“At least let me walk you to your car then.”
She seems to muse on it for a moment, then nods. “Okay.”
The sun is low in the sky as we leave the comfort of the air-conditioned building and are blasted by the summer heat.
“It’s funny how empty it is around here after five,” she observes. “I would have thought more people would be around.”
I shake my head. “There’s no retail here to speak of, only a bunch of offices. Nobody stays open late, so it clears out every evening.”
“That’s me over there,” she says, pointing to an old beater car.
I want to trade it in myself and get her into something new and reliable.
She starts toward her car, and I marvel at how the golden sunlight plays on her hair, almost making it glow.
I take a couple jogging steps to catch up and notice Harper’s hand trembling. She’s holding her cell phone, scrolling through text messages without stopping to read any.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
She pauses for a moment to smile, but I can tell it’s forced. “Just expecting a message that doesn’t appear to have come through.”
“Important?”
“You could say that.”
She starts walking again, almost jogging to her car. However, she’s petite enough that I stride along behind her. Her hands are still shaking as she unlocks her car, and the dominant side of me comes out. I reach out as she pulls open the door, resting my hand against her back. Harper shivers with the touch, her eyes immediately meeting mine.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“F-fine.” She licks her lips as her eyes rise to meet mine.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Harper,” I order, gentler than I would command my usual submissives, but ensuring that my tone is anything but a request.
Her lip trembles, then she shakes her head. “It’s nothing.”
“Harper,” I scold. “You can trust me.”
My thumb bumps along her spine, and she shudders, leaning into my touch.
“I can’t,” she declares, shifting to get into her car. “It’s nothing you need to worry about. Okay?”
I frown. “What does that mean?”
Harper slides into her seat and pulls across the seatbelt. “It means that it’s a personal matter.” She closes the car door before I have a chance to respond.
The engine starts on the third try, but before she drives away, our eyes lock again. I can see the swirl of emotion in them—grief, stubbornness, desire, and uncertainty.
She turns away, and I step back before she can run over my toes.Whatever she’s hiding, it’s tearing her apart. I frown, watching as her car pulls onto the road and out of sight.
“Whatever is going on, I’m going to figure it out. I can feel you there, already on the verge of giving yourself to me. I just need to remove the obstacles that are holding you back.”
10
Harper
“Hey, Dad,” I say, kissing his forehead before dropping onto the chair at his side. “How are you feeling today?”
My dad smiles at me. “Another day in paradise, princess.”
“Do I need to smuggle you in something real to eat?”
He bursts into laughter before coughing. “I wish. But the doctors don’t want me to have anything that could irritate the tumor before I start treatment.”
I smile and take his hand. “Just let me know if I need to sneak in the good stuff.”
“I will.”
“Any clue when they’re going to release you?”
He shakes his head. “They want me to get my weight up since the chemo will make me sick.”
“But they won’t give you the good food?”
“Ah, that’s what all these tubes are for, injecting it right into me.”
I chuckle. “But, you can’t taste it like that.”
My dad smiles. “No, but I’ll suffer for now. The sooner I can start treatment, the sooner I’ll be over this.”
“That’s right,” I agree.
“So where you been?” he asks. “You’re normally here earlier.”
I sigh. “I stayed late at work to catch up on a project.”
“That one you were telling me about last week?”
“Yeah.”
“Why’d you need to catch up?” my dad asks with a frown.
I grimace and look away.
“Harper,” he sighs. “You can’t let what’s going on with me affect your work. I’m going to be fine, but you could damage your career if you let what’s happening get to your head.”
“I’m just worried about you, Dad.”
“I know, princess, but you’ve gotta think of yourself, too. I’ll feel better knowing that you’re doing okay out there.”
I nod, slumping into the chair.
“Harper?”
“Yeah?”
“You gotta trust me. I’m gonna get better.”
“I do trust you, Dad.”
“Good. Then, I’m going to trust that you’re doing what you need to take care of yourself, too.”
I nod. “Okay.”
Over the next few days, I make a discovery. It starts with a touch here, an odd phrase there, but within a few days, it’s glaringly obvious that Axel West is interested in me. The only problem is, am I interested in him? My body says yes, but my head isn’t so sure.
I try to keep clear of office gossip, but people talk, and I’ve heard things. Such as how Maddox and his new fiancée got together because of a meeting in a sex club. Or how Axel was seen outside the discreet building that housed the same club on a number of occasions as coworkers returned from their own nights out.
The rumors also indicate that the club is about more than sex—that it specializes in BDSM. Some of what he’s said—or the way he’s reacted to me—supports the rumors. His breath catches whenever I reply with a yes, sir, and he even mentioned that he likes hearing it. Or him asking me how well I take direction.
I can’t help the shudder that runs through me. The thought of being with him is powerful, but due to one-too-many friends in college being obsessed with the BDSM lifestyle, I’ve seen my fair share of movies, and I have no desire to be on the receiving end of whips and chains.
I’m not interested in signing contracts, being collared, or handing over my freedom. If I can’t trust men with my body, I really can’t trust them with something as precious as my independence.
I turn on my computer, only to be greeted by a popup as soon as it reaches the home screen. I start to groan before realizing that it’ll let me talk to one of the people who likely heard the rumors, someone who I trust to tell me the perceived truth.
I unplug the laptop and stop by Declan’s door. I knock twice, then stick my head in. “I’m headed down to IT. The laptop’s asking for something.”
He looks up and nods. “Get a temporary replacement if you’re going to be without for more than a few hours.”
“Understood.”
I feel the eyes of the salespeople on me as I carry the machine past their section of the second floor toward the lone IT office at the back. Luckily, Axel seems to be out, which means I have a few minutes to talk to Sam.