Free Just A Woman (Marina: Part Two: Naughty Nookie Series) by Serena Akeroyd Page A

order does a thought occur to me.
    Punishment.
    I bite my lip at
the thought and wonder if Nate remembers what happened last night. 
Ordinarily, the man has the memory of an elephant.  But on the pain meds,
he’s different.  Woozy. 
    At the hospital,
he wouldn’t speak unless I was out of the room, so I made it a custom to leave
whenever a doctor came in to talk to him.  That didn’t stop me listening
in at the keyhole though.  Knowing who I was and why, the nurses let me
get away with it even though it was against the rules.  I must be
infectious.  Wherever I go, people tend to bend the rules for me.  Is
it any wonder I’m so naughty?
    The word sends a
thrill shooting down my spine.  Naughty .  Is that what I
am?  Biting my lip, I turn my head to the side but know without looking
Nate’s not in bed with me.  Curling upright, I jump when I see him sat on
a chair in the corner of the room. 
    The idea of him
watching me as I slept and the cool look he has in his eye has me tingling with
nerves.  Had it not been Nate, I’d have screamed blue murder.  But
then, who the hell else would be in a bedroom with me if it weren’t Nate?
    “Morning,” I
murmur, hoping to break the ice.
    His eyes narrow to
thin, chilly slivers.  He settles back into his seat, a wide armchair
tucked catty-corner against the wall.  This room has obviously been
redecorated.  There’s not a whiff of pine and if I’m honest, nosing the
interior decoration is less stomach churning than Nate’s silent stare.
    The bed is a large
four-poster, complete with canopy and curtains.  Not something I’d imagine
of Nate, but neither would I have considered him a Dom!  Shows how much I
know of the man!
    Dismissing the
painful thought, I return to my study of Nate’s private quarters.  The
carved tiger maple structure consists of four cones that reach the width of a
finger at the top, at which point they branch off to create a rectangular
frame.  A heavy green and blue plaid acts as a canopy and falls into neat
drapes.  The bedcovers match but the armchair is a dark beige as are the
rugs on the floor.  A matching tiger maple dresser and full-length mirror
on a pivot make up the rest of the room. 
    It’s quite bare
and plain, but elegant all the same.  I’d expected no less of Nate. 
He’s very neat, very tidy.  I wonder if his office is as pristine and then
chide myself for even doubting it.
    “What are we doing
today?” I ask, having made my visual explorations of the room, I find I’d like
to move on.  Change the subject and somehow make Nate forget my supposed
four infractions of the rules I broke last night.
    God of pain
medication, please be on my side!
    “Mostly, we’re
going to be reintroducing you to the ranch.”
    “Okay.”
    My one word answer
has him cocking a brow my way.  “What happened last night?”
    I can’t tell from
his answer if the drugs have given him temporary amnesia or if he’s testing
me.  Choosing an innocent reply, I tell him, “We made up.”
    His lips twitch
but his eyes remain cool.  I hate this coldness; hate the frost that’s
developed between us.  I know I’m a bitch; I know it and for most of my
life, have embraced it.  I’m not an easy woman to like or love; in fact,
I’m a very hard woman to know.  Despite that, I have two friends who are
more like sisters to me and they feel the same way about me.  All of my
girls at Papillon, each of them, loved me and respected me for helping them and
protecting them as well as simply being there for them, when the rest of the
world thought they were scum. 
    Nate is persistent
in his desire to think ill of my business, but I saw it as a way to protect
women who had been abused and who had no other resources available to
them.  I can’t be ashamed of that.  I’m not a bad person, just a
product of a lonely environment.  Maybe this, maybe Nate’s resolve will
change all that.  He said he had feelings for me.  ‘ Feelings