Sweet Seduction Sacrifice by Nicola Claire Read Free Book Online Page A

"You won't even know he is there."
    I didn't argue, I hadn't even known Brett was an underworld criminal until today, I could hardly be counted on to pick up on a super hot, bad-ass bodyguard if he didn't want to be seen.
    Dominic waited a beat and when it was obvious I wasn't going to comment, he continued.
    "Do you have flatmates?" he asked, I shook my head. "Anyone at home with you?"
    Another head shake, then, "I have a cat." Yeah, good come back, Gen.
    "I can see that," Dominic said glancing back at the cork board. Cat fetish, go figure.
    We both fell silent.
    "I'm taking you to dinner," Dominic announced out of abso-fucking-lutely nowhere.
    "Why?" I demanded, unsure if I could handle a candlelit dinner with god-like Dominic Anscombe in my current discombobulated state.
    "Because you shouldn't be alone," he replied succinctly. No candles then, I was guessing. He felt obliged to help out the keep Gen safe campaign . And then I had a thought.
    "I'll have Ben."
    "You won't see him, he doesn't like coming out of the shadows when he tails someone, and you shouldn't feel alone." Slight change of words there and for some reason they made a warm feeling seep right through my core. Even if Ben was keeping me safe, Dominic didn't want me to feel alone.
    And then I woke up from my mini-dreamlike state.
    "I can invite Kelly over, she'd spend the evening with me." I do have friends, you know.
    "I'm taking you to dinner," he repeated, this time with a definite edge.
    I glared at him, he stared back at me impassively. Then I sighed and slumped in my chair. Dinner it is then.
    "Good," he said at my obvious capitulation, he sounded satisfied, but not at all surprised. I was guessing not too many women said no to god-like Dominic Anscombe. I crossed my arms over my chest and decided I would try better this evening to live up to all feminists out there, determined to deny Dominic god-like Anscombe another yes.
    His lips twitched at the edges as he stared down at me.
    "What time does your shop close?" he asked, sounding amused as hell now.
    "Five-thirty, but it takes half an hour to clean up," I offered, thinking I'd head home and change into something more appropriate than my work uniform and bra flashing top then.
    "I'll swing by and pick you up from here," he said, turning to the door.
    "We're going to dinner straight after work?" I asked, my voice a little high with disappointment. Grabbing dinner on the way home from work just didn't seem romantic. Ah, what the hell was I thinking?
    He turned back from the door to look down at me again. I was beginning to dislike how it made me feel when he loomed above me like that. If he was god-like at every other opportunity, he was even more god-like right now. He took up more space in my tiny office than he had any right to and yet somehow he still made me feel safe. As though his impressive physique above me was protective not domineering. As though he'd lay his body down in front of that door if someone decided to attack. I'm not sure why I felt that way, I just did and it left me unsettled. Dominic Anscombe was a Queen Street lawyer, not a superhero or knight in shining armour from a fairytale - or dream.
    "I'll escort you home and then we'll decide from there where we will eat."
    Oh dear God, Dominic god-like, the sexiest smile and name, Anscombe in my apartment. This was so not happening.
    "Um," I said, but it was a waste of time, he'd slipped through the door and disappeared. Remarkably as nimble as his brother.
    I glanced at my watch and noted it was a quarter to five already. I looked at my desk and the still unfinished accounts and then looked back up at the cork board and the missing spot where a photo - I'm unsure which one - was gone. This morning had started out bad and just got worse. And now I had a not-date with one of the most gorgeous men I had ever laid eyes on in my life and he was going to enter my flat. He'd seen my dream, my shop, he'd seen me lose it when presented with red