A Little Harmless Lie 4 (9 page)

“You can say it all you want. It doesn’t mean that you don’t want it. Don’t need it like every sub.”

She looked away from him again, out to the crystal blue of the ocean, wondering just how she could explain it to him. How did she get him to understand things about her without revealing too much?

“Dee.”

She sighed again.

“Tell me.”

It wasn’t a question or a plea, it was an order.

“I grew up with a very rich and very domineering father. Ruthless. He picked my friends, my boyfriends, he controlled just about everything from the clothes I wore to well, just everything. He isn’t a man who takes the word no that kindly. And I didn’t like that feeling. I didn’t want to be told what to do, even at seventeen.”

“Especially at seventeen.”

She smiled at him, then felt it fade. “My father would stop at nothing to control what went on in my life. People are easily influenced.”

He studied her for a second, two. “You know it’d be different with us. You do have some control over what happens... a little.”

She shook her head. “Giving you that power is something I’m not sure I can do. Jeez, I haven’t even done it the normal way, let alone... ” She gestured with her hands, mindful of the people around them.

“Power is given, not taken, so it would be up to you. I can promise that you would benefit greatly from it.”

“How?”

“What?”

“How do you know that? I don’t even know what I like. How could you?”

His lips tipped up arrogantly. “I think I have a little more experience at it than you do. Plus, we would take it slowly. Promise. But it isn’t just about the power exchange. It is about trust. You have to trust your partner to allow them that control.”

“And there you go. I don’t trust men.”

That was easy enough. There would never be a man she could trust enough, and that was the sad truth.

“Because of your father.”

She shook her head. “Partly. He was a man who lived two lives. ‘Do as I say, not at I do’ was his motto.”

“But there was someone else.”

“Micah, I grew up with everything I wanted, every little toy, pretty shiny thing, it was mine. My father used those things to control me. He used them to control other people.”

“Men.”

“Men can be bought. Quite easily.”

He nodded. “People can be shits. I’ve known enough of them in my life. But you need to wonder if you will allow them to rule your life, or if you will take life on despite them.”

She knew he was talking of his own experiences. Micah wasn’t a man who would allow anything to push him the way he didn’t want to go. He made his own destiny, did his own thing.

“I’m not sure I’m brave enough for that.”

He smiled. “You are.”

Dee gave him a skeptical look. It was then it struck him that it had been a long time since he’d had this type of conversation with a woman. He’d had plenty of lovers, even female friends, but he hadn’t sat and had a conversation outside of work. He wasn’t sure what that said about him, but it did say something about his relationships. Building the club up had taken all his time. The relationships he’d had were shallow. He knew that. He hadn’t had the time to pursue something more with anyone he had been dating. Or maybe, he hadn’t met a woman to entice him enough to look further. Until Dee.

“You know about being powerless,” she said, her words measured as if she chose each one carefully.

He nodded. “I guess you know I came from little. Truth is my mother abandoned me. Father was long gone.”

He didn’t see pity in her eyes. Women usually got upset, wanted to soothe. Instead, he saw... admiration.

“Then I was in juvie. When I got out I got a little money and started working. When Evan and I were a little younger, our mid- twenties, we had a club in Vegas. Did some good business there until we were forced out.”

“Forced?”

“Yeah, ever heard of Peter Rizzoli?”

She cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah.”

“Well, Mr. Rizzoli didn’t like the idea that we were taking business away from his strip club down the street. I don’t think we ever were. Our clientele wasn’t looking for a little bump and grind. But Rizzoli and that idiot son of his decided that we were in their way. They did everything they could, nothing stuck. Until our club burned to the ground.”

The stricken look on her face worried him.

She swallowed. “Did anyone get hurt?”

He shook his head. “It happened on a Tuesday night, the one night of the week we were closed. We had insurance, but not enough to help us rebuild. So we decided to find somewhere else. It would’ve been useless to try and build again.”

She nodded. “Then you found Hawaii.”

“Yeah. You know, that bastard had the nerve to call me to tell me how sorry he was that we’d had a fire. Smug son of a bitch. And I could’ve gone off the deep end. I could’ve gone after him. But I didn’t. I knew I would lose, and I wanted more out of life than to end up dead at twenty- five.”

“Why don’t we head to the club?” she asked.

Her abrupt change of subject caught him off- guard, and he studied her for a minute. He didn’t know what was going on in that beautiful head of hers, but something was bothering her. He hesitated, not wanting to leave the solitude they’d created at the ocean- side café. But he realized it was getting late and he had to input data from the night before.

“Sure.”

They had walked from the club earlier since she was on the roster to work that night. They paid their bill and then started walking down Paoa Avenue. She was trying to pull away from him. He could feel it, but he wouldn’t allow it. After her explanation, he understood her issues with trust. He would just have to work to overcome those worries, those fears.

He slipped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her against him. It wasn’t easy to walk down the street that way, but he refused to let her go. For the first time in his life, he wanted everyone to know she was his. Maybe it was the fact they hadn’t had sex that made him feel he needed to mark his territory. She wasn’t truly his. And the tenuous thread he felt he’d tied the other night seemed ready to break.

“Was there something I said?”

She shook her head but said nothing more.

He didn’t like it. She hadn’t looked him in the eye since he’d told his story. Dee didn’t strike him as insensitive. But why would she behave this way? They walked past the Hale Koa and he spied an alleyway. With ease, he stepped off the main street and pulled her along with him.

“What are you doing?”

He said nothing but turned her toward him and backed her up against the building. Without any words, he slammed his mouth down on hers. For a moment or two, she resisted. He pulled back slightly. “Don’t. Don’t keep yourself from me.”

His voice shook when he said it, his emotions too raw to control. She looked up at him, those blue mermaid eyes watching him. Then she shuddered, closed her eyes and leaned into him. He wanted to shout with triumph, but instead, he slanted his mouth over hers and swiftly slipped inside past her lips and teeth. Her tongue danced alongside his as she slid her hands up his chest and then over his shoulders. He leaned in closer, skimming his hands down her back to her ass. He pulled her tight against his groin. The moment he felt the contact, he groaned and deepened the kiss. Micah knew he would never get enough of this woman. She was innocent and sweet with a dash of temptress. It was enough to make a man go insane. The blood in his veins roared, heated. Arousal, need and torment twined together and clutched at his gut. He needed her, now. It was at that moment he was thinking of stripping off her pants and taking her. In an alley, in the middle of the day, in Waikiki.

He pulled back, his body protesting. They were both breathing heavily.

He raised his hand to scrub it over his face and realized it was shaking.

“Dee, I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t looking at him, her head bent down.

“Dee?”

She did look up at him then. The desire still holding him by the short hairs simmered in her eyes. Her lips were swollen, her face as red as a passion flower.

“I’m fine.”

“Dee.”

She held up a hand. “No. I’m fine. I just... ” She shook her head.

“What?”

“You make me want to forget all the rules.”

The words were a punch to the gut. Damn, if the woman was going to drive him crazy. Micah considered himself a man who could manage any kind of seduction. But handling a straight- forward virgin like Dee was a little too much to ask of him. Especially when he had been wanting her for months. She didn’t even try to play games. Hearing what he did to her didn’t help cool his libido. If anything, it made him want her to call in sick for the evening so he could take her back to his place.

He stepped forward and she shook her head. “No. I need a clear head to work tonight.”

He wanted to push. His body was pleading for him to push her, take her, and she would go along. But this wasn’t the time. Instead, he offered her his hand.

She looked at it, then up at him. With a small smile, she slipped her hand into his and walked with him to work.

Dee’s head didn’t clear that night. Or the next. Her need for Micah seemed to grow each day, becoming an itch under her skin. Of course, the only way to relieve it would be to let him take her to bed. She had lain awake for hours the night before, trying to remember just why she shouldn’t.

She wiped down the bar as she went over the conversation she’d had with Micah the day before. Her father. Her father had ruined his business. It didn’t seem like a big thing to him. It was to her. What if her father found out about her relationship with Micah? Knowing her sadistic father, he would use it to hurt her. Of all the men in the world, she found herself intrigued with one her father had tried to destroy. What were the odds in that? She inwardly sighed. High, considering her father had ruined a lot of lives not only back home in New York but also in Vegas and who knew where else.

“Where are you, girlfriend?”

She looked up as Keisha walked toward her. She was still wearing her windbreaker and carrying her purse.

“Off in dreamland. Are you early?”

Keisha shook her head. “We open in forty- five minutes. Let’s get back to those day dreams.”

“What?”

“Are they about a certain bossman?”

Dee rolled her eyes. “No. And why are you so preoccupied with what I do with him?”

“I got money on it, honey.”

“What about Kai. Isn’t he keeping you busy enough?”

Keisha smiled. “Kai knows how to keep a girl happy. And damn, the boy has definitely learned a lot since our prom night.”

“I can imagine,” she said with a chuckle.

“But I’m not going to let it go.” Then something caught Keisha’s attention over Dee’s shoulder. “Oh, I guess I will. Bye.”

Dee didn’t have to turn around to see what had made Keisha flee. Even without looking, she knew who was there. Her body seemed to be able to pick up on the vibes coming from him.

His hand slipped over her waist, then around her tummy. He bent his head and nibbled on her ear.

“Good evening, Dee.”

The arousal she heard simmering in his voice had her heart tripping. “I thought you didn’t like public displays at work.”

He drew in a deep breath and she had an idea that he was sniffing at her. She should be irritated with him, but there was something so primal about it that spoke to her soul. She didn’t have the heart to tell him to go away when she wanted him to touch her so badly.

“We aren’t open yet. And I did leave you alone to stock the bar.”

She had known he was there. His vette had been parked out front in his space. And she had been a little disappointed that he hadn’t shown up when she’d come in. Although she wouldn’t admit it to him.

“That’s true.”

He shifted closer, his body melding to her, his front against her back. He didn’t do much more than that, except lick her lobe. She closed her eyes as heat that had been simmering started to boil.

“I had to have a taste. You look so cute in your uniform.”

She snorted. “Yeah, not as good as Sheila.”

Sheila was one of the weekend workers, who had saved all her tips up to add a cup to her bra size.

He chuckled, his breath feathering over her neck. “Fishing for compliments?”

She shook her head.

“Sheila definitely has special attributes... but I find myself drawn to tight, little athletic bodies.”

With each word, his voice deepened and her lust soared. He was barely touching her, barely trying to seduce her, but she could feel herself losing control. Every hormone in her body was begging her to turn around, grab him and kiss him until she couldn’t think straight. A state she wasn’t far from anyway.

He sighed and stepped away before she was ready for him to do it. She liked the feel of his body heat against hers, the clean fresh male scent of him.

“I need to let you get back to work.”

She looked back over her shoulder at him. His dark eyes were watching her, lust easy to see simmering there. “Micah.”

He raised his hand. “No. You and I both know it’s going to happen.” He stepped closer. “It’s just difficult to wait.”

A yearning she didn’t know she had, something that almost overwhelmed her, rushed through her, pushed her up on her toes and had her brushing her mouth against his. Just that taste wasn’t enough, would never be enough.

She sank back to her feet and looked up at him. A flush darkened his cheeks.

“Thank you for being so patient.”

He nodded once, then turned and strode away. She’d known from the beginning he was a temptation that would be hard to resist. He was just what she loved to read about. A hard- headed Dom, an alpha with a nice gooey center. While he might expect and demand everything from her, he had enough respect to take his time.

God, she was in very big trouble.

Micah woke up, his body covered with sweat, his heart smacking against his ribs. His cock hard and insistent against his belly. It was the fourth time this week he’d woken up from a dream so vivid he almost came. Seriously, he would have taken a wet dream over waking up frustrated. But apparently his body wasn’t going to give him the easy way out.