She didnotwant that sort of displeasure directed her way.
In fact, right then, going off with Jordan sounded like one hell of a good idea. His lean build would do far less damage than what this new man could dish out. It was like being faced with two monsters and picking the one with the smaller teeth.
“Yeah?” Jordan asked, his tone confused but not upset.
“Does she look like she wants to go with you?”
Jordan tipped his lips down, then took another slow look at Sunny, his expression lacking anger. “She didn’t say no.”
“Sure she did, just not with her lips. Come on now, take a better look at her.”
Jordan peered down—as if just noticing the way Sunny were as far back as her arm would allow, how she leaned away and not toward him—and released her instantly. “I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice softening and losing the sharpness it had before. It seemed he’d slipped from his Dom role. “Without the eyes, I have some trouble reading cues, I guess.”
Silver released Jordan. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Of course.” Jordan looked at Sunny, somehow managing to have shrunk from the devil-man he’d been to a regular person, deflating before her eyes. “I’m really sorry, Miss. Can I get you something? A drink?”
Sunny shook her head, afraid her voice wouldn’t work if she said anything. Even though he wasn’t the monster he’d been moments before, her body had already thrown itself headfirst into panic.
“Why don’t you go grab her something warm and sweet, Jordan, as an apology,” the new man said.
Jordan nodded and rushed off, leaving Sunny there with only the man in the mask, the one who made Jordan look more like a cub. “Hey there, fox. Breathing helps, you know?”
The words struck Sunny as entirely asinine, until she realized…she wasn’t breathing. She gasped in a breath, and right away her head cleared some.Just how long was I holding it?
“Better,” the man said, then gestured toward a couch near the back, but one in view of the rest of the room. “You want to sit down before you fall down?”
I never should have come.She never should have tried to prove she was better, or that she didn’t need this. Why couldn’t she have stayed in the nice, safe little rut she’d spent years creating?
“I should go,” Sunny said, her voice so soft that she doubted he could hear her over the music.
Yet he shook his head, that hard edge Doms wielded refusing to be argued with. Any thought that the man before her wasn’t dominant fled. “Not yet. You can barely walk right now, about a mile deep into that panic attack you’ve got going. If I let you walk out now, you’ll collapse in the parking lot if you’re lucky. Do you have a friend here? Someone who can take you home?”
Again, she shook her head. There was Kat, but she wasn’t really a friend. Just some girl she’d met in the bathroom.
She’d spoken to the owner, Toya, to get her invite to the event, but she wouldn’t say she knew her either. Not to mention that the last thing she wanted was to talk to the one person who knew who she actually was.
Nope. She’d walked into the wolf’sden all by herself, like an idiot.
“That’s fine. Why don’t you just take a seat? I’ll sit on the other couch, give you space while you calm down. Soon as you get your wits about you, you can go. I’m not trying anything.”
Sunny wanted to say no, but when she shifted her weight to her other foot, the leg gave out. It seemed her panic had taken more out of her than she’d realized, had snuck up on her without her knowing.
The man caught her, as if he’d been expecting it. “Yeah, not leaving just yet, are you? Come on.” He helped her over to the couch, then pressed a hand to the back of her neck to guide her head down, to lean her forward. As soon as she did, he let her go and sat on the other couch, just as he’d said he would.
Which made her all the more suspicious. Men didn’t do things to help for no good reason. They didn’t give up what they wanted—especiallyDoms.
Still, she closed her eyes, focusing on the music, on the steady beat, going through the things her therapist had taught her. Focus on the now, on the scent of leather, of vanilla, of cinnamon. Pick five things she could hear—the laughter of a woman, the quiet conversation between two men, the music, the wind striking the sides of the building, the deep tone of a man—no, not that one!
She pulled herself together, piece by piece, until her chest eased, and she didn’t feel as if she’d pass out.
Though, when she lifted her head, when the world didn’t seem quite so scary, she wished shehadpassed out. Then she wouldn’t have her savior in the silver mask looking at her so intently—the studying gaze of a man who knew too much already. That was perhaps the worst thing about dealing with Doms—they saw everything and were only too quick to use it to their advantage.
He held a drink, steam escaping the top. “Hot chocolate. Jordan brought it as an apology, but he figured you’d prefer if he was on the other side of the club when you looked up.”
As much as she wanted to deny it, he’d been right.
He handed over the drink, and while Sunny should have thought twice about drinking it—it was from a stranger, after all—the warmth called to her. She sipped it, and the moment the sugar hit her tongue, she let out a moan. Then tried to silence it immediately. This wasnotthe sort of place to make such noises.