Free A Little Harmless Submission 6 by Melissa Schroeder

his house over in Laie. Even on a Monday night, it would take a good forty minutes. He didn’t think he would last that long. Hell, he was lucky he was going to be able to make it over to Kahala.
    It took less than fifteen minutes to drive to her rental. He turned off the car and tried to calm the libido he seemed to not be able to control around her. After his issues in Seattle, he had discovered BDSM. Control had become very important to him, in and out of the bedroom. Now, though, all those lessons seemed to fail him. He felt…wired. It was as if he’d had forty ounces of coffee pumped into his blood.
    “Rome?”
    He looked at her and realized he’d been sitting there for a few moments without saying anything. She’d left her porch light on, and the glow from it allowed him to see the scandalous dress she was wearing. The moment he saw her wearing it, he had been itching to take if off. And for the first time in years, he had felt the bone deep need to possess. Not just dominate. This went beyond that. He had never wanted to possess someone so forcefully. It scared the living hell out of him, but he seemed helpless to ignore the thrum of lust churning his gut.
    She sighed, the sound kind of sad and lonely. “It’s okay. Why don’t we meet up in the morning?”
    He frowned. His brain wasn’t really working well, so he couldn’t follow her line of thought. Hell, he couldn’t remember his name at the moment. “What?”
    She frowned, and a look of irritation moved over her face. Oh, way to blow her away with your conversation skills, Carino. No man in his right mind would blame him, though. He had no brain cells left. They’d been evaporated since seeing her in the club. What was she expecting, wearing a dress like that?
    “I said it’s okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”
    She was heading to her front door before he could react. He got out of his car and followed her. She looked around at him with wide eyes. She had her door opened, and he gently eased her into her house then shut the door and locked it.
    “You said yes.”
    She studied him for a second again. He hated that. He knew she was weighing and measuring everything. Considering who her father was, there was a good chance she’d been raised to do just that. Rome did it himself. Still, it didn’t seem right. Maria seemed to analyze everything he might be feeling…what he said. That pissed him off.
    “I did, but I thought you changed your mind.”
    He cocked his head to the side. “Why would I?”
    She shrugged. There was something different in her manner. Then it struck him. For the first time since meeting her, she looked vulnerable. She wasn’t so sure of herself in this situation. In work, she was confident. Almost overly so, if you asked him. It was one of the reasons she had come up with the plan. She never doubted herself. But in this she did. It eased his temper a bit and gave him a warm feeling in his chest.
    “You think everything was an act?” She shrugged again and wouldn’t meet his gaze. “Look at me.”
    She didn’t do it fast enough.
    “Now.” His voice lashed out, but he couldn’t help it. This woman had twisted him up, and worse, she had no idea what she had done to him. She actually thought he was acting. When her blue gaze finally met his, he knew she hadn’t been playing him.
    “First, when I tell you to do something, you do it.”
    From the way her mouth turned down, she didn’t like that order one bit.
    “And seriously, do you think I could act good enough that I could pretend to be so aroused, I’m walking around with an erection constantly?”
    She dropped her gaze from his, and he felt it as if it had been a lick. His cock pulsed and then twitched. He counted backwards from ten—three times.
    “Maria.”
    She looked at him.
    “You said yes.”
    She nodded.
    “Do you understand what that means, what it entails?”
    “I read up on BDSM for the case, Rome.” It was the first time she’d said his name.