The Dom's Dungeon by Cherise Sinclair Read Free Book Online Page A

gowns that she held up for Alex's
approval. Not Mac's.
    “If you
like them so much, maybe you should try them on,” Mac muttered.
    Alex
laughed and then shocked her stupid by kissing the top of her head.
    She pulled
on gown after gown, with the saleswoman helping her lace and tie and button and
zip. Gold, blue, black. With each one, Alex made
noncommittal noises. The final hanger held a long, full-skirted gown in pink,
and Mac sneered at it. The
color of cheerleaders . “I never wear pink.”
    “Pink
would be lovely on you,” the saleswoman said. “Your man has a good eye for
color.” She whisked the gown over Mac's head.
    Mac had
barely a glimpse before the woman pushed her gently out of the room to where
Alex waited on a plush couch. Legs outstretched, one arm resting along the
back, he looked thoroughly at home. His eyebrows rose when he saw her this
time. “That's lovely on you, MacKensie .”
    As warmth
bloomed inside her, she tried not to reveal how much the compliment meant.
    He twirled
a finger in the air, a silent command to turn.
    She did
and—to hell with it—enjoyed the feel of the luxurious fabric swirling around her
bare legs. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirrors and stopped dead. Whoa, look at that, Miss Elegance . She
turned one way, then the other, admiring herself, before remembering who
watched.
    “But
pink?” she said, making a token protest.
    “Pink looks
good on you,” he said mildly. “We'll take this one,” he told the saleslady.
“Please select the appropriate undergarments, hose, and shoes.” He tapped his
fingers on the arm of the couch, thinking. “A purse and a
cape also. The evening will be chilly.”
    Mac's
mouth dropped open. As the saleslady scurried away, beaming like a woman whose
commission had just gone through the roof, Mac realized she should have put a
limit on how much Fontaine could spend. “That's too much.” Maybe most women
would gloat over the windfall, but it made her feel obligated.
    “We have a
deal.” Alex rose to stand beside her. With a faint smile, he ran a finger down
her cheek, his touch somehow more intimate that any john who'd pounded into
her.

Chapter Five
     
    She
changed the bandage on his back when they got home. Only a tiny bit of clear
pink drainage had stained the gauze, and the wound was healing nicely. As she
taped the gauze down, she couldn't help but notice the long lines of his torso
and the contoured muscles of his back. Under her fingers, his warm skin felt
velvety soft over disconcertingly hard muscles beneath. No businessman she'd
ever seen had muscles like that.
    Bemused,
she looked up and met his penetrating gaze in the mirror. Oops . She stepped back hurriedly, only to have him grasp her wrist.
    “ MacKensie , it's time we talked.” Still holding her wrist,
not her hand, he led her to the family room and pointed to the couch. “Sit
there.”
    As she
took a seat, he opened the curtains to display a magnificent view of the Sound,
with the white-capped Olympics beyond, then disappeared into the kitchen.
    Mac leaned
her head on her hand and studied the mountains. Yeah, they really were
gorgeous. Yet right now she wanted cozy instead. A place deep inside her ached
with the need to be rocking on her porch swing with the neighbor's cat a warm
weight in her lap. Red and orange leaves would be swirling down from the big
maple, and she would grumble to Fluffball about
having to rake them all up.
    Before she
could descend into a major homesickness attack, Butler got up from the rug by
the fireplace and leaned against her leg with a heavy sigh, as if he'd worked a
twelve-hour day. She leaned forward to pet him and whispered in his ear, “I had
a rough day too, baby.”
    Alex
returned and handed her a glass of dark red wine.
    After
taking it, she regarded him warily. “What are we going to talk about?”
    He sat
down in the middle of the couch. Why did the man always crowd into her space?
    “In a
couple of hours, we're going