“I can’t make you do anything,” he told her now, watching intently as her bravado faded. “You must choose, and accept the consequences of the choices you make. Are you prepared to do that?”
“Are we talking about my brother’s engagement party—or sex?”
“On some level, Erika, I think you and I are always talking about sex.”
Her eyes dilated and her lips parted, telling him she’d lost her breath. Dorian felt that intensity snap into place between them, stronger today. Because they both knew where it went. And that meant imagining where else and how hard it could go.
“I thought we were talking about a party,” she said, blinking like she wanted to clear her head.Good luck, little one, he thought. “And for some reason, you seem to think you can dictate my behavior.”
“You should know that I have every intention of dictating a hell of lot more than that.” He smiled at her faintly, over his granite counter and the food he’d prepared for her. He liked this. He liked her here, looking uncertain and mulish—and safe. “I’m a bossy man, Erika. Some people pay for the privilege of having me tell them what to do with their business affairs and their messy lives. All I require from you is that you let me. And thank me. Is that so much to ask?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? You seemed to enjoy it last night. Or were all those orgasms a decoy for your true feelings?”
She scowled at him. “Sex isn’t life. It’s just sex.”
But he could see the way she gripped the counter, her knuckles turning white, and he knew she didn’t believe that.
“Not the way we do it,” he said. “If I were you, I’d look at last night as a lesson.”
“Which part was a lesson?” she asked. “The spanking? Or when you fucked me, came hard enough to take the back of your head off and then cuddled with me all night long? Or maybe you meanyoulearned a lesson.”
Dorian was around the counter before he meant to move, and then it was too late. For her. He trapped her there, taking far too much pleasure in the little squeaking sound she made as she found herself with her back against the granite, his arms on either side of her like a cage.
He watched her face flush and her eyes go glassy. He studied the pulse that hammered in her throat. And the rich, sweet scent of her arousal spiced the air between them, making his cock even harder than before.
“I don’t like your tone.” He leaned closer, smiling when she jumped. He put his mouth on a set of goose bumps that rose along her neck. “Rethink it.”
“I don’t see why I can’t talk to you any way I like,” she retorted, sounding awfully tough for someone who was trembling slightly between his arms. And making no attempt to get away from him. “Or do you not see the difference between in a scene and out of a scene?”
“You called me sir, Erika. Do you?”
She flushed at that, and he saw some of that bravado leak away from her. “I was kidding.”
“Were you? Or were you trying to goad me into reacting negatively, the way you like to do in all areas of your life?”
Her mouth dropped open, and temper chased something like misery across her face.
“I wanted to explore extreme sex acts, not engage in a group therapy session,” she threw at him.
“Too bad, little girl. It’s one-stop shopping with me.”
She lifted her chin, and her struggle was all over her face. “You’re a terrible therapist. News flash—you’re not supposed to hate the client.”
Dorian stared her down, the dominant in him roaring in triumph when she flushed and lowered her eyes.
“I don’t hate you,” he told her, using his darkest, most dominant voice, because he knew she would hear him. Even if she didn’t want to. “Quite the contrary. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, Erika. And now that I’ve found you, I have no intention of letting you go.”
“What do you...?”
She was trembling, her eyes were wide, and she seemed to lose her train of thought halfway through. He liked it.
“But nothing comes easy, does it?” He shook his head sadly. “You found me. And guess what that means? Now you have to contend with me and all my demands. And believe me, Erika, they never get any easier.”
“I don’t want tocontendwith you,” she managed to say. “I just want to fuck you.”
“You can’t have one without the other.”