The Shy Dominant by Jan Irving Read Free Book Online Page B

to know them before I’ll let you make off with them for half a year.”
    “The voice of the man in command. I always found it very sexy.” She sighed. “I also forgot how influential you are in this town. Judges, lawyers…”
    “I’m telling you I won’t let you play with their feelings. I protect them. Always.”
    Marilyn bit her lip. “What if I…really want to try to make a new connection with them?”
    Fred wanted to shut her down, but he couldn’t do it, not if she was sincere. Even if it killed him. “We’ll see,” he muttered. “But no more talk of taking them from me or all you’ll get is a handful of cactus.”
    “All right. Is your friend Dharma going to be here?”
    “No.” He wished Dharma was. He couldn’t sleep, he was having trouble eating and he was grumpy with the girls at home.
    “I like her name. It’s means good destiny, the opposite of karma.”
    “I know what it means.” Now that he’d handled this crisis with Marilyn, he could reach out to Dharma.
    He wanted to make her his woman. And he was through waiting.
    * * * *
    Dharma was exhausted.
    It had been a long night working at the bar. Her feet ached since she’d become unaccustomed to high heels in no time. Her back ached from a peculiar tension—all night she’d felt as if someone were watching her, stalking her.
    And she was depressed.
    She’d gone to work just like she’d told Fred she would. Go her.
    But she’d felt even more of a loser than she had when he’d rejected her on his kitchen island. Why? It was stupid to feel that way.
    Men found her gorgeous. They wanted to touch her, she could see it all night in their lust-glazed eyes as she flirted and served drinks. But something was missing. She used to enjoy the job in a light way. Now she was close to tears after a single shift.
    “I’m driving you home.”
    The soft voice behind her made her screech. She grabbed her chest, panting. “Are you trying. To kill me?”
    “Nope.” Fred’s expression was grim. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans with a plaid shirt. His features looked stark, all tired, mouth-watering man with a capital M. And she’d missed him this past week. Goddess, she’d missed him.
    “What are you doing here?” she sighed.
    He shrugged. “I told you I needed to look out for you.”
    “Look out for me?” she repeated.
    “Said it clear enough.”
    She saw dark fire in his eyes. Oh, he was angry, was he?
    “You don’t want me, remember? You…” She sucked in a breath so she didn’t do something stupid, like start crying. “You made it clear.”
    “I want you.” His voice was soft. “I’m just so scared and intimidated by you that—”
    She blinked. Was she hallucinating because she was so weary herself? “Hey, you just need some practice. Just think of how you are on the job, all take-charge and confident. I know I do. It’s incredibly sexy.”
    Colour darkened his cheeks. He shrugged again. “Thank you.”
    “Why are you scared?” Despite herself she’d walked closer to him so they stood face to face, her arms wrapped around herself while his hands were in his pockets. But she could feel the yearning sparking between them like a force field. If they got too close, they’d burn up.
    “Because you make me want things I told myself I can’t have.”
    She wanted to reach out and touch the side of his face, stroke him, soothe him. Crazy. “And what is it you think you can’t have?”
    He avoided her gaze. “For one thing, it kind of turns me on to see you working in that place, to see men looking at your beautiful tits. Only thing that would make it better was if they knew who you belonged to.”
    Her mouth opened, closed. “Really? I thought you hated me working there.”
    “I do, when I’m not around to protect you and…to watch you.”
    His gaze was on his scuffed cowboy boots.
    “You’re into voyeurism?”
    “I… Ah…”
    “Because there’s nothing wrong with that, even though I don’t need you