His eyes furrow, but look! He’s not glancing away from these tits! “I can’t read you half the time. Just when I think I’ve got you figured out…”

I close my blouse and put it back together. “I surprise you. Yes, yes, you’re not used to that from women.”

“Now don’t be that way.”

I’ve irritated him. Good. The last thing I want is him getting complacent around me. Nevertheless, next thing I know, he’s slapped a notebook on the table and flipped it open to a certain page.

“What’s that?”

Ian slides the notebook across the table. I pick it up, holding it at the appropriate distance before my eyes focus on his tight, clean cursive handwriting. I’m struck by how masculine his penmanship is. Elegant, refined, legible, but very straight and narrow. Not a single stroke from the pen is wasted. Well, shit. Here I am, turned on by Ian Mathers’s handwriting.

“A to-do list. For you.”

So it says. At the top of the page Ian has written “K” for my name, I’m guessing. Below is a list written in shorthand. I barely make out “doesn’t let go easy” and “fights for control.” The other stuff is… pretty sexual.

Doesn’t like me coming inside her.

Or on her for that matter.

Talks back when I’m fucking her.

Says titles sarcastically.

“Did I miss anything?”

Scoffing, I take a pen out of my purse and scratch something down in my curlier handwriting. “Thinks I’m a jerk.”

“Mature.”

“You’re mature.” I say it so quickly that I don’t realize what I said until it’s too late. By then, Ian is laughing, his ridiculous face looking beyond stupid as he makes fun of me.

By the time we’re finished with lunch, I don’t feel any better. We’ve set up a date for Friday after work, and I know it won’t be kinky, but I can’t help but feel he has an ulterior motive. Especially after showing me the notes he’s keeping.

I can’t think about it, though. Currently I have to be regular ol’ Kathryn, the one who knows it’s probably going to end in the hot sex I crave with him. Hot, non-domineering sex. Just him, me, and the creaking of his bed as we succumb to pleasure.

Now I’m turned on. When I catch a glance from him at the busy intersection, he smirks, and I can practically see the blood rushing to his cock.

Not today, buddy. Save it for Friday.

Chapter 3

KATHRYN

This morning all I could think about was what I would wear today. Whatever it was, it had to be functional for work, but also good for a date.

I don’t know what Ian and I are doing. After our lunch the other day, I’m not sure I want to know. I’ll either be so horny that I don’t care about what’s going on until he fucks me, or I’ll be so over his shit that I leave early and call everything off.

We’ll see.

The way I ended up dressing… you’d think I was trying to impress him. My dress is a crimson halter that matches nicely with my black flats I have to wear around the construction site. I decided on a plunging necklace to make sure Ian stares at my cleavage all day – without realizing that everyone else will be looking too. Oops.

It’s fine. I’m a professional. They… try to be professional. I could do without the foreman and his cronies muttering to each other with stupid smiles on their faces every time I walk by, but thems the breaks of being female in the presence of men.

At least Ian is looking. Although the only thing he’s commented on is my hair, worn up for work. What he doesn’t know is that I’m now in the bathroom, after work, getting ready for our date.

First thing I do is take down my hair, combing it out so it falls nice and straight on my shoulders. Then I open my purse, searching for my makeup kit, because sometimes a girl needs to put on some red lipstick, light blush, and thank the heavens for liquid eyeliner.

Once I’m convinced I’m the most beautiful woman on Earth – for five seconds, anyway, until I notice a zit on my chin and promptly freak out – I collect my stuff and meet Ian in the foyer of his gutted hotel.

“Aren’t you a lovely vision?” He doesn’t take my arm. We’ve decided to keep this relationship a secret for now. Not because we’re ashamed, but because it’s so complicated that we don’t know how long it will last or if it’s worth the press we’d get. I can already see the papers discussing our marriage date – and how long it would take Ian to cheat on me – and I want to barf.

“Thanks.” I walk beside him out of the building and to the curb, where Ian hails a cab. He lives close enough that he’s been walking to and from the site every day. Saying something about needing the exercise if he’s not able to hit the gym.

I’m glad he’s keeping his physique in check, because I know under all these clothes he’s strong enough to, well, pick me up and carry me to his room.

I hide a grin of excitement as he closes the cab door behind me. Within ten seconds he’s sitting beside me, telling the driver to take us to the restaurant I stood him up at. As usual, we have things to prove to one another.

Although it takes one small glass of liquor to get me settled, I’m soon relaxed enough to laugh at one of his stupid jokes. So far he hasn’t said or done anything that implies domination. The more I think of this as a regular “vanilla” date, the more I’m able to see him as my equal in all areas, including sex. Remember, Kathryn? You are capable of this with a man like him.

Not always, but usually.

“There was this guy in my house,” Ian says, referring to his stint in a high-class frat in college, “who dated a new woman every month. Except you’d never guess, because all the girls looked the same. Red heads. Freckles. Some of them dressed differently, and a lot of them had the most basic names you’ve ever heard, but once we caught on… shit, we never let him live it down. The guy had a real fetish.”

I smile over my half-eaten dinner. “You mean like you and your thing for blondes?”

“Why do people keep saying that?”

“Because it’s true. By the way, how was Stephanie’s pussy?” I drink some water. “I know you think she’s me and all, but…”

“Why you gotta go there?” Ian is too relaxed from his drink to be offended. “That happened one time.”

“Yes, but it happened.”

I’m flirting with him for the first time in weeks. Probably because this is the first time in a long while I’ve felt comfortable around him. He has yet to make a move, let alone do something that makes me uncomfortable. I sit here thinking, “Well, we’re more than likely having sex tonight.” As the night wears on, I feel better about it. Not that I didn’t feel okay with it before – plus, I could always say no if I decide it’s not in the cards. There’s a good amount of power in that, even if he’s calling the shots.

Tonight, he is totally not calling the shots!

“I think you like tormenting me,” Ian says, leaning across the table. We’re sitting opposite one another, but the table is small, and it’s not difficult to slip my foot out of my heel and play with his ankle. The smile that instantly lights up his face as he realizes what I’m doing spurs me on to tuck my toes beneath the hem of his pants. “Yes. You like tormenting me.”

“How do I torment you?” My arms are crossed on the table, pushing my cleavage forward so he sees deep into it. His eyes are not on mine. “Spare no detail, Mr. Mathers.”

“You damn well know how.”

We hold our mutual gaze until I break with a snort. I don’t get it. I’m Kathryn Alison, Domme extraordinaire, and yet staring down this guy makes me weak in the knees and want to hide my blush in wine.

“You are so stunning,” Ian murmurs across the table, fingers trailing up my arm. His light touch makes me shiver, although I do an admirable job containing it. “Women like Stephanie May don’t even compare to you because you are so much more… woman?”