“Sorry about your luck.” He started for the door.
She sighed. “So much for that. Nick went on and on about what a hero you are. Said you’d help. He must have been thinking of someone else.”
Nick? Archer gritted his teeth. Damn him. The next time he visited Nick he’d rip him a new one. Nick knew what Archer did and what he didn’t do. He knew his rules.
Archer turned to her, shrugging. “I never claimed to be a hero, sweet thing.”
There, that would drive her off before he could think any further about how luscious her curves were, how sweet her voice was, how deeply the look of pain in those gorgeous green eyes cut at him.
She’d leave now, right?
“Ugh. You know, this is exactly why things like this happen. Because asshats like you refuse to step up.”
Asshat? What a mouth on her. Desire for her skyrocketed, even while his brain went into Dom mode. He could think of a hundred ways to punish her for mouthing off.
Oh, for fuck sake. She was Chad and Ace’s kid sister. Her brothers would kill him. He wasn’t scared of them, but they were his friends.
Her breathing sounded a little too fast. “You won’t help me just because I’m not some Bruce Lee hot shot? Seriously?”
“Bruce Lee is Kung Fu, sweetheart.” Her heart-shaped face reddened. Then she made an angry sound and he grinned. Damn, even with those huge Diana Prince glasses she was hot.
She dropped her arms. “I can’t believe you’re the same person Nick recommended. You can’t be that much of a jerk and be a good guy in Nick’s eyes.”
Ouch.
Hands shaking, she hurried for the door. His heart constricted for her. He’d seen enough people like her whose confidence had been shattered to know what it cost her to stand up to him.
“Wait.”
The woman turned. Hope lighted in her eyes, clutching his heart in a tight fist.
“Why didn’t you go to the cops?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“I told Ace. He…” She looked away. Something crossed her features, but it was gone before he could place it. “He looked into it. Said he tried to trace the calls, but they came from a burner phone. Then gave me some spiel about not expending police resources. He’s too concerned about his career to take this seriously.” Her voice trembled. “Like I can prove the creep is calling and hanging up, or watching me outside my window.” She wrung her hands.
Protectiveness screamed through him. His palms itched to clasp her hands in his and still their shaking.
“Has he threatened you or come after you?”
“He followed me last night.” Fear filled those jade green eyes. “I couldn’t see his face or his license plate. Ace brushed it off as kids playing a prank. This kind of thing doesn’t happen in small town Haven, you know.”
Archer’s brows drew together. That didn’t sound like the Ace he knew. He wished he knew a lot more about police work instead of teaching cops martial arts. Memories flashed through him again, tightening his fists. This was Kimiko all over again.
“Look, I need to do this.” She fidgeted. “He’s going to attack me again. I can feel it. The cops won’t help, so I have to learn what to do when he comes for me.”
Archer’s shoulders dropped. “Do Chad or Ace know you’re here to take classes from me?”
“N-no. They don’t, Mister Drake. And please don’t tell them. Ever.”
“Call me Archer. And why not?”
“They’d never leave me alone. They think I don’t belong in a place like this. They think—”
“All right.” He cut her off gently. “I won’t say a word.” He had a good idea what she’d been about to say. Her brothers were brutally protective of her behind her back, even if they were dicks to her face.
Damn, he wanted her. His best friend’s sister. Fucking hell.
“I’ll teach you.”
“You…you will?”
“Yes. But understand what you’re getting into, Gwen.” Her eyes widened when he stepped closer, deliberately in her space. “I am a brutal taskmaster. I demand compliance at all times. If you can’t handle it, you’re out.”
She swallowed. “I…Archer, thank…”
“Don’t thank me yet.” That innocent librarian look made it difficult to think straight. Especially when her auburn bun looked disheveled, as if someone had fisted it and she hadn’t bothered to settle it into place again.
“Yes, sir.”
“Master, Gwen.”
Her eyes widened. “Master?”
“It’s another word for sensei.”
She went fabulously pink. “Oh, right. I knew that. Yes, Master Archer.”
He wanted to grin. ‘Master’ was also a title some Doms expected their subs to use with them. He needed to be hard and unyielding. Keep her at a distance. Fuck, this was a colossally bad idea. He was gonna kill Nick.
“Be here Friday night at nine, after the last class. And be on time. I don’t tolerate excuses.”
He left the room without giving her a chance to reply.
3
A Brother’s Duty
“You saw him?”
Gwen looked up. She’d been so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed Nick had poked his head into her office. “Pardon?”
Nick walked into the room, a playful smirk on his strong face. “Archer Drake. Did you talk to him?”
Irritation pricked at her, remembering her discussion with Archer. She’d never met a man with a more forceful, commanding presence.
Gwen took a file to the overstuffed cabinet in the corner. “I saw him, sir.” She jerked open the drawer, slapped a file inside, and shoved the drawer closed.
Nick chuckled. “Well?”
It was so much easier to dismiss her boss’s questions when he was dressed in his surgeon scrubs and white coat instead of black leather. Nick was too imposing to argue with in Dom mode.
“Gwen?” Nick drawled when she didn’t answer.
She met his eyes. At least looking at him didn’t make her cheeks heat. “He’s going to teach me.”
Nick sat on the edge of her desk. “Perfect. Told you he’d help you.”
Why did he look so triumphant? “He almost didn’t. I had to beg him.”
“Well—”
A knock on the club’s back door cut Nick off. He crossed the room to a short hallway that led to the door.
Another man’s voice drifted in. “Delivery for Miss Stanton.”
Nick returned carrying an oblong white box with a red ribbon around it. He handed her the box with a smirk. “Care to share?”
Gwen opened the package and scrunched her brows at the long-stemmed red roses inside. “Who..?”
“Two dozen.” Nick whistled. “The last time I bought that many roses for Zoe was our last wedding anniversary.”
But something unpleasant coiled in Gwen’s belly. “I don’t have… no one would send me flowers.”
“Is there a card?”
She looked through the box and pulled out a small white card. “‘Your Secret Admirer.’” She shuddered and closed the box.