“No, I want to see this through,” she asserted staunchly. Then she shrugged. “You know what they say—in for a penny, in for a pound. Let’s do this thing.”
“Let’s do it,” he agreed. It startled him to realize Dahlia wasn’t the only one who was a little nervous. He, too, was out of his comfort zone. As a Head Master, he wasn’t used to being the one with anything at stake. Subs came to him for training. He never sought them out.
Something about this enigmatic woman drew him in a way he couldn’t remember ever feeling. Whatever happened tonight, it would affect him as much as it affected her. He would need to tread carefully, for both their sakes.
Dahlia was watching him, a tendril of blond hair falling over one eye, the tip of her pink tongue just visible between parted lips. His cock stiffened, his lips tingling with the need to kiss her.
Ignoring his body, he took Dahlia’s free hand and looked her in the eye. Her hand trembled ever so slightly in his. He held it gently until the trembling stilled. When she met his eyes, he said, “From this moment until I release you, you will obey my commands to the letter, without question and without hesitation. Do you accept these terms?”
She said nothing for a long moment. Hayden remained absolutely still, his breath held, his heart pausing in its beat. This would only work if she was fully on board.
Finally, Dahlia pulled her hand from his. She placed her wineglass on the end table beside the couch and got to her feet. She lowered herself to her knees on the carpet in front of him, placing her hands on her thighs.
He gasped involuntarily at the lovely and quite unexpected submissive gesture. She looked sexy as hell as she gazed up at him through her thick lashes. She swallowed visibly, as if gathering her courage.
“Yes,” she said at last, her voice quavering ever so slightly. “Yes, Sir. I agree.”
Chapter 3
The atmosphere seemed to shift in the room, as if even the air were holding its breath. The nearly constant ping and clang of the ancient cast iron hot water radiator was suddenly silent. Only the sound of her own hammering heart echoed in Dahlia’s ears, so loud she was sure Hayden could hear it.
A sense of the surreal settled over her. It was as if she’d stepped out of reality and into the pages of one of her romance novels. She decided to approach this bizarre turn of events in just that way—as if she were a character in a novel—the sexy heroine waiting to be swept off her feet by the charming hero. Or no—a brave, adventurous explorer, stepping confidently into a world she’d only glimpsed from afar.
She felt at once energized and terrified, like when she was balanced at the top of a very high, very twisty roller coaster in that split second before the plunge. She’d stepped way, way out of her comfort zone.
Was this party really worth it? Because, no question, he was right. What they were about to do would either bring them much, much closer, or it would ruin everything. If things didn’t go right, how could she still be friends with him without dying of embarrassment? How could he still be friends with her, having revealed so much of himself?
On the other hand, she’d gotten him to budge on the invitation from absolutely not to maybe. This was the chance of a lifetime, and she didn’t want to spend the rest of hers regretting that she’d lost her nerve.
If only her damn hands would stop trembling. She clenched them into fists against her thighs as she waited for whatever came next. She wished she hadn’t had the bright idea of getting on her knees, like one of the heroines in her novels. They never talked about how uncomfortable it was. Her bootheels were beginning to dig into her butt and her right thigh seemed to be cramping. She very much wanted to get to her feet, but she was determined to wait for Hayden’s cue.
Even this moment of silence might be a test. Fine. She’d always been good at tests. She would pass this one with flying colors, and then she’d get the golden ticket—an invitation to this mysterious, exclusive club where things happened that she could barely get her head around. She couldn’t decide which was more exciting—whatever was about to take place, or what it might lead to.
She focused on Hayden as she tried to still her racing thoughts. His eyes had darkened from sapphire to an even deeper blue, the lids hooding in a sexy way as his usual half-smile fell away. She expected him to rise from the sofa and extend a hand to pull her up.