Free Caught Up in You by Roni Loren Page B

have to do this right now. At least hear me out first.”
    Kelsey stared at him for a stretch of seconds, and he thought she was going to tell
     him to take his money and fuck off, but then she blew out a breath. “Fine.” She peered
     past Wyatt. “Colby, I’m sorry, hon. I didn’t mean to screw up your schedule. Can I
     take a rain check? I need to take care of something.”
    Colby shrugged. “Sure thing. Gives me a good reason to cut out early tonight. I had
     a long week at the day job anyway. Let me know when you want to reschedule.”
    Kelsey walked around Wyatt and pushed up on her toes to kiss Colby’s cheek. “You’re
     a sweetheart.”
    His lip curled. “You wouldn’t have said that if you’d gone through my training session.”
    Kelsey smiled and patted his arm before peeking back over her shoulder at Wyatt. “Come
     with me. I have to change, then you can walk me to my cabin and we’ll talk.”
    For the first time ever, Wyatt saw the glimmer of dominance in her own eyes, the sass.
     He was on her turf now and he sensed the confidence of that running through her. The
     sight should’ve warned him off. He didn’t have a submissive molecule in his DNA. But
     somehow it only made him want her more.
    “Yes ma’am,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifting as he sidled up next to her,
     slipping a hand on the small of her back. “You’re in charge.”
    For
now.

SIX
    Kelsey curled her legs under her in the arm chair, listen ing to Wyatt make his offer. She was still having trouble wrapping her mind around
     the fact that Wyatt Austin was here at The Ranch and in her cabin, chatting with her
     like they had some actual friendship. It was like she’d stumbled through some portal
     where fantasy and reality collided and morphed. But what Wyatt was suggesting was
     even more mind-scrambling than finding out that he used to be a dom.
    “What do you think?” he asked after laying out his crazy proposal with stoic precision.
    She strung together his last few sentences in her head, rewinding and digesting them
     again to make sure she was hearing him right
. Yep. Still crazy
. “So, wait a second, you want to pay me all that money to be your
date
?”
    Small frown lines appeared around his mouth, like parentheses framing his dissatisfaction
     with that explanation. “Sort of. You would be posing as my girlfriend and accompanying
     me to events at the retreat.”
    Unbelievable. She would’ve never thought the man delusional. She reached up to pull
     the too-tight band from her hair, releasing her ponytail and some of the pressure
     building in her head. “Wyatt, have you met me? I’m a waitress who grew up in a neighborhood
     that cops were afraid to go to at night. No one’s going to believe I’m some rich chick
     from out of state.”
    He leaned forward on the couch, bracing his forearms on his thighs, his features half
     in shadows in the lamplight. “Yes, I have met you. And what I see is a beautiful woman
     who can think on her feet and who has the ability to charm anyone in a room. I can
     get you up to speed on the finer details, the etiquette. And maybe you can help me,
     too, because God knows making small talk and schmoozing clients are on top of the
     list of things I suck at.”
    She arched a brow. “You can’t be that bad.”
    “No. Trust me. The universe gave all of that skill set to my brother.” His focus drifted
     to the hand she was using to finger comb her hair, his gaze tracking her movements
     with open appreciation. “I like your hair down. I never get to see it that way.”
    “Thank you.” She clasped her hands in her lap, the memory of how he’d looked at her
     in the training room coming back to her. Even before she’d gotten over the surprise
     of seeing him standing there, her body had gone hot and needy at his blatant perusal
     of her form. Never had she had that kind of reaction to such a clearly dominant assessment.
     The rush of it had nearly knocked her on