Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“Right. Here.” She put her hand over her mouth. “From trying to hold back this.” She broke out into giggles.
His eyes widened. “You were . . . you were . . . joking with me?”
“Yep.”
“You’re not really hurt?”
“Nope. You just looked so horrified. And then I got robot Jameson. So I wanted to shake you up a bit and get real Jameson.”
“Robot Jameson?” he asked.
“Yeah, when you kind of withdraw. You go all formal and stiff. I just wanted to . . . I don’t know. Now, I’m thinking that was kind of silly. I worried you. Sorry.”
“No, I, uh . . . I apologize for going all robot on you. It’s something I’ve done since I was young to protect myself.”
What would he need to protect himself from? She wanted to ask but got the feeling that he wouldn’t welcome any more questions.
“How is your eye, though? I’m really sorry.”
He huffed out a breath. “Are you always like this?”
“Like what?” she asked in a small voice. Annoying? Silly? Crazy?
“So concerned about everyone else? Even at the expense of yourself?”
“Oh.” That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. “Is that a bad thing?”
“Not a bad thing. As long as you look after yourself too.”
Yeah. She wasn’t so good at that.
“What actually hit me, anyway?” Looking around, he picked up the shoe. “This?”
“Um, yes,” she replied, feeling silly. “I was trying to dress Ziggy. Sorry. Let me tidy up a bit.” There was stuff everywhere. She gathered all her things up and looked for a place to put them.
“That’s a lot of stuff you have there.”
“I know, Ian and Jack have been spoiling me.”
Something strange crossed his face. “Have they?”
She attempted to wriggle off the bed with her arms full. Jameson reached down and grabbed them from her arms. “I believe that I told you to rest.”
“You’re not the boss of me!” she told him without thought.
The dark look he gave her stole her breath. It made her want to get down on her knees and beg his forgiveness. To give him whatever he asked for.
Jameson was Dominant. With a capital D. She’d had an inkling . . . but even she was surprised. Mostly, he seemed calm and reasonable. But she could see a look in his eyes . . . something that told her that he liked control.
His hand shot out and grabbed her chin. Not hard, but definitely firm.
“You think not? You think I couldn’t be in charge of you, Shortcake?”
Oh, he could be.
Whether she would survive or not was another story.
“That I couldn’t get you to obey me? Have you down on your knees, begging me to take you . . . to fuck you . . . to give you the orgasm that you’d been denied?”
Holy. Crap.
She’d poked the beast. And she wasn’t sure she was ready for him to bite back.
“Not sure you can handle that?” he asked smoothly.
She raised her chin. No, she wasn’t sure she could. Not at all. But she wasn’t backing down.
For a long time, the fight had been broken out of her. Now, it seemed, it was coming back.
“I can handle you.”
He smiled. It was a wicked, sizzling smile. “Open your mouth.”
Her mouth popped open immediately.
“What a good girl you are for your Dom. So obedient. Sometimes, at least. Do you think you could be a good girl all the time? I’m not so sure.” His finger traced her lower lip.
Is that what he wanted? Someone who obeyed him without question? Who didn’t challenge him?
That didn’t feel right.
And it definitely wasn’t her.
Disappointment flooded her. Which was silly. He wasn’t hers.
“I’m not a good girl,” she whispered. “Not at all.”
He tilted his head to the side, then pressed his finger into her mouth. “Suck.”
She started sucking. If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she might have missed the way his eyes narrowed. He wasn’t as unaffected as he liked to act.
“You don’t think you’re a good girl?” he murmured. “I think you can be a very good girl, sweetheart.”
She closed her eyes, breathing in the words, wanting them to be true. But the guilt she carried wouldn’t let her believe them.
She was falling apart. Everything was a mess and she wasn’t enough to hold it all together anymore.
“Uh-uh, I didn’t say you could close your eyes.” He slid his finger free of her mouth and she let out a sound of protest. “Keep your eyes open and stop thinking so much.”
Stop thinking?
Was he crazy? If she knew how to do that, she’d have been doing it a long time ago.
“All you need to focus on is this. On doing what I tell you. Open your mouth. Eyes on me. That’s it. See? You can be a very good girl.” His finger went back into her mouth. “Suck.”
This was just bizarre. She was sucking his finger and felt grateful. She felt aroused.