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“Tomorrow morning,” he replied. “Which reminds me. We should probably head up to my office and look at the blueprints before it gets too late.”
After James and Ian voiced their agreement, we said our goodbyes.
As the trio disappeared down the hallway of private rooms, I mentally shoved the tension pinging in my system away. I turned and studied Emma, now completely engrossed, watching Master Cruz skillfully bind his sub, Brooke, in stunning Shibari knots.
Though I could only see her profile, Emma didn’t look a thing like she had the day we’d taken shelter from the tornado.
Still, my sixth sense was screaming.
Long seconds later, she turned and licked her lips. “Can I ask you a question, Sir?”
“You can ask anything, little one.”
“Why did Ian and James make you so…uncomfortable?”
Fuck! I really had gone soft and lost my edge.
If Emma had picked up on my angst, there was no way Ian hadn’t as well.
I couldn’t tell her the truth. Not here. Not now. If I did, she’d freak out and run…run as far and as fast as she could.
The thought of not being able to protect her terrified me as much as never seeing her again.
Gut twisting and heart racing, I knew I had to get my shit together, like I’d been trained. Had to wire it tighter, stronger, and tougher than I had while leading my unit through hell and back.
Though it scared the living fuck out of me, deep down, I knew life without Emma—without her smile, her laughter, and her sassy tongue that did things to me no mortal woman had ever before—would be a kind of hell I might not survive.
As I peered into her hazel eyes, brimming with trust and faith, I banished the fear scraping my psyche. It was too late to save myself. I’d already fallen too deep and hard to ever let her go.
I shrugged. “They’re strangers. I’m always cautious around people I don’t know, at first.”
It wasn’t a lie.
“You weren’t cautious around me at first,” she said with a playful smile. “You were a big, brave, bad-assed Boy Scout.”
I threw back my head and laughed, then cupped her nape and brushed my lips over hers. “Wait ’til you see the badge I earned in rope tying.”
“You mean, you can tie rope like that?” she asked, discreetly pointing to Master Cruz.
While Mack’s Shibari skills surpassed everyone else’s in the club, mine didn’t suck. Just the thought of binding Emma’s soft, naked flesh in linear lines and rows of knots made my cock stir.
“I can.”
Her eyes smoldered as a quivering breath spilled from her lips.
“In fact, when we—”
“Excuse me, Blade. I’m sorry to interrupt,” fellow Dom and DM Axel apologized.
“No problem. What’s up?” Though alarm bells and buzzers were roaring through my head, I smiled.
“Dalton just called down,” Axel explained, pointing to his headset. “He asked if you could stop by his office before you leave.”
Ian recognized Emma.
My biggest fear had become a reality.
I forced myself to remain calm as my heart clutched and sputtered before slamming against my ribs. And nodded. “Of course. Radio back and tell him I’ll be there as soon as I find someone to watch Breeze.”
