“What else?”

She blinked and tried to look innocent. “What else what?”

“What else aren’t you telling me?” he asked, and when she opened her mouth to protest, he cut her off. “Think real good and hard before you say ‘nothing.’”

She almost defied him, but then thought better of it. He’d already punished her once tonight. “I’ve been getting harassing phone calls for the last few months. The last one came tonight.”

“Is that why you …? Fuck.” He shot to his feet and paced.

“What are you doing?” she asked after several minutes.

“Calming down before I do something I’ll regret.” He stopped in front of her and crossed his arms. “I’ll find the fucking bastard and kill him.”

“Sit down,” she said. “And think about it. Then you’ll see it’s probably nothing.”

He didn’t sit down. “That’s why you were late. You were frightened. Why didn’t you tell me this then?”

“I didn’t want to miss the demo. I honestly didn’t know how late it was until I got here and you’d sent everyone away.”

“Forget the demo.” He sat down beside her. “What about your safety?”

“That’s why I was going to come to you Monday. But I wanted tonight. I wanted to do the scene. Maybe tonight was just another demo for you, but it wasn’t for me. You used to tell me you demanded complete honesty. Well, I’m giving it to you. I’d have done damn near anything to feel your hands on me again.”

“And did you enjoy my hands on you just now? Was it worth it?”

It wasn’t what she would have picked, but if she had to choose between nothing from him or a spanking, she’d pick the spanking.

“I’ll take what I can get, Sir.”

“Dena.”

“Let me make it up to you, Sir.” She slid carefully from the couch because her backside hurt like the devil, pushed his knees apart, and knelt between them. She waited for him to say or do something. Anything to signal his approval. Finally, he gave a quick nod of his head. His gaze never left her as she unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock.

He sighed when she kissed the tip of it and moaned when she engulfed his length in her mouth.

“So good, Dena. You feel so good.”

Then take me back, she wanted to say, but didn’t. She’d told him when he’d taken his collar back that she’d return when he begged, and she’d meant it.

But she spoke it with her mouth, her tongue, her touch.

For years Jeff had been the center of her sexual universe, and she’d devoted herself to learning his body. At times she’d felt she knew it better than her own. Serving him had been the source of her greatest pleasure, and though she’d served many Doms in the three years since they’d split, none had come close in comparison.

“Look at me,” he whispered in command.

From her place on the floor, she looked up and met his gaze. As she took him, he reached out and stroked her cheek. His touch was soft and gentle. Nothing like the harshness he’d shown minutes before.

She moved up and down on his cock, taking him deep, swirling her tongue around his underside. The entire time he kept his eyes locked on hers, with his fingers lightly brushing her cheek.

He could hold off his climax for damn near forever, but it seemed he wasn’t in the mood to delay anything tonight. Though it’d been years since she’d had him in her mouth, she recognized his imminent release by the way he twitched. Because she knew how much he liked it, she relaxed and took his final thrust deep in her throat.

“Fuck,” he said, slipping his hand behind her head and holding her in place as he came.

Her eyes filled with tears at the effort it took to swallow everything. It’d been a long time since she’d deep throated, and she hadn’t realized how out of practice she was.

After calming her breathing, she kissed the tip of his cock, tucked him back inside his pants, zipped them up, and waited.

“Dena?”

She was no longer his Angel. She squeezed her eyes closed for the briefest of seconds before answering. “Yes?”

He stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to go get you some juice, and after you rest, we’re going to talk about this note and the phone calls. Wait here for me.”

She nodded and watched him leave the room. Suddenly, the day’s events caught up with her and she curled up on the couch. She didn’t even try to keep her heavy eyelids from shutting.

“Wake up, Dena,” Jeff said softly sometime later. “I need you to drink some before you rest.”

“Don’t want any.”

“Don’t care.”

He knelt beside her head and held up a glass with a straw. She lifted herself enough to take a few sips so he’d be satisfied but discovered she was thirstier than she’d thought. He chuckled when she drained the glass.

Feeling sated, she closed her eyes and snuggled into the warm blanket he placed over her.

A callused finger brushed her forehead. “Rest well. I’ll keep you safe.”

Chapter Four

Seven years ago

Dena drummed her fingers on the table. She was at Master Covington’s house, waiting for the monthly group meeting to start. Normally, she looked forward to group meetings. But normally, they weren’t round-table discussions led by Jeff Parks.

It’d been a month since their disastrous first—and last—date. In that month, Jeff had ignored her when possible. If circumstance required him to speak to her, he was short though always polite.

It shouldn’t bother her. She knew she should just tell him to fuck off and go on about her life. Yet for some reason she couldn’t. She wanted him. So much so¸ she’d been unable to work up the excitement to play with anyone else. Several Dominants had approached her, but so far she’d turned them all down.

The room around her quieted as the man in question entered. He had on worn jeans and a black T-shirt and looked deliciously scruffy, almost as if he’d forgotten to shave. He glanced around the room and didn’t acknowledge her existence when his gaze passed her.

Forget him. He’s not interested.

Except he had been, and she couldn’t believe that desire had changed simply because he found out she was a senator’s daughter. She vowed to herself to find out what his real problem was.