“Blair?” I said. “It’s Raiden.”

  “Oh, hey,” she said. Was it me? Or did she sound a little excited to have me be the one on the phone? “I was just...thinking about you, actually...”

  Yeah, she’d definitely been masturbating. Fuck. The idea that she’d been touching herself to thoughts of me was just about the hottest damn thing I could think of. What did Blair Hopper look like when she was masturbating? Did she lay on her back with her legs spread? Was she the kind of girl who liked to get comfortable on her tummy and then slide her hands between her legs?

  What was her secret?

  “Is that so?” I asked, not giving away that I knew.

  “Yeah, I, um...”

  Her voice trailed off, and I almost bit my fucking lip. Was she serious right now? Fuck. I so didn’t need to have my dick hard at work.

  “I’m just really excited...about...the, uh...”

  “The bookshelves?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “The shelves.”

  I was alone in my office. I shared it with a few other workers, but they were out on jobs. I closed the door to make sure I had privacy, and then I sat down at my desk.

  “Blair?”

  “Mmmhmm.”

  “Are you touching yourself?”

  Silence.

  It wasn’t my place.

  I wasn’t her Dom.

  I wasn’t dating her.

  Hell, I wasn’t even planning to date her. Yet there I was, asking her if she was touching herself, and the worst part was that I still expected her to give me a totally honest answer.

  “Blair?”

  “What?” She whispered.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “I...I thought you just called about the bookshelves.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t know what you were up to, kitten?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you think you could be sneaky?”

  “Yes.”

  “You should know that a good Dom can always tell when you’re lying,” I told her. It was true, too. A lot of times, it took Doms and subs years to get into a good rhythm where they were in sync with one another. It could take a long time for a Dom to know exactly when his sub was being less-than-honest, but right now...

  Well, it was obvious.

  “Oh,” she whispered.

  “Why did you answer the phone, Blair?” I asked her. It was an important question. I wanted to see if she was going to be honest with both of us. Maybe she wasn’t paying attention and she picked up the call while she was watching porn. Maybe she wanted me to hear her touching herself because she liked me. Perhaps she was just curious as to what it would feel like to touch herself while she was talking to another person. Everyone had their own kinks. I wasn’t exactly the type of person to judge.

  I couldn’t know what she was thinking unless she told me, though, so I hoped that she’d take the chance and choose to be honest. Then I’d be able to get to know her a little bit better. I’d get to find out exactly what it was that made Miss Hopper tick.

  “I knew it was you,” she finally said.

  “So?”

  “So, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

  I could practically hear her blushing.

  “Is that right?”

  The idea that she’d been thinking about me while touching herself was exciting to me. It had been a long time since I felt excited about anything or anyone, but Blair dipping her fingers into her body while imagining that I was the one doing it? Yeah, that did something to me.

  “Yeah,” she said. “When I saw you at the club, I thought you were just...wow...you know? And then you were at my house, and...”

  “Blair?”

  “You just make me feel so many things, Raiden. Things I shouldn’t be feeling,” she whispered the words like a confession.

  “Don’t stop touching yourself.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me,” I growled. I didn’t want her to stop. I wanted her to get closer and closer to the edge. I wanted her to come apart for me. I wanted her to feel wild and wanton and wonderful. “Keep rubbing yourself, kitten.”

  “Raiden...”

  “I want you to think about me at the club,” I told her. “I want you to think about the way I looked at you, and the way I made you feel, and I want you to touch yourself.”

  I wanted her to do this for me.

  I wanted her to touch herself and to fall apart simply because it pleased me. She wasn’t my submissive, and I’d do well to remember that, but just then, all I could think about was hearing her soft cries as she orgasmed.

  “I’m close,” she said breathlessly, and I believed her. More than that, I knew what she was doing. She wasn’t just warning me that she was about to orgasm. She was, in a way, asking permission. Oh, it wasn’t as blatant as all that, but that’s essentially what she was doing. She was being a very good little submissive, and she was being good just for me.

  Was I going to let her come apart for me?

  Or was I going to make her beg?

  She might be inexperienced. I was certain that she was. She’d even admitted to that. Still, she knew enough about the lifestyle to know that she couldn’t come without permission. She needed to get her Dom to okay the orgasm.

  Unfortunately for her, I was feeling a little bit feisty, and I wasn’t letting her off that easily. She was going to have to communicate with me if she wanted to play with me, and besides, I didn’t want her first orgasm with me to be on the phone. I wanted more than that.

  I wanted something a little more wild than that.

  And I wanted her to prove that she was really interested in this thing between us. I didn’t want her orgasming simply because I’d been the one to call her. What if it had been someone else? Would she have come apart for them? The thought bothered me.

  She was breathing harder, more heavily, and just when I thought she was about to come apart, I used the magic word that was going to break her heart.

  “Stop.”

  A pause.

  A hesitation.

  Her breathing seemed to halt completely.

  “W-What?”

  Oh yeah, she’d heard me.

  She might not like it very much. Hell, she might not like me very much, but she’d heard me just the same.

  “It’s time to stop.”

  “B-B-But...”

  “If you want to play with me, Blair, I’ll play with you, but we’re doing it in person. Not over the phone. Not the first time.”

  “I...”

  “Tell me you understand.”

  “I understand,” she whispered.

  “Blair, I’m coming over,” I told her. “We need to talk.”

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll be waiting.”

  She ended the call, and I stared at my phone for a minute before looking back at the plans I’d thrown together. I really hadn’t expected things to go that way. Not with her. Not so fast. Blair had thrown me for a loop, and, well, that was kind of exciting to me.

  It had been a long time since a woman surprised me at all, and even longer since I’d been surprised in a good way. Blair made me feel...sexy.

  She made me feel a little bit wild.

  A little bit excited.

  She made me feel like no matter what happened next, things were going to get better and better.

  I shoved my phone into my pocket and grabbed the plans. It was time to talk to Miss Hopper.

  Chapter 7

  Blair

  “He’s coming over,” I whispered to Carolyn.

  “What are you talking about?” She was in the middle of the grocery store, I knew. I could hear announcements coming through the phone. After I’d hung up the phone with Raiden, I hadn’t known what to do.

  So I’d called my friend.

  “Raiden,” I choked out. “He’s coming over. Here.”

  “The guy who’s designing your bookshelves? Cool! That was fast. What do the plans look like? Any ideas?”

  “Not that,” I whispered. “He knows I was masturbating on the phone.”

  I could feel my face turning red even as I said the words out loud. What the hell was wrong with me? How the fuck had I thought it was okay to do that? I had been in the middle of watching a sexy video, touching myself, getting closer and closer, and the phone had rung. I had known it was him. I wasn’t expecting a call from anyone else.

  Still, I hadn’t expected him to pick up on the fact that I’d been touching myself, and I was both wildly mortified and completely turned on by getting caught. Raiden was something else entirely. He was a kind of wild man who made me hot and sweaty and aroused, and the worst part was that I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

  I knew he didn’t date. He definitely didn’t date girls like me.

  He didn’t date girls who were naïve.

  He definitely didn’t date girls who were liars.

  “What?” Carolyn said. “Say that again. I think I heard you wrong.”

  “You didn’t.”

  She burst out laughing, and I could practically see her shaking her head at me. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly my proudest moment.

  “You did. Damn. You’re kinkier than I thought you were. I didn’t give you enough credit. Here I was, worried about you. You had it in you the whole time.”

  “Had what in me?”

  “The ability to be a dirty slut: that’s what. What did he think?”

  “He knew,” I hissed, flushing.

  “Of course he knew. You masturbate louder than anyone else I’ve ever met in my life.”

  “What?” I shrieked, reddening more. “How do you know that?”

  “Dude, literally every time I’m at your house, you get off at some point. You’re like sex in high heels.”

  “No I’m not!”

  “You are,” she said. “And he knows it. Are you going to fuck him?”

  “What? No!”

  “You should. He’s hot. He’s available. You’re hot. You’re available.”

  “I just don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I whispered.

  “It’s a horrible idea,” she agreed. “But you should still do it. Live a little. Have some fun. Raiden has the body of a god. You’d be doing the world a huge injustice by not sleeping with him.” I had to admit that it sounded reasonable, and it sounded a whole lot better than not having sex. “I have to go,” she said suddenly. “I have to check out.”

  The call ended, and I just stared at the phone. Was she right? She was definitely right. I knew that she was right, but it was such a hard situation, and an even harder decision. Was I going to go for it? Was I going to be crazy, wild, and bold? Maybe I should be. Maybe I should be the type of person who decided to go nuts and just have some fun.

  Was that what I should do?

  Raiden had said he was coming over, so I didn’t really have any time to waste. I put my phone on the charger, changed into a tiny sundress, brushed my hair, and put on some lip gloss. Then I went to the living room and sat on the couch, staring at the front door, willing time to pass faster than it was.

  It seemed like an hour and no time at all, but the knock came. I just stared at the door. My heart was racing, but I had to make a choice. The time for hesitation had passed.

  It was now or never.

  I chose now.

  I got up and went to the door. I pulled it open without even asking who it was or what they wanted. It was him, though, and he looked down at me with fire in his eyes.

  “Did you check to see who was at the door?” He asked.

  A test.

  It was one I’d failed, but we both knew that. He was a Dom, I remembered, and that meant taking care of a submissive’s needs. One thing that Doms loved to do was make sure their submissives were doing things like taking care of themselves. A good Dom wanted to know that their submissive was drinking water, or eating enough food, or doing things like checking to see who was at the door.

  I hadn’t done that, and I had the feeling that it meant I’d failed the first test. He looked at me carefully with a raised eyebrow.

  “Blair?”

  “I didn’t,” I said.

  “I appreciate your honesty.”

  “But you’re going to spank me for not checking, aren’t you?” I asked, my voice a whisper. He just laughed and shook his head. He came inside and closed the door behind himself. Then he kicked off his shoes, obviously making himself comfortable.

  “What is with you and spankings?” He asked. “You’re always asking if I’m going to spank you. Is that what you want, kitten?”

  “I don’t know,” I told him honestly.

  “If you want to try it, we can.”

  “I appreciate the offer.”

  “First, let’s talk about your bookshelves,” he said. Then he walked toward my office, and I followed close behind, shocked and a little surprised. He hadn’t even kissed me.

  “That’s it?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You aren’t going to...”

  “Aren’t going to what?” He turned back toward me. “Slap you on the bottom for being naughty? Kiss you on the neck for being such a bad girl? Or maybe you want me to get down on my knees and lick your pussy until you come, pretty kitty. Is that what you want?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, still holding the plans for my bookshelves in one of his hands. The folder crumpled a little, but he didn’t seem to mind. His eyes were on me, and suddenly, I felt the weight of that stare in every single part of my body.

  His voice sounded deep, and hungry. He sounded like he wanted to devour me, and I wanted that, too. More than anything in that moment, I wanted him to take a big, huge bite out of me.

  I wanted him so very much.

  And his words were soaking with excitement. They were dripping with chaos and wonder. They were filled with sweet, delicious promises that I wanted to cling to even though I knew that I shouldn’t.

  Raiden was an experienced Dominant, and I was...

  Well, I didn’t belong in the club, as much as I wanted to believe that I did. I knew better than to be playing with fire the way that I was. I knew that the game I was playing was going to burn one of us eventually. I just needed to be smart enough to get out while I could. I was using the club as a way to do book research.

  That was all.

  What would my main character do if she was in the situation I was in?

  Would she jump at the chance to sleep with a handsome Dom?

  Would she be careful and cautious?

  Or would she be wild and untamable?

  “Yes,” I said. “I want all of that, Raiden.”

  I couldn’t tell whether I was more surprised that I’d said it or if he was more surprised that I’d agreed with him, but he stepped forward before I could stop myself or talk reason into myself.

  “Tell me again,” he said.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell me what you want, Blair.”

  “I want...”

  “Say it.”

  “I want you,” I whispered.

  No hesitation.

  His lips came crashing down onto mine, and the kiss itself was so strong that I thought I might melt right in the middle of the hallway. Unlike other people I’d been with before, Raiden didn’t hold back. He just kissed me hard and fast and deep, and he cupped my face like it was the most important thing in the world to do.

  I closed my eyes, and I just lost myself in the kiss. For that moment in time, nothing else mattered: not work, not the club, not Carolyn, and not my deadlines. For that moment, the only thing in the world that mattered was convincing Raiden to kiss me more and more and more, and he did.

  By the time he pulled away, I was gasping for air, almost unable to breathe. I felt dizzy, and he held me up and guided me back to the living room. We sat down on the couch together, and he held my hand.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “Rule number one,” he tapped my chin, forcing it up so I was looking right at him. “No lies, kitten.”

  “Okay.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “No,” I whispered. “I’m scared.”

  “Me too,” he said.

  We sat like that for a long time, just looking at each other. Finally, I spoke again.

  “I didn’t plan to tell you that. I don’t know what I have to be scared of,” I said. It was the truth. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who was going to go overboard or crazy or do anything really horrible. He definitely didn’t have any qualities that, on the surface, should scare me. He just seemed like a normal sort of Dom.

  A normal guy who wanted a normal life.

  “I haven’t been in a relationship for a long time,” he said quietly.

  “It’s understandable,” I said. He cocked his head and looked at me.

  “Why do you say that? Am I that hideous?”

  “No!” I said quickly. I realized that I’d basically outed myself. I hadn’t intended to let him know that the subs at the club gossiped about him. Apparently, I wasn’t going to have a choice, though. It was either fess up or he might think he was unattractive somehow.

  “Then why do you think it’s understandable? Most people our age are in relationships.” Raiden looked at me carefully, trying to figure out what I was getting at.

  How could I work this tenderly?

  Carefully?

  Raiden had kissed me, and it had been damn wonderful. He’d been rough with me, but even during the passionate kiss we’d shared, I could tell that he was wholly in control. There hadn’t been a moment where I’d felt scared or worried about myself physically. It was only my heart that was at risk here.

  There was a part of me that wanted to lie to him now, but hadn’t I told him enough lies about myself?

  “My friend told me about Angela,” I said finally, choosing honesty. He deserved to know that I knew. Didn’t he?

  Instantly, though, I knew it was the wrong choice. He tensed, and his body went rigid.

  Shit.

  I shouldn’t have said anything.

  I shouldn’t have used her name.

  Shouldn’t have mentioned her at all.

  “Is that so?” He said.

  “Uh, yeah. Look, I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about it.” I shifted awkwardly on the couch, realizing that whatever moment we had been sharing was now over. It was all thanks to me, too.