Her eyes are trained on him, and his hand is at her elbow. She removes her cell phone from her purse, and…the fuck? She’s punching his number into her phone.
I rise and stride toward her, my vision blurred with the need to get her alone. My hand at her lower back surprises her, and she jumps slightly at my touch.
“Time to go, kitten,” I bite out.
She swallows and gives a tight nod, allowing me to guide her from the stool. She doesn’t say a word to the man beside her, but he watches us leave with his mouth hanging open.
I haul her toward the back hallway and stop once we’re ensconced in shadows. Pressing her back to the wall, I pin her there with my hips.
“What the fuck was that?” I growl, well aware that I’ve just dragged her down the damn hallway like some caveman.
Blinking up at me with confusion, she gasps. “I was just doing what you asked!”
She’s frustrated. Good. Welcome to the club, sweetheart.
I take her cell phone from her hand and stare down at it, letting the dissatisfaction I feel radiate from my features. “You took his number.”
“And?”
I lean closer to her face, as close as I dare, so she can feel the wash of my warm breath and smell my scent. “Let the man be the man. He should take your number. He should call you first. He should plan the date.”
Her gaze drops to the floor between us as she realizes her mistake.
I always have three scenarios in mind when going into a lesson. My goal is to push a client outside her comfort level, but depending on how she responds, I have other directions I can take things. Tonight, none of those scenarios accounted for me wanting to put her bare ass over my knee and redden her skin until her hot little cunt is wet, yet here we are. My hand is itching to smack her ass cheek. I take a deep breath, trying to regain the control I can feel slipping.
“You have one choice to make,” I say, lifting her chin so she’ll meet my eyes. “Decide now. A hotel, somewhere public, or your place.”
The flash of understanding in her eyes tells me she knows this lesson isn’t yet over; it’s barely fucking begun. “My place,” she says, surprising me.
I tug her toward the back entrance where my car is parked. My hand rests on her lower back as I guide her into the frosty air outside.
The need to get her alone and find out what turns her on, what makes her tremble, flares inside me. And the worried, timid look painted across her delicate features only makes me want her more.
Chapter Nine
Brielle
What am I doing?
I barely know this man, and yet I’ve punched my address into his fancy car’s GPS. Now I’m practically trembling in the leather seat as we drive toward my apartment. Other than asking for my address, he hasn’t said a word, and his silence is unnerving.
I grab my phone and send a text to Julie.
Brielle: Shit! I invited him back to my place. Talk me out of this!!
Her reply is instant.
Julie: Go for it, girl!
Not the words of caution I wanted to hear. Then again, she’s always encouraged me to take more risks, so what was I really expecting? I take a deep breath and catch Dom looking at me from the corner of his eye.
“Everything okay over there?” he asks, pulling me from my moment of panic.
“I…yes.”
“Don’t lie to me, Brielle. You’re second-guessing yourself.”
I drop my hands into my lap and stare straight ahead. “Why ask if you already knew that?”
“Tell me why,” he says, his voice firm and commanding.
“It’s not every day I invite a strange man over to my house.”
“I sure as fuck hope not. But you’ve texted your friend that you’re bringing me home, which is exactly what you should do. Just relax, okay?”
It’s unsettling how he can read me so well. Not to mention, his abrupt change in mood is unexpected. I can’t possibly begin to imagine what’s going on inside his head.
“But I thought you were mad at me about earlier…I thought you were going to spank me,” I admit softly.
“Do you want me to spank you?”
My gaze cuts to his large palms curled around the steering wheel, and a warm shiver of anticipation pulses through me.
“No,” I say, but my denial sounds weak and hollow, even to my ears.
His mouth lifts in a lazy smile.
When we reach my apartment, he parallel parks on the street. I lead him inside, fumbling with my keys as I unlock the front door to the building. Inside the elevator, I hit the button for the sixth floor and glance over at him. He’s pinned me with one of those intense, icy stares that I can feel deep inside my body.
“This male friend of yours, Kirby…have you two ever shared a drunken hookup?” he asks, completely surprising me.
“No.”
“A kiss?” he asks, stalking closer.
“Does it matter?” I’ve never done anything remotely sexual with Kirby, but his insistence at knowing these details seems too intimate, since I know nothing of his past.
He makes a low sound in his throat, closes the distance between us, and dips his head to inhale the scent of my neck. “When I ask a question, I expect an honest answer.”
He lingers at my neck, and the heat from his breath warms my skin. For a moment, I worry my heavy breathing will give me away. His dominating side is sexy as sin, and I want to see more of it.
“Never, okay?” I whisper. My feelings and reactions to him confuse me.