His to Command

He was angry with her, and he had a right to be. She’d walked away without a word. But worse, she had believed such a terrible thing about him.

She wished she knew how to make it up to him.

Tomorrow, the driver would come and pick her up and she might never see Matt again. Oh, God, maybe he’d been serious about wanting to invest in her company. Until now, she’d thought it was just a ruse to get her here, but now that she knew he was not the ruthless man she’d thought he was, she realized that maybe his offer to invest was genuine. Which must mean he still harbored feelings for her.

And now that he knew what she’d believed about him, he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her or her company.

She sighed. She’d find another investor. She had to. She wouldn’t expect him to work with her after this. But she didn’t want to leave things the way they were between them.

She drew in a deep breath and pushed back the covers, then padded across the room. Her insides quivering, she opened the door and headed for Matt’s room.

* * *

Moonlight from the almost full moon outside reflected off the snow, setting the room aglow in a soft light. Matt stared at the ceiling, aching inside, still reeling from Kate’s revelation about what had happened two years ago.

Fuck, when he’d heard her screaming, he’d leaped from his bed and flown to her room. In her sleep-hazed terror, when she’d awoken and seen him, she’d been afraid of him, accusing him of having hurt her. His gut clenched at the fact she could ever think he would hurt her.

And then he’d found out she’d thought he’d sold her to another man, as part of a role-playing scenario. Sure, that kind of thing happened. Some people liked to push. A different hand to bow to, a different sub to control. Sometimes it was just for the discipline aspect, sometimes it was for full-out sexual intimacy. He raked his hand through his hair. But he never would have shared Kate with anyone. She was his.

She had been his, anyway.

He had loved her deeply. Completely. Yet she’d obviously never trusted him.

Matt heard a knock at the door. What the fuck?

He rolled onto his side. “Come in.”

The door opened and there, silhouetted in the moonlight streaming in from the hallway window, stood Kate. She stepped forward and he could see the pajama shirt she wore hugging her body. Her breasts bounced softly as she walked across the room. The shirt hung to midthigh, leaving a good portion of her long, lithe legs visible. His heart thumped faster having her in his room like this. No bra. Possibly no panties. Only a soft shirt with buttons down the entire front. Not that he’d bother with those buttons if he were going to make love to her. He would rip that shirt off her so fast, her head would spin.

“What do you want, Kate?” He leaned over and turned on the lamp on the bedside table, then he pushed his legs over the side of the bed and sat up.

She gazed at him the whole time she walked toward him, her eyes big and full of emotion. Sadness? Pain? Fear? His heart clenched. Was she afraid of him?

Well, fuck, she thought he was the type of man who would hand her over to another man as a slave, without even telling her about it. Damn, no wonder she’d acted so strangely this evening. When she’d demanded to leave and he’d told her they couldn’t go anywhere until the driver returned, she’d probably believed he had intended to trap her here. God, no wonder she had been so jumpy, her eyes filled with panic.

And that’s why she’d run from him in the mall.

Good God, Kate actually believed—his heart ached—that he would hurt her.

His hands curled into fists. How could she ever believe that? He loved her and would do anything to protect her.

He wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her. To scream at her that he would never, ever hurt her.

He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her with all the passion and desire he had locked inside. To claim her mouth, totally and completely, to show her just how deeply he loved her.

She stood by the side of the bed now. “I…” Her hands hung by her sides and her fingers curled tightly. “I’m here because…”

Her hesitance tore at his heart.

“Damn it, Kate. What the fuck do you want?”

She flinched. Damn, he hadn’t meant to speak so sharply, but she threw him off balance. He wanted her so goddamned much.

Fuck, she held all the power. He’d been a damn fool to bring her here. To subject himself to this kind of pain again.

He drew in a deep breath and tried again. “Just tell me what you want, Kate.”

“I … I know it wasn’t fair that I left two years ago … without telling you…”