“I know I won’t be able to think about anything but you if we don’t.”
“You seemed to do okay today.”
He’d wondered if it bugged her that he’d gotten lost. He released her arm. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t realize where the time had gone.”
She shook her head and moved back. “That didn’t bother me. I know what you’re here to do, and I’m glad you had fun with it. It’s my job to make sure you can do yours. And it was cool how you put all of that together. But I have to admit I’m nervous about moving forward. I do want you.”
He could compromise. “How about you go and take a shower and get ready for bed. I’m going to go out to the living area and make a couple of notes on the things I learned today. I’ll close the door between us. If you come through the door again, we’ll start a scene and play. If you choose to go to bed then I’ll see how you feel in the morning. This is not an all or nothing offer. If you change your mind, I’ll be here. But you have to promise me something. When you’re in the shower, think about me. Think about what we could do if I was in there with you. If you decide you don’t want to go through with this, leave the door closed. You take the bed and I’ll sleep out here on the couch.”
“That doesn’t seem fair to you.”
“Fair doesn’t matter. What matters to me is that you feel secure and comfortable and you make the decision you need to make because if you do want to explore this chemistry between us, I’ll be in charge.” He moved to the door that separated the bedroom and that decadent bath from the living area where his laptop was already set up.
She stood there, watching him with wary eyes. “All right then. I’ll think about it.”
He closed the door between them and prayed she found the courage to open it again.
* * * *
Tessa stood in front of the door and realized she was being a coward. She’d taken way too long in that shower, and the whole time she couldn’t stop thinking about how if she’d been a little braver, he might have been in there with her, his hands moving over her body.
He was too fucking good to be true, and she’d had that before. She’d been in this exact place with a man who should have been forever and just wasn’t, and what if that was her fault?
It had seemed like such a perfect idea on the plane. She’d had hours to think it over, to come to the conclusion that they could find mutual pleasure and walk away satisfied. One night to get David out of her system had sounded like a logical, practical thing to do. Then he’d turned the tables on her on the boat. The minute she’d realized her buttoned-up professor was kind of a freak, she’d known she was in serious trouble. In some ways it still didn’t compute for her. The tops she knew were men who were dominant and dangerous even outside of Sanctum. She was sure her friends would tell her she needed to hang out with people who didn’t take bullets for a living, but that was her experience. She equated tops with alpha males.
Or was she equating alpha males with military men. There were other types of alpha men. She would bet David could take charge of a classroom easily. Why did a guy have to carry a gun to be an alpha?
She was stalling again. She wasn’t this woman, damn it. She wasn’t a woman who worried over every decision. She wanted David, and she was going to have him. They’d made their deal, and everyone knew the score, so this was easy-peasy.
She opened the door and stepped into the living area. And stopped because he was sitting at the desk, his face illuminated by the laptop screen and the soft light coming from the lamp. He had his glasses on, and he was staring at the screen intently with that look she’d quickly come to associate with him being lost in thought.
He was beautiful, and she wasn’t sure how she could fit in his world. Was his world as far from her as Michael’s had been?
His head came up, and suddenly it wasn’t the screen he was studying. “Hello, Tessa. Come here.”
The smile might have been friendly, but his tone was lower, the hint of a command in the words. She resisted the urge to lick her lips and stepped into the room. The door made a heavy, final thunking sound as it closed behind her. As tense as she’d been before, now she found her shoulders relaxing, the calm she normally felt in the changing room at Sanctum starting to slide over her.
She was suddenly so much more aware of her body, of the way the silk of her pajamas felt against her skin, the cool breeze from the fan overhead caressing her. Her feet sank into the thick carpet of the rug, and she could smell the soap she’d used.
She shook herself out of those thoughts and back to the problem at hand. They had things to work out. “We need to talk. I meant what I said about throwing down, but also—”
“No.” David tucked his hands into his pockets and smiled. He was wearing the same khakis with a brown belt and a white dress shirt he’d worn to dinner, though he’d lost the tie and jacket. The top two buttons of the dress shirt were open and the sleeves rolled up. He was barefoot. It was a far cry from the leathers and boots she was used to. So why did she find it so fucking sexy? Even his glasses were hot. Hot professor.
Wait. He’d said no.
“No?” She crossed her arms. “No you don’t want to have sex tonight, or no—”
“No, we don’t need to talk.” He picked up the straight-backed wooden chair he’d been sitting in and moved past her. He opened the door to the bedroom again, walking through.
She watched as he settled the chair near the foot of the massive four-poster bed. All the furniture in the villa was well-made, if simple in design. It looked like most of it had probably been made here on the island and assembled in the rooms given the size of the pieces. If he tied her down to that bed, arms and legs spread, there’d be no way of getting away. She could pull on the ropes all she wanted. That bed wasn’t going anywhere.
She would be at his mercy. No arguing. No fighting her own wants. All she would be able to do was take the pleasure this man could give her.
If tonight was about throwing down, maybe she should do exactly that. Tackle him and use a soft takedown move to get him on his back on the floor. Then she could straddle him and—
“Tessa, I asked you to sit down.”
With a start she glanced at him, then backed up a few steps and sat. She’d missed that first command. The second hadn’t been given in Dom voice, that had been teacher voice. A reprimand mixed with an order and all coated in a slightly disappointed tone.
“Damn,” she said in admiration. “You’re a college professor. I didn’t think you’d have that pissed-off teacher thing happening.”
He grinned, his lips quirking up in a smirk she shouldn’t find so sexy. He stepped in front of her, just close enough that she had to tilt her head back to see his face. Just enough to let her know who was in charge.
“I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen.” He stared her down. “We’re going to address the issue of your preconceived notions about what qualifies a man to be a Dom. I sensed that you were surprised when I told you, and I think I know why.”
She was getting a lecture? She hadn’t expected that, but then she was starting to get the idea that David was way more of a mystery than she’d imagined. “I don’t think that you can’t be a Dom. I was just—”