MakeMeShiver by Aline Hunter Page B

bad luck. Aly’s hurting and she came to me to see if I would reconsider. Your being there was nothing more than shitty fucking timing.” He waited, allowing her to process the information. “Some Doms like to have more than one submissive. I’m not one of them. I don’t have any interest in fucking other women or adding more to the mix. My kink doesn’t extend to ménage situations, swapping up or multiples play. I don’t want another woman, and as I sure as shit don’t want another man touching you.”
    “What was last night to you?” Her tear-swollen eyes were pensive, her hair tangled around her shoulders. He heard the misery in her voice, saw how much it hurt her to ask the question. “Was I just some woman you brought home for the night?”
    Moving closer, he lifted his hand and cupped her chin. “You will never be ‘just some woman’, Lacey. Last night was something I’ve never experienced before. Something special.”
    Tears were brimming in her eyes, the watery sheen so heavy that her misery would spill onto her cheeks and cascade down her face in salty trails.
    “I don’t know if I can believe that.”
    “Then let me prove it to you. I know this has happened fast between us—too fast in a lot of ways. Give me a chance to show you that you’re the only woman I need.” Rising over the couch, he leaned close, lips so near to hers he could feel the caress of her breath. “The only woman I want.”
    He waited, wanting her to make the decision, knowing that the choice to move forward was no longer his to make. It was agony, watching her eyes as she internalized his words, when all he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe.
    “We’re so different, Michael,” she said after a lengthy pause. “Aside from great sex, we don’t even know if we’re compatible.”
    It was difficult not to demand that she remember everything they’d shared the evening before, to force her to face the fact that something was happening between them, when he realized she might not give them a second chance. Sure, there was sex, but there was also something a hell of a lot more substantial than a satisfying fuck. He’d once thought he was too proud to beg, but he was coming pretty damn close.
    The thought of losing her before he ever had her…
    “Don’t walk away from something you might regret letting go of later. You might not want to admit it but we have a lot more in common than you think. I’m not just talking about kink. There is more than sex between us and you know it.”
    “I need some time to think.” She shook her head, sighing. “First Scott and now you.”
    That brought him up short. “What about Scott and me?”
    Her short laugh was a bitter. “I caught Scott in the copy room with his secretary. That was why I got stuck in the storm. He didn’t expect me to show up at his office so he thought he would get away with it.”
    Calmness suddenly became anger. The pansy-ass attorney bastard had cheated on Lacey. The piece of shit had fucked around on her.
    “I’m going to beat the hell out of him.”
    She blinked several times, as if she’d expected him to respond differently. “That’s not necessary. He and Karen can have each other.”
    “You’re damn right they can.” He moved forward until his chest was pressed against her knees. “I’m nothing like Scott. He’s a prick who has no idea what he let go.”
    They pulled apart at an unexpected pounding on the door, accompanied by a deep and commanding baritone. “This is the Pleasant View City Police.”
    Lacey eyes went wide in panic. “Oh no. Oh shit .”
    “Just great. Wonderful. Why don’t we invite everyone over on my one day off?” Candice rushed into the living room, adjusting her robe, and she wasn’t happy. “Thanks a lot, asshole,” she snapped at Michael, gesturing toward the entrance to her apartment. “You wanted the cops? Call me the genie of your magic lamp. Why don’t you greet