So after a few hours of that nonsense, she’d needed to escape. The only place she could think of going was Sanctuary. At least she’d get some privacy since it should have been empty.
Or so she thought, until she walked through a doorway and nearly ran right into someone else.
The fear that swept through her shamed Kat. She, who had never had the good sense to be afraid ofanyone,cowered on instinct.
The man took a large step backward and lifted his hands to the side as if to show he wouldn’t grab her. And wasn’t that yet another kick to her pride?
It took a moment for her eyes to clear, for her head to quiet enough for her to recognize the man.
“Sorry,” Kat apologized to Dean, rubbing her palms over her thighs to wipe away the sweat that had suddenly sprung up there.
“It’s fine. Bet you didn’t expect to find me here.”
“I didn’t think anyone else had keys.”
Dean offered her a charming smile, one he wielded like a weapon, one she’d seen too many foolish women fall for. “Toya gave me a set because I help with permit issues that come up. I was dropping off some paperwork for her to sign.”
Kat swallowed hard and nodded, giving herself a moment for her heart to stop racing. This was Dean, for fuck’s sake. She knew him, had for a few years, and while they weren’t close at all, she knew he wasn’t some monster who would attack her.
“Haven’t seen you around,” he said, and although his smile didn’t slip, she couldhearthe pity beneath it, the meaning.
“Been busy.” The lie slid from her lips as easily as it always did.
“Right. Well, what gets you out today?”
“An unexpected houseguest. My place didn’t feel quite so relaxing anymore.”
A hardness set in Dean’s blue eyes, one Kat wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before. “Are you all right? Do you need me to—”
She shook her head quickly. “Nothing like that. It seems I called up an old friend when I wasn’t feeling quite myself. They’re just trying to keep an eye on me.” She forced herself to laugh, to sound like her old self even if she didn’t feel like that at all. “He thinks I’m not doing so well.”
“He’s not the only one,” Dean muttered, his words so low she wondered if he’d meant for her to hear them.
Dean was odd when it came to the Doms. Most of the ones Kat had dealt with were self-assured but quick to try to force everyone around them to dance to their tune. Even when they meant well, they were used to taking control. Dean had always struck her as rather sweet and vanilla.
Well, that was the way he seemed, but the rumor mill at Sanctuary said differently. There wasn’t any doubt he was a Dom, and there were plenty of heartbroken but satisfied women in his wake to say he knew what he was doing.
“Well, I’m about done here anyway,” Dean went on. “So I’ll get out of your hair soon.”
Guilt tugged at Kat. Was it fair to send someone else running from Sanctuary? It wasn’therplace. That damned sense of fairness had her speaking up. “It’s fine. How about a drink?”
“Toya gave you keys to the good stuff?” Dean lifted one of his dark eyebrows, reminding Kat just how handsome he was.
He was the sort of man a person might assume was an actor or model. His dark hair was slicked back without a strand out of place, and his facial hair was neatly groomed. He dressed impeccably, in a three-piece gray suit with a black and white polka-dot tie. If she’d heard of such an outfit, she’d have figured it would never work, but somehow Dean pulled it off perfectly.
He looked smart and wicked and as charming as ever.
It was only when his tempting lips pulled into a smile that Kat realized her mistake—she’d been so focused on how he looked that she’d missed her question. She moved past him, trying to regain her normal attitude. “Allowimplies Toya gave it to me. I just like to collect keys when I can then don’t mention it, so no one takes them away. What’s your poison?”
Kat slid around to behind the bar as Dean took a seat at a stool.
“I’m going back to work after this, so let’s just go with a Shirley Temple.”
Kat froze, furrowing her brows. “What?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
The unexpected drink took her off guard, but quickly enough, Kat let out a laugh and shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just used to the Doms here ordering the manliest drink possible, as if they were doing a testosterone check with it. Didn’t figure you’d order something an eight-year-old girl would.”