Alone. She’d been visiting clubs without even bothering to tell anyone where she was. The clubs weren’t known for their safety. Derek would never take a sub there and yet Karina had walked right in without any backup.
Fuck, he was getting pissed again. And his cock was hard as a damn rock.
“Are you having trouble, Brighton? Should I get someone? Because I need to go and meet Little Tag and Li. We’ve got a bunch of stuff to go over before tonight’s op.” She talked like she was doing an everyday job. Nothing to be concerned about. She wasn’t throwing herself in front of a known serial killer or anything.
“We’ll talk to Sean and Li when I’m through discussing the situation with you.” He had to get his unruly dick under control.
“Well, I’m done now, Brighton. I’ll send you a report.” She sighed a little. “I don’t know why I can’t just work through the Rangers. I get that DPD wants to protect its turf. I really do understand that. How about we work something out? I promise to keep you in the loop. I’ll talk to you on a daily basis and keep you up to date. If your chief asks, you’re totally in on this. But you certainly don’t have to watch over me.”
She had a bad habit of hearing what she wanted to hear. He had to correct that behavior, too. For the first time in a very long time, he found his blood pulsing at the thought. The last several years, the training he’d given to various submissives had been delivered with a practiced hand. It had been something he looked forward to, something that made him feel needed.
Discipline had been something he enjoyed delivering, but now his blood was pumping through his system and he realized exactly what he’d been missing. He’d deeply missed the game, the thrill that came from taming a sub to his hand.
This sub. Unruly. Arrogant. Gorgeous. Could he turn her into a sweet little kitten?
It was a bad idea and yet the thought of even playing with her got his dick stiff and aching. It wasn’t like she was looking for a permanent Dom. She liked to play at Sanctum. She wasn’t really submissive. She was the type of woman who played at it for sex. As far as he could tell, Karina had slept with several of the Doms, the latest being Simon Weston. She’d hooked up with O’Donnell and Big Tag before they’d gotten married. Maybe after, too. Her relationships were fairly shallow and she didn’t seem to require much more from her men than a good time in bed and a deft hand with a flogger. He could give her both.
Would it really be so bad to take what she had to offer?
“Brighton?” Annoyance was creeping into her voice. “I don’t have all day. What do you say? We pretend to work together?”
“I’m not going to pretend, Karina. We are going to be working together.”
He heard her sigh. “That’s a bad idea. Can’t you see that?”
“Why?” He’d love to know why she couldn’t seem to stand him.
“Because you don’t like me.”
He heard a wealth of possibilities in those words. For the first time since he’d met her, he heard some vulnerability. “That’s funny. I thought you were the one who didn’t like me.”
“Derek, you can’t stand me.”
He owed her some honesty. He gave it to her in the plainest fashion he could. He turned around and let her see the state of his cock. “Oh, there are parts of me that like you quite a bit, Karina.”
He couldn’t help but smile at the way her eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. Finally, finally he’d managed to shut her up and all he’d had to do was point a dick her way. If he’d known it would be that easy, he would have tried it a long time back. After all, he was always hard when she was around anyway.
He moved toward his desk with care. Now that he had her attention, it was time to talk to her. “Why don’t you have a seat, Karina?”
She shook her head, nibbling on that plump bottom lip of hers. “This is a bad idea.”
“You’ve said that several times. It’s not an idea. It’s what’s going to happen.” He sat down, happy to have some furniture between them. He gestured to the seat in front of him. “We seem to have been in two different meetings. You’re not in charge of this operation, Karina.”
She finally moved to the chair, her body folding as she sank down. Maia had been perfectly graceful, every move and action of her body a dance of seduction. Karina just plopped down and slumped over slightly.
Why was he so fucking fascinated with her? Why this woman? He appreciated grace and precision, but he couldn’t deny that Karina Mills fucked with his system. She looked so lost, he had the sudden impulse to pull her into his lap and have the whole conversation with his hand teasing her pussy, relaxing her.