“Surprise me.”
She bowed her head and withdrew.
Chapter Four
Severin showered and changed, ignoring the ache of his cock while he wondered what the hell he was doing with this girl. He wanted her, but then there was the rest of it. After he dressed and dragged a comb through his hair, he glanced at his phone. Still nothing from Church. If there had been, he would have been tempted to ask him what to do.
He caught his reflection in the mirror, and for the first time in years he realized how deranged he looked. His clothing was tattered – ripped jeans stained with motor oil, T-shirt threadbare. For all he’d teased the girl about looking too fancy, it had been years since he’d bought himself clothes. His hair had grown far longer than he would have let it grow if he’d taken the time to notice. Unbound, it fell to the small of his back. His beard needed trimming too. With the tattoos and the nose ring he looked like the kind of man people crossed the street to avoid, which was the whole point, but maybe his appearance had gone a few steps too far into creepy.
Why the hell did women look at him the way they did? Weren’t they only supposed to want men like Rodrigo, with his tailored suits and good manners? His financial manager looked like money, talked like money. He was handsome, well educated, and articulate, and women drooled over him, not knowing that under the pretty façade he was a much different man.
The halls were empty as he headed to his study. As he walked, he listened for her, forcing down the tight anticipation in his chest. When he reached his study he lit a fire in the fireplace, and within a few minutes the room had warmed. He picked up the manual he’d been reading the day before and sat at his desk, leafing through it to find where he’d left off, but he couldn’t focus on the words.
Would she join him or change her mind?
He was alone in the house with a beautiful woman, and there was no one around to hear them, or stop him from doing anything he wanted. No one around to judge him, except her.
Considering how worried she’d seemed about Sutton being home, she wasn’t about to gossip about what happened between them. She hadn’t told Sutton about their little game up until now either, although she’d noticed some of it.
A soft knock sounded at the open door. The girl stood in the shadows just outside the doorway, looking tiny and apprehensive. He could almost taste her hesitation. It was fucking perfect.
“Come in, Miss Korsgaard.”
She stepped into the room. The tight black T-shirt she wore showed off the swell of her breasts and trim waist, the same way the yoga pants complemented the shapely curve of her ass and legs. Like naked, but with a cloth skim coat. No bra. No panties. If she was wearing any, there’d be lines in the thin fabric.
“I wasn’t sure what to wear,” she admitted.
“That will do. Stand there.” He pointed at the spot directly across the desk from him. There were two chairs he could have offered her, but he chose to keep her standing.
He went back to reading his manual, pretending to be engrossed in it even though he wasn’t processing a word. Instead he was listening to the shaking breaths the girl drew, and surreptitiously watching the way she fidgeted and tried not to.
“Miss Korsgaard,” he snapped. “This is important. You’ll have to wait.”
She made a strange, strangled sound, but stilled.
For about ten minutes he left her standing there, pretending to ignore her while he worked on trying to both curb his erection and feign reading. When he couldn’t wait any longer, he closed the book and slid it aside.
“This isn’t the first time you’ve had this type of...interaction with someone?”
“No, Mister Leduc.” She shifted where she stood, then stopped when he gave her a look of censure.
Good. He wouldn’t have to tiptoe around the situation.
“Are there things you won’t let me do?”
“I’ve been a submissive before, but there are a lot of things I’ve never done.”
“Is that what I asked you?”
“No, Mister Leduc.”
He waited.
“I don’t like hardcore humiliation.” She sighed. “If you give me a safeword we can figure out my limits as we go along.”
“A safeword?”
She blinked at him in surprise. “A word that lets you know I need you to stop.”