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  “Thank you for checking,” I muttered, ending the phone call quickly.

  Now, I knew exactly how to reach him. I just needed to figure out how to do that without getting kicked out of the nicest restaurant in Grand Rapids before I had a chance to speak with him.

  There was no way I could wait three months for an appointment, and after spending more time researching law firms, there was no other office that at first glance, was a place I could trust.

  For the rest of the day, I worked on the books for the resort, updating our expenses, thrilled to see that our profits were growing every day. The economy hadn’t been good to us over the last few years, but thankfully my dad was an excellent businessman and he did most of the updates and purchases before the market went south several years ago. It allowed us to maintain fourteen private cabins and a small condo-type building with twenty rooms.

  We didn’t have that many special amenities other than a playground area and a small swimming pool for those who didn’t want to swim in the lake. That did, however, provide us an edge over our competitors for weekends early and late in the season when it was too cold to swim in Lake Michigan. We opened before other resorts every spring and we stayed open later in the fall.

  I would never live a life of luxury, but I’d be forever comfortable, and after losing so much, it was all I wanted.

  Scribbling down a quick note of to-do items for Maria, I grabbed my purse and headed out of the office. I had too much to do before I essentially tried to sabotage a business meeting and make a horrible first impression on someone I needed.

  But I was desperate, and willing to try anything. I just needed to find a dress that screamed classy and determined as well as masked the hint of pathetic desperation.

  Jensen

  I sat at a table at my favorite restaurant, The Royal Mile, listening to Meredith prattle on about inconsequential gossip, and forced my upper lip to uncurl.

  Our families had been friends since our fathers went to Columbia together, and Meredith and I had grown up together. She was three years younger than me, and while the crush she’d had on me when we were younger was obvious, I’d never treated her like anything except the annoying little sister I never wanted to touch.

  Meredith lived for galas and attention, both professionally and personally. She clawed at the social ladder in Michigan as if she would be seen on page six of the New York Times social section. It was a fruitless endeavor and any man who had any hint of a gold-digger detector could see her coming from a mile away.

  That was always Meredith’s problem. She was too obvious, too pushy. She wanted to be dominated while clutching control in her manicured fists, dispensing it when she thought necessary instead of giving it freely.

  And considering I had met Courtney through Meredith, I also knew of Meredith’s sexual proclivities. They ran similar to mine except for the fact I didn’t want to force domination. I wanted submission to be surrendered at my feet—preferably by a pretty brunette with doe-eyed green eyes that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about for the last four days.

  “Are you listening to me?” Meredith clipped, her eyes narrowed like a shrew. Or a hawk circling its prey, narrowing its target to the most defenseless.

  I brushed my napkin against the corner of my lips and feigned attention. “Of course I am, but you haven’t yet discussed why you insisted on us having dinner.”

  My tone was tight and she read it accordingly.

  Acting as the submissive she desperately wanted to be, her expression softened and she tilted her chin downward. The look was a perfectly soft pose. Too bad it was an act. Although even if it wasn’t, I would never touch her. She had too many strikes against her and lately, our friendship was teetering on the edge of collapse.

  She always wanted something. And for the last two months, she’d made it clear she wanted me.

  I had never been tempted.

  “We’re friends, Jensen, and it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. I simply thought a nice, quiet dinner together would be good for us to...reconnect.” Her eyes gleamed with sincerity.

  Too bad her voice dripped with lies.

  Patience with Meredith was always something that had made me glad I focused on controlling myself in all areas. She needed a heavy hand, and it wasn’t going to be mine that dealt the blows.

  “I have a busy week, Meredith. I have a busy month. You lured me here under the pretense of something important, something that couldn’t wait. If you wanted to manipulate me, you shouldn’t have wasted your time. So get to your point, or I’ll be requesting the check.” Our dinners hadn’t come yet, just our salads. I didn’t care.

  The hairs at the back of my neck tingled and I scanned the restaurant, looking for what caused the strange sensation of awareness sliding through me. My gaze stopped at the entryway. Haley.

  She stood at the hostess stand and the electric charge that circled between us the other night made the hairs stand up on my arms.

  Something about the fire within her, the way she clearly knew what she wanted, and not to mention the look of ecstasy as she orgasmed, made Haley dangerous.

  Her nervousness was obvious in the way her bottom lip was precariously placed between her teeth and the way she clutched her handbag like it was a lifeline. Yet she still held her head high, her back straight when she strolled toward an empty stool at the end of the bar.

  What in the hell was she doing here?

  Anger immediately ignited in my veins. Had I missed the signs that she was just as manipulative as the woman across from me?

  “You know what I want,” Meredith said, her voice tilted into the perfect submissive tone. It did absolutely nothing for me. “I’m desperate for it, Jensen. You know this, and I figured now that you’ve had enough time to get over Courtney, you’d be ready to take me in hand now.”

  “That’s your problem, Meredith.” I glared at her and rose from my chair, tossing my napkin onto the table. “You reek of desperation and the way you just demanded, as if you know my needs, is the perfect reason why I won’t be your Dom, but also why most won’t. Let go of the control you force yourself to maintain and you’ll find someone.” I leaned forward, braced my palms against the table and lowered my voice. “That person will never be me. I’ve known you too long, have never wanted you in that way, and even if I had been, you’re still friends with Courtney for fuck’s sake.”

  I was being harsher than I had ever been.

  It was a dangerous move. While Meredith’s family and mine had always been close, it was her father’s company that brought a lot of my most important business to my desk. He’d always wanted me to be the main lawyer for his development company and I had always refused. I wanted to make a name for myself. Pissing off Meredith, who was slated to take over her father’s company when he retired and was already acting as vice president, was a risky move. It meant the potential to lose a lot of business should she force the issue.

  Which furthered my resolve, as if it had been wavering. I never mixed business with pleasure.

  As I stood from the table, my eyes immediately found Haley, but this time, her eyes were locked on mine.

  Her lips parted and the glass of champagne she’d apparently ordered was frozen in front of her lush, bottom lip.

  It was a genuine look of shock, one that couldn’t be feigned, and I forgot all about wondering if she was manipulating me.

  There would have been no way for her to know where I’d be anyway.

  My gaze stayed transfixed on Haley as I moved toward her. She looked away from me to Meredith at our table, and her jaw tightened before she turned back to the bar.

  Before I reached her, I waved over my server and whispered for them to charge the dinner to my account explaining that Meredith and I needed to leave immediately.

  Ignoring his baffled expre
ssion, I kept moving until I was standing directly behind Haley.

  I wrapped my hand around her elbow and tugged her gently but firmly off her stool, until she wobbled on her feet.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, hissing out the question. “Spying on me?”

  So the earlier assumption of manipulation hadn’t been completely forgotten.

  She barely had time to set down her glass of champagne before I guided her down the hallway toward the bathrooms.

  “Explain yourself,” I stated, letting go of her arm but effectively pinning her with my presence against a wall.

  Pink rose on Haley’s cheeks and she backed herself farther against the wall. “What are you doing here?”

  She looked up at me with those same damn, large green eyes I’d jacked off to every day, more than once, since Luminous.

  “You didn’t come looking for me? You didn’t like what you had so much that instead of waiting for me to contact you like I promised I would, you didn’t search me out?”

  She shook her head rapidly and was breathless when she answered. “No. Of course not, I mean, I was disappointed I hadn’t heard from you, but it appears you’ve had other matters to attend to.” Her lips pressed together at the insinuation. A flare of fire sparked in eyes. My hand itched to discipline that obstinate look. “And to answer your question, I’m here looking for a Mr. Rhodes. Not you.”

  And...fuck.

  My tongue ran across my upper teeth and I sucked in a seething breath. This was actually worse. “Haley, I am Mr. Rhodes, unless you were looking for my father, but he’s been dead for six years.”

  “What?” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed and those eyes widened. “What are you... No, I was looking for J.R....oh.”

  Her lips curled into a perfect O as recognition took hold.

  Closing my eyes, I focused on getting control. Never mix business and pleasure.

  Dylan had drilled that into me from the very beginning of my mentorship. The lines between Dom-sub, Master-slave were hard enough to live out. Throw in a professional entanglement and things could get messy.

  “You’re J.R. Rhodes.” Her bottom lip wobbled. “I called your office today. I need a lawyer desperately and your assistant said you were booked for three months, but then I heard her talk to you on the phone. She mentioned you being here tonight, so I needed a chance...I wasn’t...I was waiting for you to call.”

  Even with being pissed at her, her stammer was still adorable.

  “And you expect me to believe that when you just admitted to manipulating a situation for my time in another way?”

  Her eyes blinked rapidly and quickly glistened with tears.

  Hell. I hadn’t wanted to make her cry.

  “I didn’t have another option, Jensen.”

  Fucking shit. The way my name rolled of her tongue did something to me.

  My head was spinning with the sudden turn of events yet I had no desire to stop the ride.

  She was, as she had been last week, unexpected.

  Running a hand through my hair, I exhaled a harsh breath and puffed out my cheeks. “This is a fucking disaster. I don’t mix my business with my...lifestyle,” I said for lack of a better term.

  Haley’s eyes went clear. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing I only need you as a lawyer.”

  “Excuse me?” My voice tightened. Her answer was in direct contrast to what she’d already admitted.

  “I told you monogamy is important. You’re here on a date and if I have to choose, then I choose the lawyer. Master Dylan can help me with the other thing.”

  Like fuck he would. Red blurred the edges of my vision and I took an intimidating step forward. “If I were your Dom, Haley, I’d turn you around right now, lift your dress and spank your ass for that threat, and I wouldn’t give a shit if anyone walked down this hallway and saw you. You do not threaten a man like me, with what you just said.”

  Her breath hitched and her tongue darted out, wetting her lips.

  I continued before she could speak. “And as much as I can tell you like the thought of that, since we haven’t had the meeting to discuss your training, I will allow your insubordination this one time. But do not forget who I am, Haley. Now, I was in a business meeting, one that came to abrupt halt right as you arrived. I need to tie up some loose ends, but that’s the only explanation you will receive from me about this. I want you to leave here, before I force you to your knees and make you suck my cock that’s dying for a taste of your mouth. Meet me in ten minutes at Raccoon Brewery around the corner. Do you understand?”

  Her lips pressed together.

  I waited one second...two...

  “I understand.”

  I arched a brow, silently admonishing her.

  “I understand, sir.”

  “Good job, pretty girl,” I whispered before I could stop myself. I pressed my palm to her cheek and softened my voice. “I’ll meet you there and we’ll talk.”

  “About what?”

  I narrowed my lust-filled eyes at her. “Everything.”

  Chapter Six

  Haley

  What had happened?

  As I sat at the brewery Jensen demanded that I go to, waiting and watching the seconds tick by on the clock behind the bar, I replayed the disaster that had just occurred.

  My emotions were frayed. I had been completely embarrassed when Jensen first grabbed my arm and tugged me down the hall, and then slightly afraid as anger rolled off him that I was there. When realization sunk in that he was the man I was looking for, dread flooded my body.

  I needed a lawyer.

  I wanted a Dom.

  As eight minutes turned to ten and then fifteen, it dawned on me that I might have just messed up everything with my actions tonight. I could have just screwed myself out of a lawyer, as well as a Dom, and done it all in one swoop.

  “Ugh,” I groaned, and pushed my glass of sparkling water away from me. After sliding a tip under the glass, I shifted on the stool, intent on leaving.

  He was late. Perhaps he’d save me the embarrassment I was still reeling from, along with a deep fluttering in my stomach at the words he’d said about spanking me, and I could disappear.

  I’d find a new club. Maybe go back to KinkLife and find a Dom online.

  “Going somewhere?” A rich, deep voice rumbled from behind me and my head snapped to him.

  “I thought you weren’t coming,” I admitted, hating the pitiful tone in my voice.

  Jensen rested his hand on the back of my barstool and twisted it until my knees were touching his.

  “Look at me, Haley.”

  Reluctantly, I dragged my eyes to his, skipping over the way his black dress pants hung perfectly from his trim waist, highlighted by a thick black belt, and how the press of his light blue dress shirt curved over his chest.

  “Yes, sir?”

  His lips twitched before spreading into a gentle smile. “How about tonight, we go grab a seat in a booth, and talk? For a while, we’ll be Jensen and Haley, okay?”

  A shiver rolled through me, sparking goose bumps down my arms and raising the hairs at the back of my neck.

  It was just what I needed. “Thank you, I’d like that.”

  “Good.” He held out his hand. “I have a table ready for us then.”

  He guided me through a long row of booths that had high-backs, giving every table complete privacy, until we reached the very last booth in the row where he gestured for me to sit.

  My apology bubbled from me before he was sitting across from me. “I’m so sorry about tonight. I shouldn’t have come to the restaurant looking for you, and I know how unprofessional it was, but when your assistant—”

  “Haley.” He raised a hand. “Take a breath and calm down. I�
�m not angry.”

  Before I could say anything, a young waitress appeared at our table and slid two menus on the table. We gave our drink orders and after she walked away, I realized Jensen had never once turned to look her way.

  His gaze, his attention, remained solely fixed on me.

  That fluttering sensation deep in my stomach beat a bit harder, warming me and calming me.

  “Have you eaten?” he asked, nodding toward the menu.

  “No. I didn’t have time, before...” I let that trail off and flashed him a nervous smile.

  “Find something to eat, it’s late and you must be hungry.”

  I was wound much too tight to find room in my stomach for food, but his suggestion was more of an order. I flipped through the menu and settled on a simple chicken salad. Enough to make him happy, light enough for me to potentially get a few bites in.

  After the waitress returned with our drinks and I placed my order, Jensen leaned back in the booth.

  “Now. Let’s start with your need for a lawyer.”

  I sneered at the reminder of Timothy. Jensen had given me time to relax, which I assumed had been his goal, but the mere thought of my ex made my gut clench in an unfavorable way.

  “I told you the other night that I’m divorced. Timothy is my ex, and when I left him, I gave him everything even against the advice of my attorney at the time. He recommended we split everything fifty-fifty, but by the time I was finally done, I just wanted out. I took my clothes, my car that I’d had before we got married, and a few picture frames. I figured he’d be happy enough with that and let me walk away.”

  Jensen’s head tilted. “And he’s not?”

  “No.” I ran a fingertip through the condensation quickly growing on my water glass. “This morning I received paperwork saying that he’s not only hired the law firm I used for our divorce, but he’s now suing me for half the land values of the property I purchased after we separated.”

  Jensen’s thick, black brows pinched together. “He’s using your old lawyer?”

  “Law firm. It seems similar to what I know of yours. They house seven different lawyers, all with their own focus, but yes...he’s hired the same firm.”