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“Nope.” He headed for the back door of her store. “If I asked you, you would say no and become all difficult about it, so I’m avoiding that conversation. This is happening.” He glanced over his shoulder with a smart-ass grin. “Deal with it.”
She stared after him as he moved with his easy gait, but then she realized she was standing in public wearing nothing but Porter’s oversized T-shirt. Grumbling to herself¸ she approached him, grabbing her keys out of her purse and then opening the door. He followed her up the stairs, and when they entered her house, he scanned the surroundings swiftly, clearly searching for a threat. He finally smiled at her. “Cute place.”
“Thanks.” She shut the door behind him. “Let me grab a quick shower. I have to hurry my ass downstairs. Store opens in ten minutes.”
He placed his bag down by the couch and took a seat, as if he belonged right there. To her surprise, it didn’t feel uncomfortable having Porter in her house, but maybe that was because he was pretty much comfortable wherever he went. As he always did, he seemed to own the space around him.
Leaving that thought behind, she hurried into the bathroom. The bad news was that it had taken twenty minutes before she finished, dressed in jeans and a pink blouse, with her hair in a messy bun. She reentered the living room, noticing that Porter had left her apartment. Confused, she rushed downstairs and found him in the bookstore. The good news, she’d discovered that he had opened the store on time, and a customer was browsing the sci-fi section.
Porter sat on one of the oversized chairs in the corner of the bookstore. The Vegas sun accentuated the blond highlights in his sandy-colored hair, and she couldn’t help but watch him work. He never acknowledged her as he typed on the laptop resting on his thighs, staying entirely focused on whatever he was doing. Kenzie moved to the register and booted up the computer, getting it ready for the day’s transactions.
She took quick peeks at him, noticing his intensity, with his brows drawn together. Kenzie mused to herself that his working expression was a lot like his Dom expression, and she shivered, biting back a moan. That’s when Porter focused on her, his look reflecting a man who knew his presence was affecting the woman near him. Hell, this was going to be a long couple of days.
Perhaps she didn’t realize how much Porter affected her. Maybe she thought it was only in Club Sin that it would happen. Now her body buzzed with longing for those wicked and sensual touches he had mastered. Warmth burned between her thighs as she strode around the register, moving a bit closer to him, drawn by something so electric. “Thanks for opening the store on time,” she said.
He smiled in his charming way. “You’re quite welcome, kitten.”
God, this guy confused her. He didn’t have to be here with her, she knew that. Their arrangement never called for that. Maybe, with all this hanging over her, she needed answers. And needed them now. “Why are you doing this for me?”
His reply was instant: “Because you need me to.”
No, that answer wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t personal enough. “Because we’re friends?”
Porter regarded her, then placed his laptop on the table next to him and rose. The heat of his body wrapped around her in the most delicious spell. His masculine aroma tickled her in all the right places. One brow arched in a seductive curve. “I think we can stop pretending that you don’t know why I’m here, don’t you?”
She wasn’t pretending. “As my Dom, it’s your job to keep me safe.”
“Of course there is that.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek, bringing forth a sizzle within her. “I’m here because I want to be. I’m here because I want to make sure you are safe. It’s that simple.”
Though this wasn’t simple at all, it was entirely confusing. More and more, she sensed herself wanting to allow things to go somewhere deeper with Porter. Yet even as he said this now, his actions showed otherwise. If he cared for her in a romantic way, why wasn’t he grabbing her and kissing her? Why wasn’t he having sex with her out of affection, not out of a way to ease her strain or make her submit? His behavior was that of a Dom, not a lover. Not once had he asked her a personal question to get to know her better. More important, he had yet to ask her out on a date. That’s what lovers did.
As much as she wanted to believe him—and, oh, did she ever—Porter was dangerous to her. There would be a time when this between them would be over, with her store intact, she hoped, and then what would happen?
The barrier between them was there to protect her. She couldn’t possibly be hurt again—she simply didn’t want to deal with that type of pain again. Three times she’d felt her heart break, once with Joslyn, once with her mother, and again when Gran passed away. She’d had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime.
Avoidance worked for her. Some might not understand that, but they also had never gone through what Kenzie had. She didn’t want to be broken. Nor did she want to return to that sad place in life where she had lived for so long. She stepped away from his touch. “Well, thank you for being here. I appreciate it.”
“You don’t need to thank me.” His eyes narrowed at her retreat. “Keeping you safe is a priority.”
Her body sagged against the proof she needed to remind her that he still had his Master status on his mind. Sure, he was weaving a spell of trust around her, but it wasn’t for the right reasons. He wanted her submission not to love and hold, but to prove a point that he was a skilled enough Dom to get it.
Apparently, he was.
—
Two hours had passed since Kenzie’s bookshop had opened, and it surprised Porter how busy the store had been. He thought a little shop like hers would have slow sales, but Kenzie knew most of the customers by name. They’d greet her and chat for a while over the newest book they were picking up or about things going on in their lives. Porter figured that’s why the store did well. Kenzie provided personal touches that larger companies didn’t.
Throughout the morning, he thought she was incredibly sweet with her customers, showing him another side of herself. She was a great friend to the Club Sin submissives and she was well liked, but this gentler side of her was different.
He liked her this way, not dressed up in sexy clothing, but with little makeup and dressed down in jeans, with a blouse showing off slight cleavage. It also surprised him how much Kenzie read. Her love of books was part of who she was. Whenever the store would go quiet, she’d sit with a book at the register and read. This side of her warmed him. In fact, he had never seen her appear so peaceful.
It reminded him of when she showed her submission, and he realized now this was the look of Kenzie when she was content. He wanted to see more of that state of mind; he just didn’t know how to make it happen. Though as the frustration built like a heavy rock in his stomach, he also reminded himself that Kenzie was slowly showing signs of trusting him, even if they were small signs.
His phone ringing snapped him into the present, and he noticed that Kenzie was watching him over the top of her book with her brows raised. Apparently, he’d been staring blankly at her. He smiled before he reached for his phone, seeing on the screen it was Chloe. “Porter,” he said into the phone.
“Hey, it’s me,” Chloe replied in her soft voice. “So, I’ve been researching this shithead all morning. You?”
“Yeah, me, too.” And what he found he didn’t like. A hardened criminal was an understatement when it came to Adrik Petrov.
