“Not permanently,” he said.
The band around my chest relaxed a fraction of an inch.
“This time,” he added.“So I’m going to ask you again, Dr.Smithson, what the fuck makes you think you are qualified to teach anyone about dominance and submission, or anything else for that matter?Have you ever actually worked with a real Dom?Oh, that’s right.”He sneered at me and I felt much smaller than my five-foot-four inches.“You don’t believe there is such a thing.”
“I worked with a Dom.”I felt like a petulant child defending myself, and I hated it.
It was his turn to snort.“For how long?How long, Ms.Smithson?”he repeated when I didn’t answer.
“An afternoon,” I said and braced myself for the explosion I knew would follow.
“Fuck.”Jensen ran a hand through his dark hair.“You foolish little girl.You spent an afternoon with someone who claimed to be a Dom and believed you knew enough to teach something you don’t even believe in.Unfucking believable.”
I should have done more.I’d played voyeur at some clubs up north and gone to a couple of munches.I’d read everything I could get my hands on, fromThe Loving Dominantto a library’s worth of popular genre fiction, but I’d never become part of a community.I knew when I’d started an afternoon of hands-on practice wasn’t enough, but it had been hard to find someone who called himself a Dom and who actually seemed to have some idea what he was doing.In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to give control over to someone else and the whole experience left me feeling very uncomfortable.After I’d started the business and hit my stride, I figured I knew enough to get the job done.My clients certainly seemed to think so.
“Take me through one of your sessions.”He somehow managed to make the rest of the lobby disappear until we were the only ones left and the only things I could concentrate on were the sound of his voice and his dark eyes pinning me in place.
“I can’t do that,” I said, giving my head a shake to try to clear it.The man was too damn much.Too big, too strong, just too there.“My clients demand confidentiality.”
“I don’t want to watch, Dr.Smithson.”The corner of his lip curved up in that sexy pirate sneer and my traitorous body decided to take notice.“Pretend I’m a client.Hell, I’ll pay you if it makes you feel better.”
I thought about Jensen on the other end of the flogger and something that felt a hell of a lot like desire wound low and warm inside me.I checked my reaction, clenching my jaw and forcing my expression into what I hoped looked neutral and not crazed.Taking the dangerous man through a session was a colossally bad idea.I opened my mouth to tell him but he interrupted before I got thenoout.
“What are you scared of?If you’re so sure you know what you’re doing, taking me through a session should be a cakewalk.”
Everything from the set of his shoulders to his arched eyebrow—hell, even the way he said doctor as if it were an insult, not an honor—screamed challenge.I made it a point of pride never to back down from a challenge, but the idea of taking Jensen through one of my typical sessions made my stomach knot.Or it could completely turn the tables.He’d obviously lost his mind earlier, which meant despite his cool exterior, he wasn’t immune.And even though I’d be the one mostly naked, I’d found, with most men at least, that gave me more of the power.I’d ignore for now the fact that Jensen didn’t strike me as anything like most men.
“Come on, Dr.Smithson.I dare you.”
“You dare me?What are we, back in middle school?”
“The way you’re handling it, we may as well be.So tell me, are you woman enough to show me what you do?”He stepped back, giving the illusion at least that he would abide by my choice.“Or are you going to run away and continue to play dress up like a little girl until someone really gets hurt?”
Well, hell.I’d like to think I was enough of an adult not to let myself be goaded into something as stupid as taking the arrogant attorney through a session just to save my pride, but I couldn’t ignore the feeling that I was responsible for what had happened to Kyle.When he’d come to see me, he seemed like such a sweet, careful man.I didn’t understand how he could have gotten things so wrong, and I hated that he thought it was because of something he’d learned from me.I wouldn’t forgive myself if it happened again and someone else got hurt.I couldn’t let that happen.Which meant taking on Jensen.Fuck.
“Fine,” I said, regretting the word as soon as it left my mouth.“We can set up an appointment foronesession.”
His expression turned triumphant and for a second, I felt like a gazelle negotiating with a tiger.
“Our appointment is in twenty minutes,” he said, taking my arm again and moving me through the doors and out onto the street.“I’m not giving you a chance to come up with some kind of bullshit excuse.”
The driver got out of a black town car parked in front of the building and opened the door for me.
“Where to, Mr.Jensen?”he asked, tipping his hat to the marauder in a designer suit behind me.
“Wherever the lady says.”
Both men waited and my stumbling brain finally caught up.This is where I told him I was sorry.I’d lost my mind for a moment but we wouldn’t be having a session.Instead, I heard the address to my studio come out of my mouth a second before Jensen handed me into the back of the car, sliding in after.
––––––––
ISTILL COULDN’T quitebelieve Alexandra had agreed to my proposition, but the car headed across town toward the address she’d given.Either it was her studio or she’d worked up some kind of switch—unlikely given how quickly she’d told the driver where to go, but not impossible.
I should be furious and I was, but my emotions were frustratingly more complicated than that.The imposter Dom trainer with a PhD in gender studies had me so twisted up; I’d let my feelings get in the way of my work.I could try to convince myself it was all because of what happened at Bacchus and the danger I thought Dr.Smithson presented, but the way my body thrummed to life sitting in the backseat next to her told a different story.I wanted her submission—given willingly—in a way I hadn’t since before Julie left.
Hell, maybe it was longer than that.Watching the way her breath hitched every time my thigh brushed hers and the pretty pink flush to her cheeks, I couldn’t remember wanting anyone more.The fact that I was almost positive she was a closet submissive who didn’t know it and I was going to be the one to show her only made the prospect that much more delicious.I couldn’t wait to make her beg and then be the one to give her everything she needed.I had to keep reminding myself that she wasn’t an ordinary hookup, and I had a more important agenda than making her come so many times she forgot her own name.
The car pulled up in front of the address she’d given the driver and Alexandra scooted to the edge of her seat, ready to spring from the car.The building looked clean, well-maintained, and surprisingly modern for its location just outside the Quarter.I exited the car first, catching and holding her hand as she climbed out after me.I could feel the energy practically vibrating off her.She was like a bird ready to take off, and I had a sudden image of her bound, naked and tied open for me while I figured out how to help her fly.
