AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I'm not sureif..."
"Listen, I'm trying to be a sport here, but don't you dare stick me with having to tell the director you can't come in today because you're off gallivanting with some oldboyfriend."
She was pretty sure he was fishing for information, but she didn't like it. "I'm not gallivanting," she defended lamely. She stopped short of explaining Ryder's relationship to her, in part because it wasn't any of Trevor's business, but more importantly, because she didn't have a clue what he was to her either. "Holdon."
It was her turn to put the call on mute. "The director needs to do some retakes on some scenes we did last week. We're about to lose the extras from the scene and that would force an entire re-shoot and cost a lot of money. Can you have me at the studio in twohours?"
Instead of answering her question, he asked his own. "What's going on with you and yourbodyguard?"
"For crying out loud. There's nothing going on with Trevor. He's my personal guard. That'sall."
"Personal,eh?"
There was a sliver of her that was thrilled at the idea of Ryder Helms being even a tiny bit jealous of another man. The dominant was so confident. So self-assured. Jealousy didn't fit his profile. Still, she wasn't crazy about being the prize in the two men's present tug-of-warmatch.
"Knock it off. Can you have me there ornot?"
He hesitated, but finally agreed. "Yeah, I can have you there." She was reaching to unmute the phone when he added, "But before we leave, I'm gonna lay down the ground rules, and you're gonna agree tothem."
She held off returning to her call with Trevor. "Excuse me? Whatrules?"
"Just one rule, really." His eyes had frosted over with that icy-blue that made her quiver with a cocktail of emotions. She held her breath waiting for him tofinish.
"I'm in charge.Period."
"In charge of what? My protectiondetail?"
"Yes. And where you go, who you see, what you do..." His eyes shaded darker, as he added, "How and when we fuck." Her core clinched with sexual excitement, just before he added, "And yes, even what you eat anddrink."
Not that again. Who did he think he was,anyway?
The phone shook in her hands, almost toppling to the floor as she internalized his words. Sensing she was on overload, Ryder grabbed his phone back and took it offmute.
"Helms here. I got the message. I'll have her there in two hours. Not a minutebefore."
She could hear Trevor shouting as Ryder pulled the phone away from his ear and ended the call, hanging up on a still yellingTrevor.
"You didn't have to be so rude to him," shecomplained.
"He's a big boy. If he's just your employee, he'll get overit."
"What do you mean, if he's just my employee?" she countered, already knowing exactly what he meant. She was relieved when he let the argument die, unwilling to dig too deeply into Trevor's motivesherself.
Not wanting to continue with the current line of questioning, Khloe tried to squirm out of his clutches in hopes of heading to the shower. He only hugged her tighter, reaching out for her fork and using it to cut off a big bite ofpancakes.
She clamped her mouth shut as he rubbed the food against her lips. "Openup."
Even as she shook her head no, she felt childish. But whether she liked it or not, they'd entered into a battle of wills. Holding her ground was now a matter of pride, or at least principle. Letting Ryder control their time between the sheets was one thing. Controlling her everyday life was something completelydifferent.
"I know you think you're gonna win in our little war, but you're a rookie, baby. You will eat half this food." He paused, before making it clear he knew at least some of her tricks. "And you'll keep it down, too. The only question left to answer is how sore your ass is going to be by the time you're chewing the lastbite."
Her mouth popped open from the sheer shock of his words. Ryder was ready, shoveling the forkful of food inside, depositing the sweet syrupy goodness on her tastebuds. She froze, tempted to spit it back out at him, but unwilling to see what that stunt might earnher.
"Chew," he demanded, their eyes locked in a battle ofwills.
It galled her that it tasted fantastic. Pancakes and syrup was one of her favorite breakfastfoods.
Don't panic. One bite won't killyou.
