Free House Call (Hideaway) by Elyse Scott Page A

he said, gently.
     There
was no good answer to that.
    ‘May
I come in?’ he said.
    Before
she could think of a polite way to refuse, he added, ‘Please?’ and she was
undone.
    She
stood aside, and he picked up the shopping bag at his feet and stepped into the
living room. She shut the door.
    ‘I
don’t make a habit of showing up at my clients’ homes,’ he said, setting his
backpack down. ‘In fact, I’ve never done it before.’
    Whatever
he was about to say, she didn’t want to hear it. It would only pull her in
deeper, when she had to get out . She opened her mouth to speak, but he
held up a hand to silence her. She grabbed his wrist and pushed his hand back
down. If she hadn’t been so angry, she probably would have laughed at the shock
on his face. ‘Don’t you try to silence me!’
    His
eyes flashed, but he didn’t explode, as she was afraid he might. The shock of
her outburst left him looking more confused than angry.
    ‘I’m
not trying to silence you, Sam. Quite the opposite.’
    ‘I’m
really sorry, Sir, but like I said, I’ve got a deadline, and I’m not feeling
well –’
    ‘You
don’t have to call me ‘Sir’. We’re not at The Hideaway.’
    ‘Okay…
Dan.’ It felt incredibly strange to call him that, like he was just a regular,
normal guy, and not someone who’d taken her apart physically and emotionally,
and made her feel safer than she could ever remember feeling as an adult.
    He
gave a crooked smile. ‘Formalities aside, I do still expect you to be honest
with me.’
    ‘Yes,
Sir.’ The words spilled out automatically.
    He
leaned back and looked down at her curiously, a glint of amusement in his eyes.
‘You really are more comfortable calling me ‘Sir’, aren’t you?’
    She
smiled. ‘I guess I am.’ She looked anywhere but into his eyes. ‘I know plenty
of guys, but there’s only one ‘Sir’ in my life.’ Alarm bells rang as the thin
ice she was on suddenly started to crack.
    Meanwhile,
his whole face lit up with his grin. ‘I’m glad.’ He put a strong hand on each
of her shoulders, and steered her so that her back thumped into the wall next to
the open doorway, just hard enough to knock the wind out of her slightly. ‘Do
you need me to be your Dom tonight? Is that what you’d prefer?’ He put a couple
of fingers under her chin, forcing her to make eye contact. ‘Because you know
what that means. Mind and body, you’ll do as I say, or safeword.’
    Yes. She swallowed. ‘I think so, Sir.’ She thought so. As though she hadn’t
been longing for this to happen again, even as she’d resolved never to go to
back to The Hideaway, to put a stop to her feelings for him right the hell now.
    ‘You think so? You don’t sound very sure.’
    ‘I’m
sure. I just wasn’t… I wasn’t prepared…for this.’
    He
nodded. ‘I know. I arrived out of the blue and put you on the spot, and that wasn’t
entirely fair, was it?’ His right hand dropped down and pressed firmly over her
heart, where he could no doubt feel it trying to escape her chest. His eyes
came back up to meet hers. ‘Is that fright, or excitement?’ When she hesitated,
he went on, ‘I thought you and I had made some real headway in the trust area
last time.’
    She
nodded. ‘Like you said, you’ve caught me a little off guard today.’
    ‘I
realize that, but you’re still not answering the question, and you’re
persistently avoiding eye contact.’ He tipped her chin up. ‘What are you not
telling me?’
    ‘Nothing
I want to share, Sir.’
    His
gaze bored into her. A small dent appeared above his eyebrow. Shit.
    His
right hand pushed up under her bangs and pressed gently against her forehead.
His left hand remained clamped on her right shoulder, keeping her from pulling
away.
    Her
body’s reaction was instant, powerful, embarrassing, and she wasn’t giving in
to it.
    ‘You
feel warm.’
    ‘Yeah…
well.’ Nice comeback, Sam. ‘I’m annoyed.’
    ‘Because
I’m here?’ He smiled