“Sir.”
“What?” Shit. This moving so quickly. It was hard to get her head around that he might want her. Let alone want to dominate her. She didn’t know anything beyond what she’d read in books. She didn’t know what she was doing.
“Call me Sir. Or better yet Master.”
“I . . . I . . . please, can we slow down? This is going so fast and I can’t catch my breath.”
Something came over his face. Something distant. He stood. Took a step back. “Shit. Got no business doing this. This was a mistake.”
“Malone—”
“Just go. Now. Before I do something we’ll both regret. You get a free pass on breaking the rules. It’s the only one you’re going to get so don’t mess up again. Now go.”
Feeling like a coward, she fled.
She lay on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.
Her mind was whirling, trying to work out what had just happened. He’d offered to take control and help her then he’d done a complete about-face, decided she couldn’t give him what he needed, and sent her up to her room like some disobedient teenager. Just because she’d wanted to slow down? Her temper stirred. She didn’t think her request had been unreasonable.
She rolled over and punched her pillow. Now he had her wondering what it would be like to give him complete control. To give him everything she held in tight lockdown, in that place deep inside her. Would it feel freeing or terrifying?
Or both?
The door to his office banged open without so much as a knock and he looked up in irritation as Beau, Tanner, and Butch barged in.
“I’m busy,” he barked.
“What did you do to her?” Beau asked.
“What? Who?” He pretended to have no idea what they were talking about.
“Who?” Tanner snarled. “Like there’s heaps of women around here. Mia, of course.”
Mia. Even her name sent a rush of arousal through his body. Mia, who was under his protection. Mia, who was everything he didn’t want or need. Mia, who kept him awake at night thinking about her soft laugh and caring smile.
Mia. Mia. Mia. Aargh.
He’d gone too far the other night. Scared her. He had no right pushing her into something she wasn’t ready for.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Quit the bullshit and tell us what you did to her,” Beau snarled at him.
“What makes you think I did anything?”
“Because you’re the only one who’s enough of an idiot to piss her off,” Tanner told him.
“She served oatmeal for breakfast,” Butch finally spoke. “Oatmeal! It’s like fucking baby food.”
So that explained their upset. They all worshiped Calamity Jane because she fed them.
“It’s worse,” Beau said mournfully. “Some baby food is tasty, like that vanilla pudding stuff that, you know, we found last spring.”
Found? Found? He could feel his blood pressure rising. “You guys promised not to do that shit anymore.”
“What shit?” Beau said innocently.
“No stealing. No borrowing.” Didn’t matter what they called it, stealing was stealing.