Free Surrender by Brenda Jackson

commit to.
    She watched as he slipped under the covers, lay back and held out his arms for her. Taking a deep breath, she joined him under the covers and went willingly into his embrace.
    Ashton pulled Netherland to him, satisfied. For the time being, he had her just where he wanted her. In his arms, in his bed. Now if he could only get her to accept his place in her life.
    There would be more difficult days ahead with her, but he was prepared for them.

Chapter 7
    N etherland stood at the window in her office and pulled in one long, shuddering breath as memories of last night assailed her. Even now she couldn’t believe that she had actually slept in Ashton’s bed practically half-naked while he held her in his arms, with her back pressed against the solid, muscular wall of his chest, and his knees tucked behind hers.
    She remembered waking to find him sitting at the foot of the bed, Indian-style, with his eyes on her. She’d watched as his gaze had drifted over her features slowly, like a loving caress. Then with measured movements, he had covered the distance between them and, drawing her up close, he had taken her into his arms, kissing her fully awake.
    Her body had quickly responded to him as his mouth claimed her and branded her as his. She had wrapped her arms around him, and for brief moments she had claimed him as hers, as well. However, when the kiss had ended, reality for her had set in. When he’d left to go get them something for breakfast, she had dressed quickly and had made her escape. She wondered what he’d thought when he returned and found her gone.
    Netherland’s pondering of Ashton’s reaction to her disappearance came to an end when she heard the soft knock on her door. “Come in.”
    Her office door opened slowly. “You wanted to see me, Ms. Brooms?”
    Netherland smiled. “Yes, come in, Jada, and have a seat.” She watched Jada Roberts’s face carefully. Rainey was right. She looked a lot younger than twenty-three. She could pass for an eighteen-year-old easily. And not for the first time Netherland thought that Jada was indeed a beautiful young woman, although it seemed she went to great lengths to hide that fact. However, even without trying, her natural beauty shone through. Jada didn’t need any type of makeup to enhance her features.
    From the information Netherland had gotten from Syneda, she knew that Jada’s mother had died when Jada was fourteen, and she had been raised by her alcoholic father. She had gotten mixed up with Anthony Roberts and had eventually married him. It wasn’t until after she had married him that she had found out what a control freak he was. He’d taken joyin beating his wife each and every time he thought she’d been messing around on him, threatening the life of her father if she ever left him. After her father had died of a liver disease Jada decided to get out of the two-year abusive marriage.
    After Jada had taken the chair in front of her desk, Netherland walked over from the window and took the chair behind her desk, as well. “We haven’t had a chance to really talk since you started working here, and I was wondering how things are working out for you, Jada?”
    “Everything’s fine, Ms. Brooms. Everyone here has been really nice to me.”
    Netherland nodded. “I’m happy to hear that, and I’d be happier when you feel comfortable enough to call me by my first name. ‘Ms. Brooms’ makes me feel so old, and I’m only about five years older than you.”
    Jada smiled. “I’ll try, but it isn’t easy. I think of you as my boss so I automatically feel I should call you by your last name.”
    “Well, we’re not all that formal here. Calling me Netherland or Nettie is fine.”
    “Which do you prefer?”
    Netherland thought about that question. Everyone, including her parents and brothers, called her Nettie. Ashton, however, called her Netherland. And as far as she was concerned, no one could say her name the way he did. When he said it