Dungeon Daddy by Golden Angel
Chapter 5
Esther
“Oh, Mom, you look amazing!” Jennifer gushed when Esther finally joined them at the breakfast table. It had taken her a few tries to get everything right, and she hadn’t managed it quite as well as Braden had, but she was pretty proud of her first attempt at the ‘day’ look.
Daniel looked up and blinked, scrunching his nose as he studied her up and down.
“You look different.” To Esther’s amusement, his tone was almost accusing. Her youngest didn’t always do well with change. Jennifer elbowed him in the side.
“Good different, right?” The prompting tone wasn’t lost on Daniel, and after a second, he nodded his head, but the little wrinkle between his eyebrows remained. Sometimes, he reminded her so much of Jax. Though with Jax, she was pretty sure the little wrinkle in his brow had been because he was confused about her motivation, not because he didn’t like the change.
That was fine, too.
“Thank you,” she replied serenely, sitting and helping herself to some cereal.
The weekend sped by with a few odd looks from Jax, but he was around all weekend. When he went to the gym on Sunday, Esther refrained from contacting their friends to find out if he’d actually gone. Since he showered at the gym, she couldn’t do much to find out if he’d been with another woman other than asking their friends… and instigate a little afternoon delight.
Just like Friday night, Jax was eager to jump into bed with her. She was the one who’d needed a little lube, which wasn’t unusual at her age. His eagerness made her feel much more secure. Maybe when he was in his twenties, he’d have had the stamina to jump from one bed to another, with no advance notice, but he sure as heck didn’t now. Which meant her new look was working, firming her resolve to keep it up.
She missed their old connection, but this was better than losing her husband. In time, she’d adjust.
On Monday, she went into the office, and almost everyone noticed the makeup, either complimenting her or asking if she was going somewhere after work. That second reaction told her how unusual it was for her to wear makeup, her hair down, and nicer than usual clothes. The first reaction amused her because it felt like people thought they should compliment her because she had changed her look.
Studying herself in the bathroom mirror in the middle of the afternoon, she still wasn’t sure how she felt about her new look. People’s reactions told her she was supposed to feel good—and she supposed she did—but she didn’t entirely feel like herself. On the other hand, constant compliments were nice. She’d definitely take the boost to her ego.
Stepping out of the bathroom, she had to hold back a laugh when she passed a guy from marketing in the hall, and he did such a hard double-take, he actually tripped.
“Woah, you okay there?” she asked. Roger… that was his name. He was in his twenties, a fairly new hire, and a pretty good-looking guy. Making him trip over his own two feet felt even better than all the compliments, especially since he was around Michelle Cain’s age. It was nice to get attention from someone so much younger and know Jax wasn’t the only one who could.
“Yes, ah, sorry. Uh, you look really nice today.” He gave her an awkward thumbs up before fleeing the scene. Esther giggled all the way back to her desk.
* * *
Jax
Every day Esther woke up and did her makeup, the little knot of tension in the pit of Jax’s stomach wound a little tighter.
Was this a midlife crisis?
He ignored the little voice in the back of his head, the one that said when a spouse started suddenly putting new interest into their appearance, it meant they’d found someone they wanted to look good for.
He ignored the urge to reach for his Daddy Dom side and spank some answers out of her when she got sexy with him on Sunday afternoon. They had hot vanilla sex without a single sign she wanted to get into her babygirl headspace, and that was that.
He ignored the stab of jealous possessiveness when Esther told the story about her young co-worker tripping over his feet when he saw her. If she was dressing up for someone at work, he didn’t think it was this Roger.
Wednesday was game night with their friends, and it was their reactions he was the most interested in. They’d been playing Castles & Creatures with the same group of friends for decades now. Their friendship had been formed through their mutual love of the game and of kink, and Jax counted all of them as his best friends.
He was especially interested in Leah’s and Cyana’s reactions. Not that Gavin and Aiden, the other two men, wouldn’t have good insights, but they tended to split along gender lines when spending time together… well, until recently when Gavin and Leah had reconciled after ten years of being divorced. Although Gavin wasn’t spending extra time with Esther just because he and Leah were joined at the hip again. Which was why Jax was less interested in Gavin’s response.
Holding Esther’s hand, Jax made sure he was the first through the door at Leah’s house. Since the door swung inward, it made sense. He held the door open for her but would also be able to see everyone’s expressions as they looked up to say hello. Mostly, he wanted to know if he was the only one who’d been blindsided by Esther’s new look.
Today, she was wearing a dress—something she never used to wear to work, much less to game night—and she hadn’t changed into something more comfortable for game night. Her hair was down, as it had been for days now, and she’d even touched up her makeup before they’d left the house.
Gavin and Leah were standing in her kitchen, whispering to each other and looking a little lovesick. Not too surprising since Gavin had recently moved out of the apartment he’d been living in and into this house. It was still hard to think of it as anything but ‘Leah’s house,’ but eventually, Jax would get used to it.
Their friend, Cyana, was sitting on the couch, ignoring the two lovebirds. She looked up at Esther and Jax as they came in, a smile on her face. When she got a good look at Esther, her smile froze, and she blinked rapidly, her eyebrows lifting—which, for Cyana, was the equivalent of screaming ‘What the fuck?’
She was the only Domme among their group of friends and tended to be rigidly controlled.
“Well, hello there. Did you two just come from a date or something?” There was an odd note to Cyana’s voice. She tilted her head, and her sleek silver hair brushed against her shoulder. The color was especially startling against the mahogany brown of her skin, but it looked good. She said the steely color made her even more intimidating—especially helpful in her private investigations.
“Nope.” Jax kept his voice mild. “Just work.”
Cyana blinked again, her eyes narrowed. Gavin and Leah finally looked up from each other, their attention drawn by the odd conversation. As tall as Jax, Gavin was slightly less muscular, with salt-and-pepper hair and beard and piercing blue eyes that immediately skipped Jax and zeroed in on Esther. His eyes widened, and he openly gaped.
Out of all of them, Leah recovered the fastest.
“Ooh, I love that dress, Esther! And your makeup! Did you get it done?”
With her hand still in his, Jax could feel the tension in his wife’s fingers as she answered Leah, despite the breezy tone she adopted.
“Jen and I went to Ulta on Friday, so I could have someone show me how to do it. You like?”
Well, at least now, he had his answer. None of his friends had known about Esther’s sudden interest in changing up her appearance.
* * *
Esther
Feeling a bit like an animal at the zoo, Esther let go of Jax’s hand and made a beeline for the bottle of wine on Leah’s counter. Was wearing a dress and makeup really cause for so much comment from her friends?
You know it is.
Heck, she’d almost chickened out and put on one of her usual t-shirts and yoga pants, the way she normally dressed for game night. Her new look was basically the bat signal that something was up. Leah already knew something was. She was the one who told Esther Jax hadn’t been going to the gym on Sundays with Aiden and Gavin as he’d claimed—which meant Gavin knew because he’d been the one to tell Leah.
They didn’t know what Esther had done after Leah told her. They didn’t know Esther had tracked Jax’s phone or about her new plan to save her marriage.
Cyana was the one she was most worried about. As observant as she was protective, Cyana also had strong opinions about everything. Once she knew what was going on… well, she had the best chance of talking Esther out of saving her marriage. Esther hated disappointing Cyana. Well, she hated disappointing anyone, but Cyana topped the list. If she could choose someone to be like, it would be Cyana—tough as nails, always put-together, and completely confident.
“You look great,” Leah said, hurrying over to wrap Esther up in a hug, forestalling any questions, and Esther was grateful. Not quite as intimidating as Cyana, Leah was another person who always looked put-together. Her greying blonde hair was hanging loose over her shoulders in soft waves, and she’d changed into jeans and a comfortable shirt rather than her work clothes, looking both classy and approachable.
“Thank you.” Hugging her back, Esther did her best to relax.
“Gorgeous.” Gavin, Leah’s ex-husband and current boyfriend, came up to add his hug, the corners of his blue eyes creasing as he grinned at her. He had a swoon-worthy Scottish accent that always made Esther sigh internally when she listened to him talk. “Any man would be lucky to have you.”
There was a bit of a sharp edge to his voice, and she was pretty sure he glanced at Jax as he spoke. Biting her lip, Esther kept from scolding him.
“That’s always been true,” Cyana pointed out, coming up for her hug, her glass of red wine still in her hand. Her dark gaze skittered over Esther, then Jax, as though she was hunting for clues about what was going on. Clearly, she suspected there was more than what she could see on the surface, and she wasn’t wrong.
“Yes, it has,” Jax agreed. There was a note of suspicion in his voice that made Esther want to kick her friends. Maybe she should have given them a heads-up, but seriously, couldn’t anyone play it cool?
Thankfully, before things could get any more awkward, the door opened again, and Aiden came barreling into the room, bringing the delicious scent of bread, tomato sauce, and cheese with him. Mmm, pizza.
“Hey, everybody!”
Esther and Jax turned to face him to say hi. Aiden, another Dom, looked a lot like Jeffrey Dean Morgan but goofier. He almost always sported a big grin and had a love of getting under peoples’ skin, especially his fellow Doms.
Despite being a big goofball most of the time, he was far from unobservant. As everyone chorused their greetings, his gaze flitted over them before finally landing on Esther, and his double-take was almost comical.
“Damn, Esther, you look amazing. Are you shopping for a new man or something?”
Just like that, it was awkward again.
