Chapter 9
VERONICA
It took less time than Veronica had estimated for Terrence to finish up the aftercare or whatever else it was he was doing with Hayley and make his way to her office. He had, she was both relieved and bummed out to see, put a shirt on. It was a black button-up, and he’d tucked it into his black jeans, making him look like every Dom she’d ever pictured in her mind. Especially when paired with the attitude he seemed to have brought with him from the dungeon.
“You wanted to see me.” He crossed his arms.
Her mind went blank, and for a few seconds she forgot that she had approached him first. She shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs. “Yes,” she said. “When you asked if you could route a few calls through the main office and I agreed, I was unaware that meant I’d be taking on the role of your personal assistant.” She shoved a handful of papers at him. “These are the phone calls I’ve taken for you today.”
He grimaced as he flipped through the messages. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
She had been prepared for him to argue with her, especially with the way he’d walked into her office. It caught her completely off guard that he apologized, and she didn’t knowwhat to do with it. “You need to get a working phone or hire someone to take these calls,” she finally settled on.
“Yes,” he agreed. “I’ll look into that. Thank you.”
The office seemed to shrink with both of them inside. Funny how she’d never noticed that with anyone else. But Terrence was another entity altogether. Even as he stood there, flipping through the messages she’d written down, she could picture him in the dungeon, crop in his hand and the way he teased Hayley. The same way he’d teased her all those years ago.
All at once, her mouth was too dry and her clothes too tight. Yet she wasn’t ready for him to leave just yet.
“Did you get everything you needed for Master MacLure?” she asked, trying to act as if she didn’t care what his answer was.
His only reply was a raised eyebrow as he looked up from the message he was reading.
What did that mean? Was she supposed to somehow translate a cocked eyebrow into a yes or a no? Or was he waiting for her to add sir or Master Buchanan to the end of her request?
Surely that wasn’t it. She could understand the use of such titles while in the dungeon but not in her office. Not to mention, it didn’t make any sense that would be what he was waiting for. No one had ever mentioned the need for titles around the academy in general.
Hell. She needed to read her employment contract.
His eyes seemed to pierce her soul. “Does your question indicate that if I didn’t get everything I needed, you would be willing to take Hayley’s place?”
She’d been holding a coffee cup she’d planned to wash out in the kitchen once he left her office. At his question the cup slipped out of her hand and toppled onto the table.
His eyes followed the path it took. “Guess it’s a good thing that cup was empty.”
“It slipped out of my hand due to the shock I experienced at being asked such an inappropriate question,” she said. “And how does a question like that fit into our agreement to do our best to stay clear of each other?”
“First of all, you’re working at a BDSM academy, so let’s drop the inappropriate question comment.” He took a step closer, and she instinctively did the same, gasping when she backed into her desk. “Second, and even more importantly, don’t stand there and tell me you weren’t thinking about being in Hayley’s place the entire time you were in the dungeon. Your lips might be able to get the lie out, but your body will betray you every time. I could tell what you wanted in that room, and I can tell what you still want now, standing here in front of me.”
She lifted her head. “What I want and what I’ll allow myself to have are two completely different things. It doesn’t matter how my body acts. I don’t want to want you, and I have enough self-control to not follow every little whim of my body.”
He lifted his hand and gently brushed her hair behind her ear, smiling at her sharp intake of breath. His hand dipped a bit lower to where his fingers rested on her neck. “Every little whim?” he asked. “Funny, this doesn’t feel so little. Not with your heart racing like it is.” He took a step closer, and she felt the heat of his body all up and down the length of her own.
She had to stop him. It was too dangerous to be around him because, no matter what she told him, she knew for a fact she didn’t have the self-control needed to keep him at a distance. He had been right about everything so far. Not only that, but he had the ability to read her body as if it was a book, written in a language only he understood. And she couldn’t allow him to know so much about her.
He didn’t step back or drop his hand. “It doesn’t matter how many times you tell yourself that lie. You and I both know we’ll never believe it. Hell, it makes about as much sense as youinsisting that you aren’t in the lifestyle anymore. All that’s just a bunch of hot air. Trust me, no one believes you.”
If she didn’t get away from him, she knew she’d wind up doing something she’d regret. She had to stop him, and there was one way guaranteed to work every time.
Pulling herself to her full height, she looked him straight in the eyes. “Red.”
Chapter 10
TERRENCE
Terrence immediately dropped his hand and took a step back at her use of the safeword. Damn. She was stubborn. Why did it make her even more attractive? When he’d agreed days earlier to keep his distance from her, he’d done so with the assumption that she wasn’t the least bit interested in him. But he’d have to be the world’s most clueless Dom to have missed the vibes she’d been putting off downstairs earlier.
Those vibes got his attention quicker than anything else could have, and once she had his attention, he was able to see her. Really see her. Not as the nineteen-year-old he’d had a disastrous night with, but as a woman. And a submissive.