Undercover with the SEAL (Norse Security 2)

“His name’s Trent and he’s an accountant.” Hunter gave a sad chuckle. “I think he was always more confused by me than anything else. He’s a smaller guy, maybe five-ten, and he could never figure out where all this came from.” He waved a hand over himself dismissively. “Plus, he’s an accountant, so super smart and great at math. He works as a controller for some Fortune 500 company. All those facts and figures were never really my thing, so we didn’t have a lot in common.” His expression grew dejected. “I think he took my difficulties with math to mean I wasn’t all that smart. He never came out and said that, but the way he was always steering me toward sports, hoping I’d get an athletic scholarship for college, kind of said it all.”

“Hmm.” Alex twirled another bite of noodles around her chopsticks. “Believe me, I understand people judging based solely on the way you look.”

Hunter watched her a moment, chewing quietly. “Does it bother you?” he finally asked. “People thinking you’re nothing but a dumb blonde?”

Alex frowned slightly. “At first, yeah. It hurt. But now it’s how I make my money, so I go with it.”

“Must be hard, hiding your intelligence all the time though. Don’t you just want to scream sometimes and tell everyone where to get off?”

“Sometimes,” she admitted, grinning. “But I learned my lesson when I was younger that being too smart isn’t always such a good thing either.”

“How so?”

She hadn’t intended on dredging up her painful childhood memories, but Hunter had shared things about himself with her, so it only seemed fair. “When I was seven, my parents had this dinner party. All their friends came and at my bedtime, my parents had me come into the room to perform a goodnight song for their guests. Even back then I was a little performer.” She laughed. “Anyway, after I did my spiel the adults all applauded for me. I took that as encouragement to show off how smart I was and began to wander around the room spouting off trivia and asking all sorts of smart ass questions that no kid that age should be asking. Things about politics and world affairs and stuff I’d overheard my parents discussing. Eventually all the party guests went back to their conversations and cocktails without me. Never wanting to be ignored, I wandered over to where a couple of women were talking about my dad’s skiing hobby. They didn’t know I was there, I don’t think, because next thing I knew they were talking about my dad sleeping with one of them. Maybe both. Who knows? The point is, if I’d just been a regular dumb kid and gone to bed when I was supposed to instead of staying up to impress everyone with my big brains, I’d never have discovered my father’s affairs and my parents might still have been married.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that, Alex.” Hunter finished his food then stood to take his plate to the sink. “You were a child. A precocious child, sure, but still just a kid. And if your dad was sleeping around then it sounds like the divorce was on him, not you.”

“Maybe.” She ate a few more bites of her food before taking her things to the sink too. “I’ve just always wondered what it would’ve been like if I’d not known. If that night had gone differently. And honestly, it’s helped shape who I am. Like I said, these days it’s easier and less risky for me to play stupid and get the parts and the fame and the money, than to reveal who I really am.”

“Wow.” Hunter cleared the table and put their leftovers in the fridge while Alex was

hed and dried the plates and silverware. “Tough stuff.”

“What about your brothers?” she asked as she dried the dishes. “You didn’t tell me about them.”

“Oh. Well, Carter’s my older brother. He’s a lawyer and thinks he’s all that because of it. Lives in the Midwest and has a successful practice there. I actually saw him the other night at the movie premier. He said he was in Hollywood on behalf of one of his clients who’s an investor.”

“Nice. And the younger one?”

“Ben. He graduated from college last year.” Hunter flashed an indulgent smile. “Kid’s off backpacking across Europe trying to find himself. Good guy, if a little spoiled. He was a ‘surprise’ baby, so all of us treat him special because of it.” He shook his head and gave a self-deprecating snort. “What about you? Any siblings?”

“Nope.” She smiled up at him, arms crossed. “I’m an only child.”

Their conversation was interrupted by loud banging on the front door. Alex’s pulse pounded as she stared at Hunter. “He’s early.”

“Where’s the collar?” He headed out of the kitchen and down the hall toward the bedrooms. “And the leash.”

“I’ve got them,” Alex said, following behind him. Somehow asking him to kneel at her feet like a dog seemed wrong after what he’d just shared with her. “You don’t have to wear them though. We can figure something else out.”

“No.” He took the items from her and fastened the black leather studded collar around his neck. “There’s no time. Besides, being your bitch wasn’t as awful as I thought it might be.”

He winked and Alex felt a white-hot flash of pure desire straight to her core. He liked giving up control during sex? She’d never really considered taking on the role of dominatrix outside the club, but she knew her stuff and if he liked her being in charge, maybe they should explore that connection further. Later, of course, once they got this meeting with the club boss out of the way.

She nodded, lowering her gaze, feeling suddenly shy. “Oh, right. Okay.”

“Hey.” Hunter tipped up her chin with one finger, his gray eyes warm as the pounding on the door continued. “Not all men are like your dad. We don’t all cheat and lie and cut down a woman’s worth and intelligence. I happen to like my women smart and sassy.”

“You do?” Alex adjusted her fake glasses and wig.

“Yep. I do. Now, would you like me to answer the door, Mistress?”

As it had the previous evening, having this huge, muscled, gorgeous man serving her gave her a rush of need she’d never felt before. She wanted to control him, not because it made her happy, but because it pleased him. And damn if that wasn’t the most potent aphrodisiac in the universe.

At her signal, Hunter opened the door to the same two bodyguards they’d seen the night before at Club Xcite, with the club boss standing behind them—looking as portly and mobster-ugly as always.

“Mistress,” he said, shoving the two guards aside and jostling his way into the house. He gave Hunter a dismissive side glance, sneering at the leash Alex was leading him around by. “Slave.”

Hunter gave no outward indication of the slight, other than a quick glare in the boss’s direction before lowering his gaze obediently again.