Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
His bare feet came into view. Naturally, even his feet were sexy. How the hell were feet sexy?
Just like that, she was off center again.
“You look beautiful like this.”
She didn’t respond because they were in the dungeon. She wasn’t sure of all the protocols he would use. Some Doms preferred their subs remain silent in the dungeon.
A big hand touched her head, palm covering her scalp. “Naturally you have perfect form. Did you learn this at The Garden? I’ve heard of it, you know. It’s so exclusive even I can’t get in. I was jealous of Jared when he got a membership to Sanctum. I don’t like being left out.”
He was an interesting combination of strong Dom and wayward boy. There were major gaps in his history, long periods of time that remained unaccounted for, and that couldn’t mean anything good. A good life tended to be documented carefully. What had happened to him between the time he left his foster home and the moment he showed up on Hollywood’s radar? What had happened that made him forever need to belong, even if it meant buying his way in?
“You can talk, pet. Unless I give you specific instructions, I never mean to silence your voice.”
“If we go to London or Dallas, I can get you into both,” she offered. “They’re wonderful clubs. Completely different experiences, but both amazing. The Doms in charge are private bastards.”
“I belong to a club in Dallas.” His hand came off her head and his feet disappeared. “It’s very nice.”
She knew the one he was talking about. “Well, then if we’re in Dallas, you can take me someplace new. I’ve heard The Club is lovely and that Julian Lodge knows how to treat his clients. It’s probably better than Ian Taggart. Ian treats everyone like we’re still in the Army and he’s the general in charge.”
“Lodge is polite, but I still feel like I’m on the outside any place other than The Reef.”
She heard the door to the closet open and took a long breath. “It’s good to have a place where you belong.”
She couldn’t see what he was doing. It was part of the glorious mind fuck that got her adrenaline going.
“You seem to belong a lot of places.”
“I have a membership to The Garden and Sanctum, but only because of my work status. I feel weird in Sanctum. For a long time I was on the opposite side of Ian Taggart—well, he thought I was on the opposite side. No one was allowed to know my true identity except my handler and his boss. It’s the curse of the double agent. Sometimes you feel like no one believes you at all because you’ve become such a master at lying.”
She was surprised that came out as easily as it had. Her former career wasn’t something she liked to talk about, but something about being in the dungeon always made her vulnerable. In many ways, the dungeon was the only place she did talk about what had happened to her. It was her confessional, the one place she could be vulnerable because she knew there would be absolution.
“Do you still lie?”
“I try not to. In my daily life, I don’t lie at all. I don’t care enough to lie. I can be too harsh at times because I gave all my fucks up a long time ago.” Except that I’ll lie to you. I’ll lie because my job and my friends are all I really care about anymore.
Yeah, she didn’t say that part out loud.
“I like honesty,” he said. “No, I require it. I can’t stand people blowing sunshine up my ass. I have far too much of that every day. It makes you wonder who to trust. It’s why I like Jared. I don’t think he’s smart enough to lie.”
“That feels rough.”
“I guess I gave away all my fucks, too. Eyes up.”
She brought her eyes to meet his gaze and couldn’t help the shiver of desire that went through her body. He’d shed his shirt and every bit of dietary restraint showed in his perfectly cut body. Wearing nothing but a pair of low-slung jeans, he stared down at her. There was no way to miss the bulge in his denims. Joshua Hunt was built on long, lean lines, but that erection was anything but lean. It was a massive beast restrained by denim.
He held a crop in his hand, looking every inch the dark, decadent Dom. He reached out and touched the scar under her right clavicle. His lips quirked up. “Dare I ask where you got this?”
It wasn’t her biggest scar but it was probably the most noticeable. She had one on her back, long and close to her spine. A small circular scar above her hipbone from a gun shot. But he was staring at the candy cane shaped one. “That was where I got caught by the bad guys and they started to play around with me. It was a scalpel. Unlucky for them, I had managed to get my hands free. They didn’t play for long.”