“Yes?”
“Thank you for letting me stay here. You didn’t have to.”
Her blue eyes drew him in, almost begging him to invite her into his bed, but he took a cleansing breath instead. “Good night, Ali.”
CHAPTER2
Allison Foster woke with a start,a loud, annoying sound filling her ears. A second later, her heart still pounding hard in her chest, she realized where the noise was coming from. Her phone.
Reaching for the object that woke her from the first sound sleep she’d had in over a week, she turned the alarm off and flopped onto the bed to stare at the ceiling. As her thoughts began to clear, realization dawned. She wasn’t in her bed. She was in Daniel’s.
Okay, not Daniel’s actual bed, but a bed in his house. She’d been so tired after more than a week of listening to her neighbors screwing each other’s brains out. Given she was a member of Serpent’s Kiss, she was used to loud sex, but her new neighbors would give anyone at the club a run for their money. The banging. The screams. The dirty talk...
She’d heard it all. Every. Last. Word.
The first night wasn’t so bad. She’d even giggled a little at some of what filtered through their adjoining wall. But all her laughter had fled when she realized it wasn’t just going to be a one and done. Her neighbors had gotten down and dirty three times that first night. And the second night. And the third. She’d been granted a slight reprieve the fourth night when they’d only woken her up twice, but by that time she was so sleep-deprived it had hardly mattered.
Of course, Daniel had noticed her yawning. He noticed everything. The man was as frustrating as he was sexy. In a lot of ways, he treated her as if she were his submissive, but she wasn’t and despite her hints to the contrary, he’d never indicated he saw her as anything more than a friend.
Which led her to where she was now, lying in a bed in his house. She’d been too tired to put up any type of a fight last night, not that she was an overly aggressive person. She wasn't. In fact, her best friend, Kim, said she wasn’t assertive enough. Kim was constantly trying to get Ali to stand up for herself at work, but Ali didn’t have it in her. She didn’t like confrontation and never had.
Speaking of work...
She sighed and flipped the covers off. Like it or not, she had to get to work and before that, she needed to pick up her car.
Ali padded into the attached bathroom. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stretched before looking into the mirror. Her hair wasn’t as wild as it usually was, which meant she hadn’t moved much during the night. It was no wonder. The bed had felt wonderful, and she’d been exhausted.
Even still, she ran a brush through her hair before walking to the shower to turn on the spray. As the water warmed, she stripped out of her T-shirt and panties.
Stepping into the shower was an experience in and of itself. There were two shower heads. One overhead and the other on the wall. The way the water cascaded over her body felt heavenly and the shower itself was big enough for three people, but she didn’t have time to linger. Not if she wanted to make it to work on time.
After rinsing the conditioner from her hair, Ali turned off the water and stepped out. She reached for the fluffy white towel that was hanging nearby. Moving it over her skin, she couldn’t believe how soft it was. And when she circled it around her torso and tucked the ends between her breasts, it was like being wrapped in a cloud.
Ali wanted to relax and enjoy the moment, but she couldn’t be late for work. This wasn’t a vacation.
It was almost six by the time she’d dried her hair, put her makeup on, and gotten dressed. And best of all, for the first time in over a week, her head didn’t feel foggy.
A knock on the door made her heart skip a beat, then beat double time. Not because she was scared, but because she knew it had to be Daniel.
Ali opened the door and her breath caught in her throat. Daniel stood in the hallway wearing a long-sleeved button-up dress shirt, the kind men usually wore underneath suit jackets, and a pair of pressed slacks. His hair was still damp from his shower, and he was freshly shaved. She was struck with the urge to run her tongue along his jaw to his lips to see if they were as soft and smooth as they looked.
He must have caught her staring because he cleared his throat. “I came to make sure you were awake.” He glanced behind her and she followed his gaze to the bed. The blankets were in disarray from where she’d pushed them off her earlier. She hadn’t bothered to fix them, not knowing if she’d be there tonight or not. If she wasn’t staying for another night, he’d no doubt want to change the sheets.
Then, she wondered who changed his sheets. Did he have a housekeeper?
Brushing those thoughts aside, Ali walked to the bed and grabbed her jacket and purse. “I’m ready.”
Daniel hesitated for a moment, then met her gaze. His gray eyes almost silver this morning. “I’m making us breakfast.”
“You don’t—” A pointed look had her stifling her words. “Thank you,” she said instead.
She followed him down the hallway to the area of the house that housed his kitchen. Last night his house had felt huge. This morning, it felt even bigger. His kitchen was half the size of her entire apartment. It had a large cooktop with six burners, a double oven, and two separate islands in the center. She’d only seen kitchens like this in magazines.
“Have a seat,” he said, pointing to the island where they’d eaten dinner the night before.
Still trying to gather her thoughts on this new information about him, Ali lowered herself onto one of the chairs. He moved about the kitchen with ease and once again she was drawn to the way his muscles moved. For a man his age, he was very well built. She’d spent many nights fantasizing about how they’d feel under her hands, or what he’d look like hovered over her, his muscles straining as he took her.
He glanced over at her and she lowered her gaze. He didn’t see her like that and she needed to get over it. Move on. There were other good Doms at the club. She’d played with a few of them. But none of them affected her like Daniel. Maybe she was cursed or something.