His Contract: Legally Bound, Book 1 by Rebecca Grace Allen

inside.”
    Lilly picked up her purse and fumbled for her keys. When she was through the entryway, she turned, one side of her mouth lifting in a meek smile as she gave him a tentative wave. Jack nodded briskly and turned away.
    He didn’t look back. He thundered down the stairs and slammed the door behind him.

Chapter Eleven
    Jack dropped his things in the kitchen and reopened his bottle of scotch, on the island where he’d left it last night. It was a slippery slope, but he was desperate for the distraction. He’d do anything to kill the ache of wanting Lilly.
    He’d been such an ass. It had only been after two drinks the night before and several brutal passes of his hand over his still-pulsing cock that he realized how much he’d fucked up. Being a Dominant meant keeping his head on straight, and he’d been far from that. He was out of his goddamned mind. He should never have kissed her, let alone booked it out of her building afterward. He’d wanted to contact her all day, to make sure she wasn’t regretting the desires he forced her to face, but he didn’t have her number, and asking Brady for it wasn’t an option. He’d found her firm’s phone number online, but calling her there wasn’t a good idea. Receptionists had a tendency to talk, and whatever happened between him and Lilly needed to stay private. The only way he could reach her was through Facebook. It was absurd to have to resort to that, but he didn’t have any other choice.
    Jack poured himself three fingers for company and was heading upstairs to his computer when someone’s fist pounded on the front door.
    “You’d better have a good excuse for cancelling tennis at the last minute!”
    Damn it, he’d hoped his rain-check text would get Patrick off his back. Jack banged the glass on the island, walked down the hallway and yanked the door open.
    “You look like shit,” Patrick said. “What the fuck’s the matter with you?”
    Jack gripped the edge of his doorframe. He could have made something up, but he wasn’t exactly quick on his feet at the moment. Maybe if he told the truth, Patrick would be able to talk him out of how badly he wanted to go back to Lilly’s apartment and finish what they’d started.
    “I kissed Lilly.”
    “Seriously?”
    Jack didn’t answer. He turned around and went back to the kitchen.
    Patrick dropped his tennis bag in the hallway and shut the door. “I thought you were staying away from her.”
    “Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.”
    Jack took a long sip. Relief fired down his throat, hot and burning. Patrick came into the kitchen, made himself comfortable on a stool and eyed the level of scotch in the bottle.
    “So, we’re drinking again?”
    “Fuck off.”
    “Drinking and cursing. Definitely Harvard’s finest. Well, Professor . You want to tell me how you went from not wanting to go near Lilly five days ago to having your tongue down her throat?”
    Jack lowered his glass. “She’s a submissive.”
    Patrick’s jaw dropped. Then he smacked one hand down on the island and laughed so hard he nearly fell off the stool.
    “What’s so goddamned funny?”
    “It’s not funny. It’s just that it’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time.” Patrick lifted the bottle and held it up in a toast. “To your luck.”
    “My luck?”
    “Yeah, your fucking luck. The first woman you’ve shown any interest in, and she’s into exactly the same shit you are. I’d say that’s pretty lucky.”
    It was an unreal coincidence, but that didn’t make any of this lucky.
    “You don’t understand. Her first Dominant fucked her up. She confided in me, and then I couldn’t stop myself from mauling her in her hallway.”
    “Nice.”
    “Shut up.”
    “It wasn’t nice?”
    Jack sank down onto the other barstool. “Nice doesn’t begin to cover it.”
    He’d tried to block out the feeling of satisfaction that permeated the whole thing. How calling her “little girl” had been a whim, an impulsive