A Little Harmless Lie 4 by Melissa Schroeder Page A

Jeez, I haven’t even done it the normal way, let alone... ” She gestured with her hands, mindful of the people around them.
    “Power is given, not taken, so it would be up to you. I can promise that you would benefit greatly from it.”
    “How?”
    “What?”
    “How do you know that? I don’t even know what I like. How could you?”
    His lips tipped up arrogantly. “I think I have a little more experience at it than you do. Plus, we would take it slowly. Promise. But it isn’t just about the power exchange. It is about trust. You have to trust your partner to allow them that control.”
    “And there you go. I don’t trust men.”
    That was easy enough. There would never be a man she could trust enough, and that was the sad truth.
    “Because of your father.”
    She shook her head. “Partly. He was a man who lived two lives. ‘Do as I say, not at I do’ was his motto.”
    “But there was someone else.”
    “Micah, I grew up with everything I wanted, every little toy, pretty shiny thing, it was mine. My father used those things to control me. He used them to control other people.”
    “Men.”
    “Men can be bought. Quite easily.”
    He nodded. “People can be shits. I’ve known enough of them in my life. But you need to wonder if you will allow them to rule your life, or if you will take life on despite them.”
    She knew he was talking of his own experiences. Micah wasn’t a man who would allow anything to push him the way he didn’t want to go. He made his own destiny, did his own thing.
    “I’m not sure I’m brave enough for that.”
    He smiled. “You are.”

    Dee gave him a skeptical look. It was then it struck him that it had been a long time since he’d had this type of conversation with a woman. He’d had plenty of lovers, even female friends, but he hadn’t sat and had a conversation outside of work. He wasn’t sure what that said about him, but it did say something about his relationships. Building the club up had taken all his time. The relationships he’d had were shallow. He knew that. He hadn’t had the time to pursue something more with anyone he had been dating. Or maybe, he hadn’t met a woman to entice him enough to look further. Until Dee.
    “You know about being powerless,” she said, her words measured as if she chose each one carefully.
    He nodded. “I guess you know I came from little. Truth is my mother abandoned me. Father was long gone.”
    He didn’t see pity in her eyes. Women usually got upset, wanted to soothe. Instead, he saw... admiration.
    “Then I was in juvie. When I got out I got a little money and started working. When Evan and I were a little younger, our mid- twenties, we had a club in Vegas. Did some good business there until we were forced out.”
    “Forced?”
    “Yeah, ever heard of Peter Rizzoli?”
    She cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah.”
    “Well, Mr. Rizzoli didn’t like the idea that we were taking business away from his strip club down the street. I don’t think we ever were. Our clientele wasn’t looking for a little bump and grind. But Rizzoli and that idiot son of his decided that we were in their way. They did everything they could, nothing stuck. Until our club burned to the ground.”
    The stricken look on her face worried him.
    She swallowed. “Did anyone get hurt?”
    He shook his head. “It happened on a Tuesday night, the one night of the week we were closed. We had insurance, but not enough to help us rebuild. So we decided to find somewhere else. It would’ve been useless to try and build again.”
    She nodded. “Then you found Hawaii.”
    “Yeah. You know, that bastard had the nerve to call me to tell me how sorry he was that we’d had a fire. Smug son of a bitch. And I could’ve gone off the deep end. I could’ve gone after him. But I didn’t. I knew I would lose, and I wanted more out of life than to end up dead at twenty- five.”
    “Why don’t we head to the club?” she asked.
    Her abrupt change of subject