call had been more along the lines of 'what the hell are you
thinking?' - mostly because of the debacles Thursday and Saturday night, so
Patrick couldn't really blame him for that.  Not that Adam had anything
against Patrick and Lexie as a couple at this point, he just didn't believe in
rewarding her bad behavior.  Neither did Patrick, but he did believe that
she hadn't quite realized what she was doing; her apology had been
sincere.  Besides, now he had the right to punish her.

Justin and
Chris had called mostly for confirmation, while Liam, Rick and Jared had
settled for texting.  They seemed more amused than anything else. 
From the first call - Olivia - to the last text - Jared, it had only taken five
hours for the news to get around their entire group of friends.  In some
ways, Patrick was surprised it had taken that long.  Although, at least
everyone had their information right; he supposed it could have been worse if
he'd been correcting them.

The
interruptions to his day, when he was trying to plan and shop, were not exactly
appreciated.  While it was always nice to know that his friends cared, he
could have done without the constant blare of his phone.

For Lexie he'd
bought several new toys, including a paddle that had the word "BRAT"
carved out of the center.  It would leave the word imprinted on her skin
when he used it.  He'd stopped by Stronghold, just to check in on the job
that the cleaning crew had done, and to sit down and revise a standard contract
to suit him and Lexie.  A relationship contract was always more complex
than a club contract, but he wanted one in place anyway, so that the rules and
guidelines for the domination and submission part of their relationship was
clearly written out and agreed upon.

He kept the
standard one on his computer at work, since he never needed a contract at home,
and it took him several hours to get it worded to his satisfaction. 
Mostly outlining infractions and punishments, as well as duties and
rewards.  Lexie could negotiate, of course, on any points she didn't agree
with, but he had it written out to exactly what he wanted.  It was the
kind of contract that he'd only put together twice before, because most of the
time the kind of woman that was willing to be a full-time submissive was
actually too submissive for him.  He needed someone who was still willing
to stand up for herself, who would sass at him, and occasionally act the brat
so that he had an excuse to punish her.  Not that he wouldn't spank or
whip her anyway, in a scene, but he needed the satisfaction that he got from
doling out real punishments as well.  Lexie would strive to please him,
but she'd never lose herself in a quest for perfection - her mouth would always
get her into trouble.

One of his
previous girlfriends had completely let her personality be subsumed into her
submission, which was not at all what he had wanted.  She was very happy
now, as a slave with a Master that she'd met at Stronghold, but she hadn't been
for him.  The other had taken one look at the contract, the clearly
written details, and realized that his expectations were more than she was
willing to give.  

Some small
part of him still feared Lexie would do that, even though she knew the kind of
man he was, but he wasn't going to hold back, because he'd lose her in the end
anyway if he did that.  During her training she'd shown herself to be
willing to submit, not just in a scene but also outside of it; he just had to
hope that she'd enjoyed it as much as he had.

Maybe that was
part of the reason he'd taken so long to write the contract, and make sure
everything was in there.  Because he didn't want her to be surprised by
anything.  Of course, the constant interruptions from his friends hadn't
helped either.  

On his way
home, he picked up a couple carry-out pizzas, not really feeling up to anything
more complex.  Besides, he wanted to focus on Lexie tonight, not on
cooking and cleaning.

By the time
she finally got to his condo, he was regretting not having specified a
time.  She was later than he'd expected, and he'd ended up putting the
pizzas in the oven to keep them warm.  

"Hey,
sorry," she said, walking in and sounding a bit breathless, as if she'd
been running.  "I meant to be here earlier, but I got caught up
talking to mom.  We're invited over for dinner sometime this week."
 The big smile she flashed at him did nothing to reassure him.  He
groaned.

"You told
her, didn't you."  It wasn't a question. 

"Of
course I did," she said, putting down her bag and kicking off her
shoes.  Patrick scowled, picking them up and putting them on the shoe
rack.  That was something that was definitely going to be addressed once
she read the contract.  "They'd want to know.  Dad's grumbling,
but accepting.  Mom's thrilled and claiming that she's always known we
were going to 'end up together.'"  She used her fingers to make
little quotation marks in the air, grinning up at him, as if amused by her mother's
remarks.