Heat by Jamie K. Schmidt Page B

step outside her comfort zone, which was beginning to feel like a prison cell rather than the safe, cozy place she’d rested in during school and then again during her rounds when she interned. It had been all work and no play for so long now, she wondered if she even knew how to play anymore. She prided herself on staying aloof and above things.
    But David had knocked those feeling loose when he swung at her. She used to be a fighter—used to give Colleen a run for her money in the hellion department when she was in college. Somewhere along the line, though, she became the respectable one again. All through growing up, she was trying to please her mom. Then she got some wings in college, but after the arrest, she went right back to her old ways. Mallory didn’t remember making that choice. It justhappened.
    Max stroked her cheek, watching her with his solemn dark hazel eyes. “We don’t have to do this. You can go on to your art class or go upstairs and read your book. Or we can play around with this attraction between us and push some boundaries. Do you want to stop?”
    Mallory put her hands on his waist; the solid feel of him beneath her hands helped ground her. “No, I don’t.”
    “We’ll go slow.” Max smoothed his hand over her hair. She leaned into the caress. It should have been a sweet gesture, but she found it and him incredibly sexy. “Nothing about Couture is emotional pain. Some physical—if that’s what you’re into—but you’re not going to leave here with a broken heart.”
    “So how do we do this?” Mallory said.
    “If you’re serious about the BDSM …?”
    Mallory nodded, transfixed by the look of determination in his eyes.
    “I can give you a little taste of a master-and-submissive situation. It wouldn’t be against the rules.”
    “I don’t take orders well.”
    “How well do you give them?”
    Mallory blinked at him.
    He went to the closet and pulled out two thick mats and placed them in front of the wall. Gathering up some other supplies, he kicked the door closed and came over to her.
    “Give me a command.”
    “Take off your shirt,” she blurted out. She didn’t even have to think about it. She had been dreaming about his chest all night.
    He eased his shoulders out of the fight jacket he was wearing and tossed it in the corner.
    “We’re going to have to trust each other,” he said. “I want you to trust me that if you say no, I will stop. But I’m going to push you out of your comfort level. So you also have to trust me that I have your very best interests in mind. I have to trust you that you will be honest with me and yourself. If anything feels bad or makes you frightened, you need to tell me.”
    “I don’t do trust well.” Her mind flashed back on David shoving that pill in her mouth. She wrapped her arms around herself. She should go. She wasn’t any good at this. But then she looked up at Max and he was smiling at her, and she found some courage to stay. “Shouldn’t there be a safe word?”
    He smiled that gorgeous grin. “Later, if we get to that point. But for right now, ‘no’ is all you need to say.”
    “I can’t believe this is happening.” Mallory put her hands to her flushed cheeks.
    “Put your problems away for right now. While we’re together, it’s just you and me andthe feelings we’re experiencing. There’s time enough for everything else once we leave this room.”
    “Do you do this with a lot of women?”
    He nodded. “Does it matter?”
    “I need to know that you’re not punching a clock. Is this a scene?”
    “I’m on my own time right now. And I’ve been thinking about you all night—and not as a student in my class. I know you’re in a vulnerable place right now and I’m not going to take advantage of you. This isn’t going to be as structured as a scene. We’re just going to play around and get you comfortable.”
    Mallory’s heart beat a little faster, and the gloom cloud she had been immersed in lifted a