Her mouth had parted slightly. His cock strained against his jeans uncomfortably and he tried to focus himself.
Think of something else. Something other than her soft lips, her sweet taste, her delicious scent.
The arousal quickly faded and anger filled her eyes. He leaned over her, his hands resting on the arms of her chair.
“Quiet, Eden. You’re safe now. I’m not letting anything happen to you. Even though you’re in a world of trouble for coming here tonight. Alone.” He gave her a stern look, secretly enjoying the way her eyes flared with anger. It seemed he had a special ability when it came to Eden. He could piss her off quicker than anyone else he knew. Even quicker than Clint, which was saying something since that man made an artform at fucking people off.
He straightened.
Reyes leaned forward. “Now that we’ve got that crap out of the way, let’s get down to business, huh?”
“B-business? What business?” Eden asked. Her hands were pressed together. To hide their shaking? From nerves or excitement? He thought it was probably a bit of both. “We don’t have any business with you. I still don’t understand why you’ve kept me here or why you called Zeke.” She waved at Zeke. “He just works for my brother.”
His jaw clenched a
t her dismissive words. “I don’t just work for your brother, princess, and you know it.”
He caught the way her eyes flared. Shared memories filled her eyes before she ducked her head away.
“You’d rather I call your brother?” Reyes snapped.
“What? No!” Eden stared at the leader of the Iron Shadows. “Why do you have to call anyone? I’m a grown woman. You can deal straight with me. I understand all the big words, you know.”
Reyes eyes narrowed at her. “Watch the way you speak to me, little girl.”
Zeke stepped forward, drawing the other man’s attention. “Watch the way you speak to her, Reyes. You just heard me claim her.”
“How come she was alone tonight then?” Reyes asked. “Woman like her, coming into a bar like this with no back-up. Fucking foolish. She’s lucky Ink saw her first.”
“Thought you said you didn’t hurt women,” Eden spat out. “And what do you mean, a woman like me? Cause I’m in a wheelchair? That’s what you mean?”
“No, I mean because you haven’t got the common sense that God gave a fly,” Reyes said. “You need to be back in the nursery, under constant watch with a hand applied firmly and regularly to your butt until you learn some manners and self-preservation. Little girls are better seen and not heard until they learn to obey.”
Zeke was shocked. Not at his words, exactly. But that Reyes had so quickly seen what Eden tried so hard to hide. Was Reyes a Dom? A Daddy Dom? Zeke wouldn’t have pegged him with much of a nurturing side. He struck him as more of a sadist.
“I cannot b-believe you just said that,” she sputtered. “You sexist—”
“Eden,” he warned. He thought Reyes was trying to get a rise from them. And if that’s what he was after, Zeke wasn’t giving it to him. He’d spent years honing his control over himself, over his temper, and Reyes wasn’t going to push him into snapping.
The only person that could cause him to lose his temper was glaring around at everyone in the room.
Besides what he said wasn’t actually wrong in some ways. That bullshit about being seen and not heard was just that, utter crap. That wasn’t the way a relationship like theirs worked. Communication was absolutely key. And if Reyes was any sort of Dom, he’d know that. Which is why Zeke figured he was just trying to push them.
However, Eden could greatly benefit from some time spent as a Little. She needed to learn to relax and trust. And she definitely needed a spanking. As well as some strict boundaries. He had to be careful about how he punished her. He didn’t want to risk harming her. There was a lot he needed to consider and there wasn’t exactly a ton of research he could do on being a Daddy Dom to a Little in a wheelchair. That just didn’t come up on Google.
He knew her paralysis was incomplete. Knew she used crutches sometimes. But he didn’t know much beyond that. He stared at her, his best Dom face on. To his surprise, she gave in, lowering her gaze.
“Unless you’ve changed drastically over the years, I can’t see you putting up with this bullshit. You were always overly protective of what was yours. So, what is she doing here alone, tonight?” Reyes asked him suspiciously.
“I’m guessing she’s fighting the claiming,” Duke replied with amusement in his voice.
Zeke glared at them both. “Not that this has anything to do with you two, but I was taking things slow.”
“Seems to have worked out well for you,” Reyes said sarcastically.
“Um, hello, I’m sitting right here.” Eden waved her hand. “And despite what Zeke says, nothing is being taken slowly because there is nothing between us.”
Oh, you keep thinking that, princess. Keep daring me to show you exactly what is between us.