Free Maid to Order by Rebecca Avery Page B

her pedestal.
    Pretty or not, this business of her leading him around by a very short choker chain was going to come to a screeching halt. He didn’t take orders… he gave them. Her brash words and attempts to flirt with him were also fixing to stop as well.
    Tomorrow would be his last day having to deal with her but he’d be damned if he left her with the impression that he wasn’t man enough to stand up to her attempts to seduce him into doing her bidding. His appetites didn’t control him and if she wasn’t careful she’d find out that they were just one more tool in an arsenal of weapons at his disposal for dealing with the likes of women like her. Manipulation was an adversary he’d beaten many times.
    He was in a real mood by the time he arrived at her shop the next morning. Dreams of her sweaty, smiling and completely naked while wrapped around him had been totally unexpected after years of absolutely nothing other than absolutely horrific visions of death and destruction.
    Instead of waking up with his heart nearly about to beat out of his chest or in a cold sweat, he’d woken up with the best erection he’d had in years. Like a horny teenager lacking control of his own balls, he found himself awake at three thirty in the morning. Taking a shower and attempting to chase the images of a very young but hot woman who called him Sir like it was a lover’s pet name out of his head.
    That was why she had better knock off this trying to lead him on thing today because he was hanging on by a very thin rope that was fraying around the edges. Upon entering the shop he was bitch slapped by the smell of confection sugar and cake. The whole place smelled like her. He’d barely walked in the door when she came bounding over to him with a worried look on her face.
    “I’m so far behind and I even came in early this morning. I forgot to take Grudge out this morning before I left the house. I need you to go to my apartment and let him out and walk him around a little bit,” she ordered holding her keys out to him. “It’s just a couple of blocks up the street…”
    “Ms. Carlton… if you can’t take care of the animal, perhaps you shouldn’t have him,” he barked at her.
    Unlike the day before her face lost its normal sweet smile which was replaced with a look that told him how hard she was trying to bite her tongue to keep it from telling him to go straight to hell. She was even hotter when she was mad and again his body reacted against his will.
    “Things aren’t always this crazy… and I certainly don’t always forget to… take care of him. This festival is eating up way more of my time than I expected. If you would please see about taking my dog out for me, I would greatly appreciate it,” she bit out.
    Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were shooting daggers at him. He’d never wanted to kiss a woman so bad in his whole life. Grabbing the keys from her hand instead, he headed back outside.
    “It’s the apartment on the left… blue building… down there,” she yelled while hanging out the door to the shop and pointing her finger in the direction of her apartment. “Can you also take the box on the front porch inside?”
    Finding the apartment, he unlocked the door, hefted the large box on her porch inside only to be verbally assaulted by an ankle-biting and overweight Pug. The animal wasn’t trying to hurt him, merely show him whose territory he’d entered as loudly as possible.
    “Stop that,” he growled back at the dog who then whimpered and backed up before launching into another tirade of barking. Great a yappy mutt to finish off his already horrible morning.
    Finding a leash for the dog near the back door, he managed to latch it to the dog’s collar as it chewed on his boot. Then the dog’s pea sized brain associated the leash with a walk and it nearly tore his arm off heading toward the front door. Good grief, didn’t she even attempt to teach the dog manners?
    It took him nearly