Probably because I look the least threatening.
Which was funny, because anyone who got to know him realized that wasn’t an entirely accurate description. After spending some time with him, most women realized he was the one to be the most nervous around.
Alison was on the swing in the small outside area, the one hidden from prying eyes. Her hair was still damp, and it made it seem longer and darker, the curls lengthening beneath the weight of the water. She wore a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved shirt—both black. If that wasn’t a ‘stay away’ statement, he had no idea what was.
He closed the door louder than needed to signal his arrival without startling her.
Sure enough, her eyes popped open, and the look she gave him was chilling. Well, it was probably supposed to be, but his body warmed beneath the unhappy glare.
“If you’re here to talk about earlier—”
“I’m not. Not exactly, at least.” He pulled a chair from the table over toward the swing, then sat in it so he was facing her and their knees brushed. He couldhave picked the seat beside her, but he wanted her to look at him, and he needed to read her expression.
She was a difficult woman to pin down.
Don’t think about pinning her down.
“I had a talk with the others, and we figured you struggled this morning because you don’t have clear expectations. You don’t know what we want, and you don’t care for doing things blind.”
She sat up straighter but didn’t respond. A tightening in her jaw was set off by relief in her eyes.
Thiswas why he wanted to be in front of her. The girl was a constant contradiction. She didn’t want to admit she needed boundaries, yet she did need them.
Difficult omega.
Still, Daniel kept on, figuring they didn’t need to call her out for each little tell of hers. “I printed up a list for you, so you know exactly what we want. Anything on that list you don’t agree with, speak up and we’ll discuss it.” He handed a paper to her, then tapped at the first line. “Which brings us to the first one. Honesty.”
Andthatdidn’t go over to well. The paper crinkled slightly in her hands even though she didn’t voice a complaint.
Daniel kept going. “You don’t have to tell us everything, but if you’re bothered by something, upset, uncomfortable, you speak up. If you’re not feeling well one day, you tell us. If your knees are hurting, and we want you to kneel, you tell us you’re in pain.”
She opened her mouth, those full pink lips forcing him to focus on the topic and not how pretty they’d look stretched around his cock. As quickly as she was going to say something, though, she closed them again, as though she’d thought better of it.
He let it stand. They had a list to go over, and perhaps as they worked through it, she’d feel better about voicing her concerns.
He went through it, one item at a time. They’d included things they expected of her and things they didn’t.
She didn’t need to use any special address for them, didn’t need to wait until they spoke to speak, didn’t need to kneel unless requested.
They weren’t difficult, didn’t want high protocol. The only real chores they insisted on were all self-care-based. He didn’t need a housekeeper, after all.
One of the items further down hit a sore spot, and Daniel took a moment to address it. “You don’t care for losing your room?”
She gave him a withering look. “I don’t see why I need to sleep in any of your beds.”
“Because it’ll help you get comfortable. Not a lot of things create that sort of comfort more than spending eight hours asleep beside someone.”
“And how do I know you aren’t just trying to see what you can get out of this? Maybe you’re just enjoying however far you can push this? ‘Yeah, sweet, you need to take your pants off so we can really sell the ruse.’”
Daniel grinned at her tone, at her attempts to pull him in to some sort of argument.
She could rile Trent up, even Kyle, but not Daniel. He was too level-headed. “Don’t rush me, sweet. If you keep looking, we address sex and nudity further down.”
Thatgot her to snap her lips shut with a loud pop. She scanned down, and he could tell when she reached it. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered.
“Not at all. What are you opposed to?”
“How about you taking my clothes?”
