He didn’t want to mess things up with Ellie just because he now had a new thing going on with his work life. Plus, it wasn’t like the new club was going to be ready to be open for a couple of months. Even though their offer on the building had been accepted (thanks, in large part, to the substantial down payment Michael had been able to provide), there were a lot of renovations needed - and some of them needed to be done discreetly. Fortunately, Andrew had already offered to help on those, and the rest of their friends would probably step up to help too. Obviously, if the club was going to be discreet, they didn’t want an entire group of contractors to know what it was being used for. However, they’d be able to take care of setting up the entire restaurant and doing some of the basic work on the private rooms before Andrew and the rest of them came through and added all the kinkier elements.

But, as excited as he was about this new business venture (especially after putting in his two-week notice to his less than stimulating day job), he didn’t want to let it distract him from Ellie. She deserved his full attention. Not only that, but he probably wasn’t going to get what he wanted from her unless he gave her his full attention. She had a lot of practice at holding herself back and keeping herself apart from the Dom she was scening with.

Angel waved at him from where she was standing next to Adam at a table in the bar area. Adam had her tucked under his arm, and Michael grinned when he moved towards them as Ellie’s shorter head came into view around Jared’s shoulder. Sharon was the shortest of their group of friends, but Ellie and Lexie were close behind in the petite stakes, even when wearing heels. Seeing him, Ellie smiled nervously but with a light of anticipation in her eyes, which just made him grin even more broadly. Leigh and Jake were also at the table chatting together, and Ellie looked relaxed, surrounded by people she was comfortable with.

“Hello, pest,” he said, ruffling Angel’s curls as he slid in next to Ellie. From the other side of her, Adam narrowed his eyes at Michael in warning.

Of course Adam didn’t really think there was anything going on between Michael and Angel, it was just in his nature to be possessive, and it was just in Michael’s nature to want to rile him.

“Hello, beautiful,” he said, turning his attention to Ellie, who flushed a very bright red and stared at her drink.