Calder by Allyson James Read Free Book Online Page B

table.
    He’d folded his brawny arms behind his head and a spill of black hair fell over his shoulder to his lap.
    “Nice to see you too.”
    Braden was the closest thing Calder had to a friend, but Calder was not in the mood for Braden’s sense of humor right now.
    Braden maintained a casual approach to life and didn’t care who didn’t like it. He thought Calder too anal and Calder thought Braden too careless. Usually they got along fine.
    “I knew I should have changed the locks,” Calder growled. “I have a client coming.
    Whatever it is, make it quick.”
    “She’s not coming.”
    Calder halted in the act of going back for his supplies. His leather-clad body creaked as he turned around. “What do you mean? How do you know?”
    “I found her in your computer. I sent her a message that said you’d been delayed and will call her later.”

Calder’s rage warred with relief. The client was a woman from Delta-Terra, a high-handed bitch who’d sent him messages specifying what she expected him to do to her.
    Women sometimes tried to command him—and then Calder taught them that their dictates didn’t mean shit. It was one more way he turned their power against them.
    He hadn’t really wanted to see the woman today, but then again he did, to expunge what had happened yesterday with Katarina. A good hunt, followed by a good fuck, and he’d be all right again.
    He swung toward his terminal but Braden’s next words stopped him.
    “I brought someone else to see you.”
    The door to his kitchen slid open, and Katarina d’Arnal, dressed in a soft silk tunic and pants, with no face veil, paused on the threshold. She regarded him in trepidation, as though she wasn’t sure Braden’s idea of bringing her had been a good one.
    She was right about that.
    Calder watched her give him a once-over, taking in his black clothes and his naked face. His cock was already hardening as those beautiful brown eyes roved over his body. He never covered his face when he was alone, so she saw his scars in all their glory.
    He glared at Braden. “Take her out.”
    Katarina took a step forward. “I need to talk to you.”
    “Book an appointment. Don’t ask my friends to sneak you into my house.”
    “At least talk to her,” Braden said, bringing his feet to the floor. “What will it hurt?”
    Braden, the idiot, couldn’t know how it would hurt. Usually Calder didn’t care about a woman’s fascination with The Beast, but with Katarina he did. She’d want what they all wanted—to touch him and lick him, have him pretend to overpower her.
    “Then talk,” he said tightly to Katarina.
    Katarina wet her lips, making them luscious and red. “I still need to scan you.”

Calder stared. Of all the things she could have said, he wasn’t expecting that. “You thumbprinted the exam. It’s finished.”
    “Because you forced me.”
    Braden’s black brows rose. “He forced you?”
    “He grabbed my thumb and pressed it on the handheld.”
    “Calder, you shithead.”
    “I don’t need to be scanned,” Calder said. “You already have records of my body. It hasn’t changed.”
    “But those aren’t the rules.”
    “ Fuck the rules. ”
    Damn it, his control was slipping—again. What did this woman do to him?
    “If I reported you—”
    Calder was across the room, pinning her to the doorframe before she could complete the sentence.
    “Are you threatening me?” he growled.
    “I’m saying that if someone found out, if they’d seen you do that, you could get into trouble.”
    Braden returned his booted feet to the table. “She has a point.”
    Calder released her. She smelled too good when he stood close to her. His cock danced.
    “What do you want, Katarina?”
    “I told you. To scan you.”
    “And if I don’t want you running your wand over my naked body?” Gods, I shouldn’t have put it like that. “Will you report what I did to you in my pleasure rooms?”
    She reddened. “No.”

Calder remembered how