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“I hope so, but I don’t want him to suffer.”
“Softie,” Dan whispered in her ear as he led her inside.
Nan rose above Dan and sank down onto his straining erection. He’d left the small bedside lamp lit again, and as he surged up into the welcoming clutches of her wet heat, he tried to remember how tender her swollen pussy still was. But hell, if this was how she wanted to set the pace moving forward, who was he to argue? Clasping her hips, he slowed her down, more to keep her from overdoing than to drag this out for him.
Too bad his cock still ruled. Within minutes of her rising and falling on top of him, of her juices easing his surging thrusts, her muscles contracting around his shaft and her mewling cries of pleasure mingling with their harsh breathing, he let go with a body-gripping orgasm.
Rolling to his side, he spooned her soft, damp body and followed her into a deep sleep. When he awoke next, mid-morning sun splashed across the bed, and his first thought was he could wake like this, glued to her, every morning. The idea he could be happy in a committed relationship didn’t send him running; instead, he eased out of bed, slipped on his jeans and padded downstairs to put on a strong pot of coffee feeling quite content. He didn’t know when his feelings for his long-time friend and sometimes submissive partner started to change. He recalled the irritation when she’d first ignored his calls while in New Orleans, followed by concern when her brother answered his texts. The signs of change she portrayed upon her return had set off alarm bells, but it wasn’t until he’d seen her panic attack while with Greg and Devin that he’d experienced the first strange sensation gripping his chest.
Admitting to his feelings seemed to be easy, he mused as he got down two mugs when he heard the bathroom door shut upstairs. Which was surprising considering how content he’d been remaining unattached all this time. Figuring out how Nan felt now, and where to go from here would take some doing. Despite her struggles in coping with the trauma Gerard had subjected her to, his girl still possessed a healthy independent streak he doubted she would ever shed. When not playing, either in the club or anywhere else, that was fine by him; he’d never been drawn towards a twenty-four-seven Master/sub lifestyle. But she hadn’t hinted at wanting to keep the changes his bargain made in their relationship, and given what she’d been through, he couldn’t push her for more right now.
Nan entered the kitchen dressed in her shorts and top again and the memory of his legs entwining with her long, slender ones popped up. The girl walked around on a killer pair of limbs. “Good morning. Do you have time for an omelet before you go?”
“Sure. I don’t open until one on Sundays, but even if time was short, for your omelet, I wouldn’t hesitate to open late.”
“A nice compliment first thing in the morning. You’re in a good mood,” he commented, pulling ingredients from the refrigerator.
“Two uninterrupted night’s sleep in a row will do wonders.” She hesitated as she sat down at the table before saying, “Thanks, Dan. I know it’s silly, but until I can get a reasonable explanation for my lights going out, I’m not comfortable sleeping at home. You knew that.”
He nodded, whipping the eggs and peering at her over his shoulder. “Yes, but I wanted you here, with or without your fears.” Dan could see the tenseness ease from her slim shoulders. He admonished her by shaking a wooden spoon at her. “You should have known that.”
“Are you going to use that on me?” she joked but her eyes lit with a spark of interest.
Shaking his head, he poured the eggs into a heated pan on the stove. “You are incorrigible. No, not today. I have to get to chores if I’m going to have time to check your wiring this afternoon.” A few minutes later, he scooped fluffy cheese and onion omelets onto two plates and carried them over, taking a seat next to her. “I’ll do some investigating while you’re in your shop, then, after you close, I’ll take you to the steakhouse.” The pleasure turning her face pink gave him hope her feelings were slowly turning down the path his had already taken.
Dan pulled his truck behind Nan’s shop an hour before she closed and, after letting her know he was there, he let himself inside her upstairs apartment and set about checking for the cause of the lights going out the other night. He hated thinking about her waking in fear, of the darkness resurrecting those days she’d spent in such pain and terror. It had been difficult enough for him to sleep just imagining it and he admired her determination to get over the trauma as much on her own as possible even though her stubborn independence could irritate him.
By the time he heard her coming up the stairs over an hour later, he still hadn’t found anything wrong, nothing that would have caused the selected power failure.
“Well?” she asked as soon as she opened the door.
Placing his fists on his hips, he shook his head, his own frustration matching what was reflected on her face. “Nothing, hon. Sorry. It could have been a quick glitch, one we might not find. Are you hungry?”
Nan blew out a pent-up breath and forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Sure. Give me a few minutes to wash up and change.”
As she made to walk by him, Dan snagged her hand and hauled her into his arms. Watching her face closely, he fisted a hand in her hair and tugged her head back, the yank sharp enough to pull on her scalp the way she used to love. Those golden eyes widened and her pulse leaped under his thumb, but she leaned against him and welcomed his mouth on hers, proving those were positive responses.
By the time he pulled back, his own pulse had kicked up a notch and before he gave in to the need riding him to keep pushing, he released her with a swat on her ass. “Hurry up. I’m starving.”
Things were changing so fast, Nan couldn’t keep up. As she dashed into the bedroom for a clean blouse and then crossed the hall into the bathroom, she struggled to get herself under control. This is a temporary bargain, she chastised herself as she leaned over the sink and splashed water on her face. Dan wasn’t giving any hints he was interested in making the change in their
relationship permanent, or even wanting to explore the option. Both of them had spent the five years they’d known each other content and happy with their arrangement. He was the perfect Dom to meet her submissive sexual needs, and she counted him as one of her closest friends. She didn’t want either of those things to change but, God help her, she now found herself more than willing to give a serious, one-on-one relationship a try. If only she knew how he felt. So far, other than his usual concern and the new touches of over-protectiveness he’d demonstrated, he treated her much the same.
Reaching for the towel, she dried her face and neck and opened the cabinet where she kept her make-up. Her hand froze in mid-air as she saw the mess a toppled bottle of foundation made. Swearing, she looked for the cap, positive she had screwed it on tight the last time she used it. It was not in the cabinet, and after a thorough search, she spotted it behind the toilet. Picking it up, her palm turned sweaty as she wondered how the hell it had landed on the floor with the cabinet door closed tight. She would never have put the bottle inside opened like that.
“I’m losing my fucking mind,” she muttered, shaken by yet another unexplainable mishap. Grabbing a handful of tissues, she was almost done wiping up the mess when Dan knocked on the door, the sudden rap jarring her already taut nerves.
“Nan, hurry up or we’ll have a long wait.”
She flung open the door, snapping with annoyance, “I’m coming. If you don’t want to wait, leave without me.”
He looked from the wadded up, stained tissues to the cabinet and then back down at her before his damned astuteness kicked in. “Why are you so upset over a little spill?”
He wanted to know? Fine, Nan would spill the whole sordid story and see how fast he stuck around. Jabbing a finger toward the open cabinet, she bit out, “I would not have put an uncapped bottle of make-up back in the cabinet and left the cap on the floor. I put the damn plate in the dishwasher, I left the fucking lights on before going to bed and I did not misplace my inventory in the tea shop’s cupboards. I’m so upset because apparently Gerard screwed up my mind as much as my body!” She flinched when she ended her tirade in a screeching voice but didn’t back down in front of the dark disapproval in Dan’s narrowed eyes.
With slow deliberation, he picked up her hand and yanked her out of the bathroom, hauling her into her bedroom without a word until he stopped by the bed and turned to face her. “All those things have happened since you got back, after we made our bargain, and you didn’t think to mention them until now?”
Now, why did the soft menace underscoring his words give her such a thrill, send her blood rushing in a hot molten flow through her veins? As his hands went to his belt, that wide, black leather she hadn’t enjoyed, licking with stinging force across her butt, in far too long, her pussy went damp and her buttocks clenched with the goosebumps racing across her skin.
