“We’re looking at an electronics company. Been around a long time, was a blue chip at one point. Market has changed. They’re not as relevant as they were. They need an infusion of cash as well as vision and a team to manage strategy and tactics.” Across the darkened interior, he shot her a grin. “You don’t need to hear about it.”
“On the contrary. It’s fascinating.” The enthusiasm in his voice was contagious and she wondered how he had the mental adeptness to switch between projects. Taking over Newman was time-consuming, and yet he was already planning another acquisition.
“I’m happy to tell you about it, when we’re not focused on Donovan Logistics or personal matters. When we’re in private, I want you to be sure my attention is unwaveringly on you.”
She shivered a bit, even though she wasn’t cold.
“Back to my question.”
“I agree,” she said, unable to believe they were having this conversation. But she remembered his words from last night, about detaching a bit. So she approached it as she would a work conversation. “Courtesy is a must.”
“And willful disrespect? You’ll submit to my corporal punishment for it?”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Of course. I’d never use anything other than my hand or a belt on your ass and upper thighs. There’s no mistake, you’ll know you’ve been rude.”
“That’s not the way I usually act.”
“Not everyone annoys you the way I do, I suspect.”
“There’s some truth to that.” It wasn’t just because he was overbearing, overconfident, overwhelming at times. It was because the way she reacted scared her.
“Deliberate disobedience,” he went on. “Like arguing when I request something of you and you have no intention of using a safe word or having a discussion about it. I want you to use safe words, to discuss things with me. But for example, last night, when I said I could shave your pussy or you could have a Brazilian wax. Do you remember your response?”
“Hell no.”
“And it should have been…?”
“Can we discuss this, Mr. Donovan? Or, this scares me. Or, hell no, Sir.”
He laughed. “You think you’re safe because I’m behind the wheel with my seat belt on.”
A delicious threat was woven through his words. Damn it, she was already getting damp for him.
“So in that instance, I may take you to a salon on our lunch hour. Perhaps even to Andi’s place. I’m sure they have services there.”
And Lorean probably specialized in them. “Shaving is fine, Sir.”
“You’re a perfectly reasonable, compliant sub.”
“Never anything but,” she agreed happily.
In only a few minutes, they’d parked. After helping her out of the vehicle, he grabbed a bag from the back seat. She’d noticed it earlier, when she’d borrowed the car, and she’d wondered what it was for, but she hadn’t thought it might be for her.
She led the way inside. There was no rolling ball filled with Sinbad to slow them down. She slipped her key into the lock and wasn’t surprised when it didn’t function properly. At times it felt as she had to pay homage to the mechanism gods, standing on one foot, whispering to it, promising it would be taken care of one day, holding her tongue just right…
“Try this.” He held a key near her face.
“What’s that?”
“Your new key.”
She scowled.
“It works for the deadbolt, also.”
“Are you serious?”
“I met the locksmith after work.”
“You…”
“It matters to me that you’re safe, Kelsey.”
She accepted the key. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You can celebrate by turning the lock several times and cheering each time it works the way it should.”
The key went straight in and the tumblers worked perfectly. “I can’t believe this. How did you get in?”
“Is that a real question?”
“It was really that unsecure?”
“You were working harder to lock it than it was to unlock.”
“Then double thank you.”
Just then, Mr. Martinez’s door opened and Sinbad rolled over the threshold for his nightly walk.
The man crouched to guide the ball to the middle of the hallway.
“Let’s get out of the way,” Kelsey said. “Night, Mr. Martinez.”
He lifted a hand in a silent goodbye.
She effortlessly opened the second lock. Within seconds, she had them both sealed inside.
No one had taken care of her since she’d left home at age eighteen. Not necessarily because they wouldn’t, but rather because she didn’t want to be told what to do or encouraged to find a husband. Suddenly, though, she realized it might be nice to have some help.