Beck and Call by Abby Gordon Read Free Book Online Page A

responded that Debbie had convinced her to go to a boxing class to work out some aggression. Relieved on one level, Serena pushed down the desire that the girls would bail so she would be available for the Dominant.
    As she and Keith gathered their things after the call, Serena wondered how a man she hadn’t met, and whose name she didn’t even know, could influence her the way the Dominant was. Had she completely lost her mind? Was she that desperate?
    Or was she so tired of the status quo that she was willing to do something drastic? She also realized she was thirty and needed to get over her infatuation with Keith. She needed to get on with her life.
    The Dominant intrigued her, made her wonder, and it had been a very long time since she’d been stirred like this in any way.
    “Ready?” Keith asked, locking his office door.
    “Yes,” she nodded, closing the drawer and cradling the vase.
    “I’ll walk you to your car,” he offered as they went out to the hall and he locked the hall door to the executive suite.
    “I don’t have a car,” she replied, wondering at the chivalrous offer.
    “What?” he frowned, glancing at her as he turned the key. “How do you get to work and back home?”
    41

    Abby Gordon

    “Subway,
    usually.
    Bus,
    sometimes,”
    she
    shrugged. “On really nice days, if we’re not too late, I walk.”
    Keith stared at her. Why the hell had he never thought about something so basic? The subway?
    Bus? Walking! How far? Good lord, he didn’t have a clue as to where she lived. The address was one thing, but…just how far away did she live?
    He glanced at his watch. If she did walk or was delayed, then the box wouldn’t get delivered into her hands. And that was crucial to his plan. He had to make contact and get her preoccupied with what else he might have planned for her. If he took her home, he would also get a better handle on that aspect of her life.
    “I’ll take you home,” he said brusquely, taking her elbow and marching her down the hall. “How far away do you live?”
    Serena had to practically trot to keep up with him. Who was this man? Her boss wasn’t Jekyll/Hyde, but she didn’t know what to make of these random acts of kindness. He’d never been rude, cruel, or impolite, just impersonal and totally focused on his business. She understood that. She didn’t understand what drove him, but she knew that his total commitment had made the company what it was. She respected that. Since becoming his assistant, she’d seen firsthand the long hours he put in, his dedication and determination to be the best.
    He worked hard and demanded the same from his employees. But she’d never heard of him giving someone a ride home.
    “Serena?” he asked, pushing the button to summon the elevator. “Where do you live?”
    “Oh,” she blinked, pulled out of her reverie.
    “About twenty blocks. Just inside Tribeca. It’s a converted brownstone. Actually, three that were combined about ten years ago. I have one of the few 42

    Beck And Call

    one-bedroom apartments. Claire and Debbie are a few doors down from me.”
    “That will make tonight convenient,” he commented as the doors opened. “Or was that cancelled because of our call to Tokyo?”
    “Just delayed slightly,” she shook her head.
    “Debbie dragged Claire to a boxing class in the hopes that she could take some of her emotion out on the bags.”
    Keith nodded.
    “I’ve done that a few times myself. Particularly when dealing with hot-tempered, cousin-in-laws-to-be.”
    “Any idea of what to say to Penny?” she asked, seizing on the change in conversation.
    “Say to her?” he frowned as they reached the basement. He headed to where his car was parked.
    He heard her gasp of appreciation at the Mercedes.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I thought you would say something to her about Mark,” she frowned. Had she misunderstood? “About his attitudes toward women.”
    “Penny is a grown woman,” he replied, pressing the