With no hesitation, she leaned against the counter, and he thought she would kiss his finger, but instead, she opened her mouth and took his tingling digit between her lips, surprising the hell out of him.
But you’re not submissive, are you? No, not at all.
Her tongue was silky and hot on the pad of his index finger as she stroked it and then sucked lightly before kissing it and smiling at him. “Better?” The blue-green rims of her irises narrowed, and her eyes dilated as she licked her lower lip.
“Better.” Perfect.
When she’d spilled wine on his hand the night they’d eaten in the kitchen together, he’d imagined her lapping the wine from his fingers and his palm. She’d asked what he was thinking then, but he hadn’t elaborated because she wasn’t ready. Still too nervous and unsure. She hadn’t hesitated at all just now, and there was no trace of nerves in her posture.
“I’m messing up your nightly routine, aren’t I?”
“Not at all. You’re a lovely distraction.”
She looked down at the black-and-gold mottled granite countertop and traced a vein of copper in it with a neatly cropped nail. Her hips swayed to the tune, and he nearly burned himself again, as he was mesmerized by the motion, before finally paying attention to mixing her beverage for her.
“You should sit back down with the heating pad. I’ll bring your drink in just a minute.”
She nodded and sashayed back into the living room, singing as she went, making him smile.
Toughen up, Hazelle. A Dom doesn’t let their sub dazzle them into a simpleton.
He could just imagine what Hector would think of Bunny. He already knew Juno would love her.
When he returned to the living room, she was sitting obediently with the heating pad over one shoulder and tilted up along her neck on one side.
“Do you want to alternate hot and cold? I can put together an ice pack for you.”
She shook her head, without showing any signs of pain, and said, “It’ll make my neck stiffen up. The heat helps a lot. Thank you.” She accepted the coffee cup and saucer he offered to her.
He seated himself in the occasional chair next to the love seat she sat on because he needed to talk to her first. If she was next to him, he’d reach for her, but he wouldn’t do that until he’d ascertained she wasn’t fronting about the pain. She picked up the remote and reduced the volume of the music.
He said, “I feel responsible for what happened downstairs.”
She thinned her lips and shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for. He was a first-class jerk. And…”
“What?”
“He’s the kind of guy I’d previously imagined filled clubs like yours, manhandling women and doing whatever he wanted to them.”
Joseph sipped his Irish coffee. “Men like him don’t belong in a club. They belong behind bars. I’ll be contacting the owner of the previous club he was a member of to let him know. And…I should’ve done a background check on him.”
Her eyes rounded a little bit. “You do background checks on all of your members?”
“As a matter of routine, yes, unless they’re moving to the area and have a membership in good standing where they came from.” He and the advisory board would be revising that policy in the future.
“I can understand why some of the Doms seem as though they want to keep their subs close.”
“Earlier you said you don’t know me well enough yet. What would you like to know?”
“Um…do you have any siblings?”
He smiled, not surprised she’d ask about his family first. “No. I’m an only child, but I have many cousins.”
“Are you parents still alive? Still together?”
He nodded. “Yes, and yes. They would like you.”
She blushed, and her eyes sparkled at his words. “Where do they live?”
“After my father retired, my mother wanted to return to her home in Italy, so they live there most of the year, in a small villa on the seaside. It’s a beautiful little place. You would like it.” He’d never introduced any of his submissives to his parents. Why did it suddenly seem like such a great idea? No doubt his mom would set eyes on Bunny and claim her on the spot.
“Were you born in Italy?”
“No. I was born here in the States. My father is ex-military, a retired colonel in the Air Force. My mom has lived all over the world, as have I until I went off to college.”
“That explains where the Italian endearment came from.”
Joseph chuckled. “Yes, I heard my father call her that on more than one occasion. He was good with languages, and so was I.”
“Where did you go to school?” She looked down at her hands, and her expression became guarded.