She swiped her damp palms on her pants and mentally gave Davis Ackerman’s ghost and his ugly whispers the finger. “I’m not taking your money, Wyatt.”
His mouth went slack. “What? If it’s about sharing a room, I can get a suite with a sofa sleeper—”
She shook her head and held up a palm, halting him. “You may be able to survive sharing a room for all that time. But I won’t.”
He clamped his mouth shut, his brows quirking upward.
“I’m not exactly in the market for a relationship either, you know. I’m not searching for some guy from the castle on top of the hill to come save me from my poor, peasant life. Up until that asshole dragged me into the alley, I was pretty damn happy with where I was. And now I’m just pissed that I have to turn everything upside down because of him.”
“I wasn’t trying to imply that—”
“I’m not done,” she said, shifting her feet back to the floor and leaning forward. “What I need is a job that pays more so that I can get away from this current mess and get back on track with my plans. And what I have to have in order to get that job is for a dom to put me through a month of sub training.”
He scowled. “With that fucking lumberjack.”
She smirked. Colby would love that nickname. “Maybe. Or maybe you and I could do an even exchange.”r: Roni Loren
“You’re a dom,” she said flatly, not looking at all happy about this conclusion.
The term sounded almost foreign to his ears, it’d been so long since someone had called him that. “I used to be.”
She shook her head and looked to the heavens. “I should’ve known.”
Wyatt crossed his arms. “But Jace told me you were, too. Why are you in here?”
All the starch seemed to leave her body as she knotted the sash around her waist and pulled the robe more tightly around her. “I’m trying to get promoted to a trainer so I can make more money. This is part of the process.”
“How much money do you need, Kelsey?” he said, the possessiveness flaring up in him again. He’d be damned if he was going to let her turn her body over to some random guy so she could get cash.
She pinned him with a warning gaze. “I appreciate your concern, but don’t get any charitable notions. I don’t take handouts, Wyatt. I can handle this.”
The door opened behind him, and he spun around to find his brother with an I-told-you-so look standing behind a man who could only be Colby. The guy was as tall as Wyatt but built like a fucking lumberjack. And he looked mad enough to swing an ax Wyatt’s way. “Kelsey, you all right, sweetheart? Or do I need to haul this fucker outside?”
Wyatt gritted his teeth.
Kelsey raised a palm. “It’s okay, Colby. He’s a friend of mine. And was just leaving. I’m sorry about the delay. I’ll be ready for our session in a second.”
Wyatt looked between the two of them. The hell she would. He stepped closer to Kelsey, thinking fast, altering his original plan. “I can offer you a job.”
“Wyatt—”
“I’ll pay you twenty-five thousand dollars for a week of work,” he said, snagging a figure out of the air. “But you’ll need to come with me right now.”
Her lips parted in surprise. “What?”
“I can explain everything to you, but not here.” He glanced at Colby and Jace, then back to her. “You don’t have to do this right now. At least hear me out first.”
Kelsey stared at him for a stretch of seconds, and he thought she was going to tell him to take his money and fuck off, but then she blew out a breath. “Fine.” She peered past Wyatt. “Colby, I’m sorry, hon. I didn’t mean to screw up your schedule. Can I take a rain check? I need to take care of something.”
Colby shrugged. “Sure thing. Gives me a good reason to cut out early tonight. I had a long week at the day job anyway. Let me know when you want to reschedule.”
Kelsey walked around Wyatt and pushed up on her toes to kiss Colby’s cheek. “You’re a sweetheart.”
His lip curled. “You wouldn’t have said that if you’d gone through my training session.”
Kelsey smiled and patted his arm before peeking back over her shoulder at Wyatt. “Come with me. I have to change, then you can walk me to my cabin and we’ll talk.”
For the first time ever, Wyatt saw the glimmer of dominance in her own eyes, the sass. He was on her turf now and he sensed the confidence of that running through her. The sight should’ve warned him off. He didn’t have a submissive molecule in his DNA. But somehow it only made him want her more.