He folded his arms over his thick chest. She watched him warily. Wearing black jeans and with his shirt open to display his magnificent chest, he looked incredibly hot. What she wouldn’t give to snuggle into that chest right now, to feel his arms surround her and hear him tell her it was all going to be all right.
Of course, it was. She didn’t need Sloan to tell her that. She had things under control. Maybe.
“Now, I know you weren’t speaking badly about your body since it belongs to me, and no one talks badly about anything that’s mine.”
Those words sent a shiver of trepidation down her spine.
“So, I can only guess you’re implying I’m weak.”
“I was not!” she protested.
“That I’m old?” He raised one brow.
“No,” she muttered, realizing he was trapping her but unable to think of a way out.
He grasped her chin. “Do I have to remind you that talking down about this glorious body of yours just gets you into strife? Been a while since you’ve had to spend the whole weekend naked.”
That was his punishment of choice. At first, she’d thought it was to humiliate her. That was before she knew him well enough to realize he’d never even consider doing that. It was an attempt to show her how beautiful he considered her to be.
“No, Sir.” She tacked on the sir to show she was extra regretful. He just let out a half-laugh.
“Ah, Kinley, you’re trouble for sure.” He clasped her face between both hands and kissed her gently. The light kiss soon morphed into something hot and heavy. A promise of the night to come. And when he stopped she slumped against him, breathing heavily. Not caring in the slightest that anyone could walk in and see her bare ass. He had the ability to make her forget everything else when he kissed her.
“It’s your super power,” she muttered.
“What?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing.” She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. But he had that mutinous look on his face, meaning he wasn’t about to let her get away with that.
“When you kiss me, you make me forget everything else,” she told him. “It’s your super power.”
That stubborn look was replaced by a satisfied grin. The cat that got the cream wasn’t quite the apt description. More like a bear who’d found a lake filled with fat, wriggling salmon. The salmon never had a chance.
Had she just likened herself to a fish? Jeez, Kinley.
“Do I want to know what that thought was?”
“Just feeling sorry for salmon.”
He snorted and shook his head. “You’re always going to keep me on my toes, aren’t you?”
She grinned up at him. “You like my crazy side.”
“I like all your sides.” He gave her another, all-too-brief kiss. Then drew back to study her with those serious, brown eyes. “You look better. Cheeks are red, both sets.”
She resisted the urge to smack him. Sloan might be a pretty relaxed Dom, but hitting your Dom was never a good idea. Even if he had a smart mouth.
He ran his thumb over her cheek. “Yeah, I think you’ll be all right. I’m still going to keep a close watch on you, though. If you feel tired or dizzy you tell me.”
She nodded, but her mind was already worrying over something else. “That wasn’t my punishment, was it?”
He threw his head back and laughed. Normally, she loved when he laughed like that. It sent her stomach into flutters and made her grin. But not this time.
“Darlin’, that was just the warmup,” he drawled in a rich Texan accent that became more pronounced when he was amused. Or turned on.
Shit. If that was the warmup, she was in trouble.
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