With a small shake of her head, she gestures to the delicate cup in front of me. “You did not strike me as a man who likes his coffee sweet.”
“This is hardly sweet.” I give the drink a quick stir, then slide it across the table. “Try it.”
“You put a whole packet of sugar in there!” She makes a face, her nose wrinkling.
“Trust me, Domina. One sip.”
She huffs, then gestures to her own cup. “Okay. But you have to try mine.”
I reach across the table, and our fingers brush. It’s only a moment. A blink. But I’ll take whatever I can get until she sees how broken I truly am. Because when that happens, she’ll run. So far and so fast, I’ll never be able to catch her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Domina
For a short timewhile we enjoyed our coffee, Leo looked…lighter. Almost relaxed. But now that we’re on our way to my apartment, he’s back to the always-on-edge grump.
“What happens now?” I ask. He has not touched me since the restaurant, and every two blocks, he pauses to “window shop” or pretend to check his phone screen while taking a photo of someone hethinkshe might have seen before.
The closer we get, the more my nerves tighten in my chest. At work, I know what to expect. Or did until this morning. But here? How am I supposed to spend the rest of the day with this man?
One minute, he kisses me with such passion, it curls my toes. The next, he treats me like he cannot wait to get away from me.
Leo takes one last look around, then reaches for our building’s front door. “Need to stop at my place first.” He sounds so tense—almost angry—and once we’re in the elevator, I put as much space between us as I can.
“You do not have to stay with me. You are right next door. If anything were to happen, you—”
Whirling on me, he takes me by the arms. His grip is desperate, bordering on tight, but not painful. “Nothing’s going to happen. Because I’m sleeping on your couch until we know for damn sure no one’s after you.”
“I am a grown woman, Leo. I can take care of myself.”
Like you took care of yourself when Pinzon broke in? Or the last two nights when you could not sleep for hours?
With everything I am, I wish I could tell him the truth. That I bounce between scared and numb. That I want him to hold me until I fall asleep because the only place I feel safe is in his arms.
His gaze bores into me, pain tightening lines around his eyes. “Don’t push me, Domina. This is who I am.AllI am.”
All he is?
“Leo…” The doors lumber open, and he pokes his head into the hall.
“It’s clear. Come on.”
We move so quickly, I don’t say another word until he unlocks his apartment door and ushers me inside. “Leo, talk to me.”
He is already halfway to his bedroom, so I follow. A king-size bed with a dark blue duvet, simple wooden nightstand, and matching dresser. No personal touches beyond two hardcover books—both Terry Pratchett—and some strange-looking exercise equipment on a yoga mat in the far corner of the room.
“Were you confused when I said ‘I want to know you’?” he asks, yanking a duffel bag from under the bed.
“No. But I am now.” I catch his arm, his muscles tense under the light canvas of his jacket. “You are angry with me.”
With a jerk of his arm, he heads for the closet. “Can you blame me? You expected me to leave you unprotected. How could you think I’deverbe okay with that?”
My own anger flares, made worse by my lack of sleep. “You made it sound like staying with me was the most terrible burden in the world.”
“Fuck.” Leo slams his right hand against a small safe at the bottom of the closet. With a heavy sigh, he presses his index finger to a small black square on the door and it pops open. A gun in a holster and two boxes of ammunition go into the duffel bag, and he rises with a groan. “Domina, you could never be a burden.”
“Then what is it?”
