The Shy Dominant by Jan Irving Page B

and I…”
    She raised an eyebrow.
    “You didn’t sleep with them?” he burst out.
    She turned on her heel but got no farther since he lifted her up by her waist and plunked her on the counter, stepping between her legs.
    Her hands went up automatically to hold him off.
    He leaned his forehead against hers. If he’d been a big cat, the sound he made would have been purring.
    “Tell me you didn’t do anything with them.”
    “I thought you said you knew it was just an art thing!”
    “Up here.” He tapped his skull. “But…” He swallowed and she saw his eyes were bloodshot. She saw the fine white squint lines fanning out from them and his pallor under his tan. “They were a lot younger than I am.”
    “Oh, Fred.”
    “But not as well endowed.”
    She rolled her eyes, trying not to let him make her laugh. She could still feel tension humming from him like electricity through a wire.
    “But they also weren’t using a cane.”
    She frowned. “An old injury from work?”
    His eyes widened. “Yeah. It acts up sometimes like a bitch.”
    “Okay, I’m supposed to find the fact you’re a seasoned man”—she put emphasis on the word ‘man’—“not sexy?”
    He was blushing. “When you put it that way…”
    “Anton and Andrew are neighbours of mine, fellow art students. I’ve painted, photographed and practically photocopied their asses a hundred times. I had a school project and they helped me out.”
    “Am I allowed to be uncomfortable about them helping you out without wearing clothes?”
    “No.”
    “I don’t like it.”
    “I don’t remember asking.”
    He huffed out an exasperated noise. “Do you have to be so inflexible, woman?”
    “ I’m inflexible?”
    “I’m jealous.”
    “I get that.”
    He rubbed his forehead against hers. “Do you like them more than me? Do you like their bodies, did they get you hot—?”
    “What? No!”
    “Did they kiss you, touch you?”
    “You’re really crazed.”
    “Just answer the question. Be specific.”
    She let out a long drawn out sigh. He took her hand, meshing their fingers. Why was she allowing that when she was still so hurt and angry?
    “Specifically no.”
    Some of the tension eased out of his shoulders. “I want to be there the next time you hold a photo shoot in the nude.”
    “Hey, I wasn’t. Nude, that is.”
    He blinked. “I guess not.”
    “Are you done? Because I need to open soon.”
    “You look like hell.”
    “I feel like it.”
    He ran a hand through his hair. “I just don’t know what a woman like you would see in me.”
    “That’s our problem, isn’t it?”
    “Can I hold you?”
    “What good will that do?” She was suddenly so tired.
    “I don’t know.” He carefully pulled her into his arms. “You could have any man you wanted.”
    She gripped his T-shirt. “After all these months of coming in here, of talking to me, of sharing and becoming friends, you think I want anyone else?”
    “I think right now you want anyone else.”
    “Okay, yeah.” Now he had her laughing again.
    “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that you’re so beautiful and experienced and… I’m just a guy.” He dropped his head.
    “My guy.”
    “Yeah?” His face lit up like a sunbeam.
    “What do we do now?”
    “Well, I’ve been thinking about it. Would you come to the wedding?”
    Dharma stiffened. “Your ex-wife’s wedding?”
    Fred rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m hating it without you. And I need to show up because I’m not going to force my girls to go…”
    At that, Dharma grinned. “They have other plans, huh?”
    “They hate the idea. All week they’ve been making my life hell and I thought…why should they go? Is there a scoreboard out there saying they aren’t good daughters, good people if they skip their estranged mother’s wedding?”
    Dharma sagged against the counter. “No scoreboard. So you’re just going to let them be kids and not try to force them into a mould? And you ask why