Dominick is an account executive at a major New York marketing agency. He’s very good at his job and expects to be made a partner in the firm soon. His drive to succeed in his career hasn’t left him any time for personal relationships. When Dominick spots Sean celebrating his college graduation in a hotel bar while visiting a small town, he sees it as just an opportunity to scratch an itch. Even though Sean’s submissive behavior manages to push all of Dominick’s buttons, he still thinks of it as just a one night stand. However, when a few weeks later Dominick meets the agency owner’s son, who turns out to be Sean, thing get a little complicated.
“Dom” is probably not the story many people may be expecting based on the title and blurb. While there is a small D/s element to the plot, this is fundamentally not about a developing relationship between a dominant and submissive. Instead, it’s a quite contemporary story revolving around the perils of workplace relationships. Dominick is ostensibly Sean’s boss, which makes a relationship difficult, even if it is what they both want.
The nature of the plot means there is going to be a bit of angst as the characters struggle with whether or not they can have a relationship, or even want one. Angst is always a tricky thing. Too much of it and the story grinds to a dead halt. Too little and the relationship wouldn’t seem real. “Dom” strikes a nice balance with just enough to create dramatic tension between the two main characters without making them seem to indecisive.
While the circumstances in which Dominick and Sean first get together seems a bit preposterous, the characters themselves are quite believable. Their reactions and hesitance seem quite natural given the situation they find themselves in. You could definitely say that this is one of those stories in which a lot of angst and doubt could be saved if the two men would just be honest with one another, but in light of current news it’s understandable that even that seemed unwise to the two. The one aspect of the story I thought was less realistic was the work environment. The story line probably conforms to the way most people think an agency works from television shows, but as someone who is somewhat familiar with marketing agencies, the scenes involving Sean and Dominick’s work didn’t really seem at all authentic.
“Dom” is available from Amazon.