He woke with her on his chest, his arms wrapped around her, their legs entwined. It had been inevitable, he knew that now. Looking back, he’d known probably as early as that first meeting in the coffee shop.
She stirred against him and frowned. He bit back his smile. Someone was disoriented this morning.
“No frowns allowed in my bed,” he whispered in her ear. “Gasps of pleasure, screams of ecstasy, and lusty begging only. No frowns.”
Her eyes flew open, and he laughed.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Cole, Sir.” She rolled away from him and covered her face with her hands. “Oh, man.”
“No regrets, either. I mean it, Sasha.” He watched as she peeked from between her fingers. “It was going to happen eventually, and we both knew it. Now drop your hands so I can wish you a proper good morning.”
She moved her hands. “Good morning.”
“There we go. Good morning.” Her movements had caused a lower part of his anatomy to stir, but they needed to talk before he took her again. With a groan, he sat up. “I’ll start breakfast and put clothes in the bathroom for you. Unless you’d like to wear the sheet to the table?”
“No, Sir.”
“Very well, we’ll save that for later.” He left the bed with her protests following him.
When she joined him at the table half an hour later, she looked a bit sheepish. He nodded to a chair and poured her some juice.
“I don’t have any coffee,” he explained.
“That’s okay, you have pancakes.” She didn’t look at him, but reached for the butter and syrup.
He let her prepare her food, but when several minutes passed and she still paid him no mind, he cleared his throat.
“You’re not acting like yourself,” he said. “Is something wrong?”
She put her fork down, took a deep breath, and finally met his eyes. “I don’t know how to act around you. This”—she waved her arm around the tabletop—“is confusing. Do I call you Sir or Cole? I don’t know what to expect or what you expect from me.”
He could have kicked himself. He knew enough about her to know she needed everything defined. In the absence of guidelines she became stressed.
“I’m sorry, Sasha. I should have said something sooner. I’d like for you to call me Cole. And as for any other expectations, we’ll discuss those after we eat.”
As it turned out, she didn’t call him anything for the remainder of breakfast. In fact, she didn’t say a word. He finally ended up eating as quickly as possible and getting up to clean the kitchen. He told her to meet him in the living room in fifteen minutes.
She sat in one of the armchairs waiting for him while he finished tidying everything up. Always before, she’d sit on the couch. He supposed she picked the chair so he wouldn’t sit next to her. He solved that problem by pulling an ottoman over, putting it in front of her, and taking a seat on it. She took an uneasy breath.
He told himself to remain calm. “Before we discuss anything, I need to know what has you troubled this morning.”
“It’s stupid.”
“You haven’t said ten words to me since we woke up. If it’s upsetting you, it’s not stupid.”
She looked at him with weary eyes. “I thought you’d say my training was over.”
“I assure you that is not the case. Like everything else, we’ll discuss it when the time comes.” He tilted his head at her sigh of relief. “All good now?”
She gave him her first genuine smile of the day. “All good.”
“Are you ready to talk about the next phase of your training?”
“Yes,” she said with an excitement she didn’t try to hide.
“I have some thoughts on how we should set everything up, and I’d like your input.”
She surprised him by leaning forward and taking his hands in hers. “Tell me what you have in mind.”
He looked down at their clasped hands. It was the first time she’d touched him first. His heart felt like it was lodged somewhere in his throat. “Well,” he said softly. “After last night, I would like to remove the limit on sex.”
She stroked his knuckle with her thumb. “It kills me how you can go from being all down and dirty like last tonight to all prim and proper. I would like to remove the limit on sex.” She recited his words in a mock British accent and a sassy smile.
“Look at it this way: last night was the real me, and right now I’m just exercising an inordinate amount of control.”
Her smile lost some of its sassiness. “Really?”
“Would I rather be fucking you senseless right now instead of talking? Yes, of course.”
“In that case,” she said in a sultry voice that made his cock ache, “we’d better finish our talk.”
“I like the way you think, Sasha Blake. Perhaps I’ll even let you orgasm again today.” Pretending to ignore her muffled outrage, he continued. “I’ll need you to fill out another checklist. E-mail it to me by Wednesday so I have it in time to plan the weekend.”
“I have a blank one saved at home.”
“Excellent. Keep in mind if it’s not marked as a hard limit, I’ll not only test you, I’ll push you. And since it won’t be a hard limit, I expect you to try your best to take it.”
“I understand.”
“Using a gag on you is still a hard limit for me.”
“Me, too.”
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
Sasha looked over his shoulder toward the door. Cole frowned. He wasn’t expecting anyone and was slightly irritated his conversation had been brought to a halt.
“I don’t know who that could possibly be.” He stood up and made his way to the door. “I’ll be right back. Let me get rid of whoever it is.”
The chair squeaked as Sasha stood up. “Shit. It might be Julie. She probably saw my car stay overnight.”
He’d almost reached the door, but at her words turned around. “She is aware you’re a grown woman?”
“She worries.”
“I’m not a monster, Sasha.” And he was trying very hard not to be offended, but it was growing harder each time Julie questioned him.
The knock sounded again.
“Just a minute.” He shot a look at Sasha and turned to open the door. He was so certain it was Julie, it took a long minute to recognize who it actually was.
“Kate?”
• • •
Kate?
Sasha craned her head around Cole, but he was too big. He obliterated her view of the front door.
“Hey, Cole,” a soft feminine voice said. “Sorry for stopping by so early, but I wanted to make good time on the road.”
Cole didn’t move or say anything.
“Can I come in and put this down? Is Daniel around? It’s been ages. I’d love to say hello. Cole?” she said when he hadn’t moved.
He jerked to attention and stepped aside. “Sorry. Come in. Let me get that box.”
A dainty woman with long black hair handed him a wooden box and took two steps inside. She stopped cold when she saw Sasha. Kate’s gaze traveled over Sasha before looking around the rest of the house. Sasha knew the moment her eyes fell on the out-of-place chair with the cane still propped against it. She was also acutely aware she had on one of Cole’s shirts.
“Damn it,” Kate said. “This is why I should have called first.”
“Yes,” Cole agreed. “That certainly would have made this less awkward.”
To be fair, Sasha thought, Kate appeared rather distressed at the situation she found herself in.
“I’m so sorry. I never thought.” Kate rushed through her apology. “I didn’t . . . interrupt, did I?”