The Dom Identity (Masters & Mercenaries Reloaded 2)

“Whatever you want to do. If you want to act, we’ll make it happen. If you want to work with Dani, keep your job. If you want to run the charity you and George talked about, then go for it. All I care about is your happiness.”

She shook her head. “It won’t work like that. I don’t get to walk away. The best I can hope for is the scandal to die down and I end up writing bons mots on social media like Monica Lewinsky. I’ll always be the gold digger. And you being in the picture won’t help that. If you want to help me rehab my image, how about finding me a fake boyfriend who doesn’t have a trust fund? Let the press think I’m fucking Deke.”

He felt his blood pressure tick up. “The only man you’ll be fucking is me.”

Her arms came down, and a savage smile twisted her lips up. “You think I’ll spread my legs because you were kind enough to save me from the big bad wolf?”

That fierce look on her face set off alarm bells, but they seemed a distant thing. He knew he was falling into a trap, but he couldn’t help himself. “Junior isn’t a wolf. He’s a wasp who stings you. You want to know who the wolf is in this scenario? That would be me, and maybe I’m going about this the wrong way. I’m begging and pleading. Maybe what I should do is show you who the boss is.”

She didn’t back away. Not a single inch. “You are not my boss. You are not my boyfriend. You’re not my friend or even someone I care about at this point.”

“I don’t see you walking away.”

“Where would I go?” She huffed the question. “You’ve put me in the box you wanted me in and left me with no real way out.”

“There’s a simple one. Call Julian and he’ll send a limo to pick you up. He’ll do all the things I’m doing. With one exception.” He was starting to understand what she’d been doing out here. The very same thing he had. Wishing things were different. Wishing they could start the day over and end it properly.

He could. He could apologize and beg for forgiveness, and he would happily hop back into bed like nothing happened.

She couldn’t. She’d had her world ripped up and she ached inside, but she couldn’t trust him again. Not yet. She wanted the one thing she could believe in. She wanted the pleasure he could give her. Now that he knew her, he believed every word she’d told him that first day.

I’m thirty-two years old, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a real orgasm.

He’d been the man to give her that pleasure, and she needed it now. She needed the comfort of his body against hers, inside hers, but she couldn’t ask for it. She couldn’t accept his tenderness.

But she might find some comfort in his dominance.

He was taking the chance that she would hate him for it in the morning.

“What’s that? What won’t Julian do for me?”

“He won’t fuck you. He won’t take you in hand and make you scream out his name. I’m going to do that tonight, Vanessa.” His body had started to hum. His dick didn’t care that this was probably a bad idea. All his dick cared about was getting inside her again.

“What makes you think I would let you fuck me?”

“The fact that you haven’t walked away.” He didn’t mention that her nipples were hard. They pressed against the thin material of her shirt. Her robe had come open, and she didn’t pull it back around her. “You told me you didn’t want to talk and that you didn’t want to be alone. If you want me to hold you I will. I would love to be gentle with you, but I don’t think you can accept that from me right now.”

“I won’t accept it from you ever again,” she vowed.

If he truly believed that he would want to howl. But he’d told her exactly what she could do if she didn’t want to stay with him. She could have everything he’d promised her, and she didn’t have to be his girlfriend. She could easily explain that they’d broken up and she was alone again. He could do his investigation from afar. Julian could handle the rest.

But she was here. She hadn’t been able to sleep without him.

She needed him. She wanted him. She didn’t want to need or want him.

Luckily he had a very easy way to stay close to her. She could hate him right this second, but if he was in her bed for weeks and weeks, he could change her mind. He could be the man she’d thought he was.

“We still have a contract, Vanessa.”