“On your cell?” Adam asked. “Where is it?”
“My phone is on the bar in the kitchen,” she said. The minute the words were out of her mouth, Adam took off.
She was alone with Jake.
“Now, who is this Master Storm?” The question came out on a low, ungodly sexy growl. “Is he your Dom? What the hell is he doing somewhere else when you’re in trouble?”
“He’s not my Dom. He’s someone I talk to. I needed to do a little research. We’ve been kind of feeling each other out to see if he wouldn’t mind training me.”
One of the reasons she liked Master Storm was her utter lack of attraction to the man. She wasn’t in danger of falling in love with him. If she was honest with herself, Master Storm was a bit of a puffed-up douche bag, but he did know D/s. She was looking for practical knowledge, not a man who made her heart pound in her chest—even when he wasn’t sneaking up on her.
“I don’t know this man. Where did you meet him? On the internet?”
“I’m not stupid. I met him at a munch. I found a flyer on a fetish lifestyle site, and it invited interested parties to come to a brunch at a local restaurant. First names only. I met Master Storm about two months ago. We’ve been talking on the phone about his philosophies.”
“Have you been talking about what you need?” He was in her space, his big body taking up all the room. She wasn’t even sure how he’d gotten so close. He was tall, at least six foot three, and he seemed to tower over her. His voice was still deep, but it had lost a bit of command.
It was hard to think when he was so close. She could practically feel the heat of his body. “Uhm, we haven’t really gotten around to that. He thinks we should talk about his rules first to see if I can follow them.”
“Drop him. He’s not a Dom. He’s a man who likes control but not responsibility. He’s testing you to see if you’re right for him, but he isn’t thinking about what’s right for you. That should be his first and only qualification. A Dom should find what he needs, too, but what every good Dom needs is to do right by his submissive. If he hasn’t even asked what you need, he’s wrong for you.” His eyes became hooded, and his gaze slid to the floor as though he didn’t really want to look her in the eye. “You should talk to Ian Taggart. He owns Sanctum. He makes it his business to match well-meaning subs with good Doms.”
She shook her head. The last thing she needed was to get more into Lara’s friend’s business. She’d done all right on her own so far. “Thanks, but I can handle it.”
Now his eyes came back up, narrowing. “It’s obvious to me you can’t.”
She was a little offended. He barely knew her, but he was making judgments already? “I didn’t ask your opinion, Mr. Dean. But I’m curious. It’s obvious you can’t stand me. I get that a lot. What exactly is it you don’t like?”
He crowded her just a bit, almost daring her to back away. Serena felt small and a little helpless against him. “I never said I didn’t like you. You’re a beautiful woman.”
“But you don’t seem to like me. You seem to like scaring me.” He wasn’t scaring her now. Fear wasn’t what she felt.
“I did that for your protection. You need to know how vulnerable you really are. You aren’t taking this seriously.”
He said it quietly, as though he actually cared. It brought down her resentment level. It did nothing to bring down her frustration, but still, as she spoke she found herself doing so in a polite, respectful manner. “I don’t understand. I did everything the cops told me to do. I hired a security firm to install an alarm system.”
“It’s not very good.” He’d stopped moving closer, but she felt penned in, as though he’d herded her exactly where he wanted her to go.
Serena refused to give another inch. “How am I supposed to know that? I don’t know anything about this stuff. I paid for it. I know Mojo isn’t a good guard dog, but he was so sweet, I couldn’t let them put him down. And I have a friend who comes over and walks the house and makes sure there’s no one here before I lock myself up for the night.”
“It’s not enough. Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.”
Humiliation washed over her. She knew what he was saying. “If you don’t believe me, you should leave. I’ll be fine on my own. I’m obviously just an attention-seeking whore.”
He grabbed her elbow. “Don’t call yourself that.”
“Why not? It’s what you were thinking. It’s what the cops think.”
He stared at her for the longest time. She stood there feeling ridiculous. Tears threatened. Why, oh why, couldn’t she be tough like Lara and Bridget? They would just spit in this man’s eyes and tell him to go to hell, but Serena stood there.
“You’re really scared, aren’t you? I require the truth.”
“Yes, some man threatened to hurt me. It scares me. But I think you scare me, too.”
His lips curved up. He wasn’t as gorgeous as Adam. There was a starkness to his features that kept him from being beautiful, but when he smiled, his face transformed. “You’re a smart girl. You keep on being scared. And when I said you were beautiful, I meant it. You’re truly lovely, Serena. The only problem is I know not to trust a beautiful woman. Now be a good girl and get ready for bed. I’m going to sleep in the living room.”
He stepped away, leaving her a little breathless—and a whole lot frustrated. She’d finally found a man who thought she was beautiful, and naturally he didn’t trust her.
Adam strode back into her bedroom like he’d done it a thousand times. He looked at Jake. “You taking first watch? One of us needs to fix the window.”
Jake nodded and without another word walked away toward the kitchen.
Adam rubbed his hands together. “Well, sweetheart, it’s just you and me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Serena asked, pulling her robe tighter.
“It means you’re not sleeping alone tonight.” He tossed his lean body into her comfy chair. It was an overstuffed piece of furniture covered in pink and green flowers. It had been her mother’s, and though it didn’t really go with Serena’s contemporary style, she hadn’t been able to get rid of it. She could still see her mom sitting there, watching over her.