She gawked at him. Not that she didn’t appreciate the gesture—of course she did—but she didn’t have a spare room. The reading room didn’t have a bed¸ only a comfortable chair. And she doubted he’d fit on her small couch in the living room. “Don’t you think it’s proper to ask me first?”
“Nope.” He headed for the back door of her store. “If I asked you, you would say no and become all difficult about it, so I’m avoiding that conversation. This is happening.” He glanced over his shoulder with a smart-ass grin. “Deal with it.”
She stared after him as he moved with his easy gait, but then she realized she was standing in public wearing nothing but Porter’s oversized T-shirt. Grumbling to herself¸ she approached him, grabbing her keys out of her purse and then opening the door. He followed her up the stairs, and when they entered her house, he scanned the surroundings swiftly, clearly searching for a threat. He finally smiled at her. “Cute place.”
“Thanks.” She shut the door behind him. “Let me grab a quick shower. I have to hurry my ass downstairs. Store opens in ten minutes.”
He placed his bag down by the couch and took a seat, as if he belonged right there. To her surprise, it didn’t feel uncomfortable having Porter in her house, but maybe that was because he was pretty much comfortable wherever he went. As he always did, he seemed to own the space around him.
Leaving that thought behind, she hurried into the bathroom. The bad news was that it had taken twenty minutes before she finished, dressed in jeans and a pink blouse, with her hair in a messy bun. She reentered the living room, noticing that Porter had left her apartment. Confused, she rushed downstairs and found him in the bookstore. The good news, she’d discovered that he had opened the store on time, and a customer was browsing the sci-fi section.
Porter sat on one of the oversized chairs in the corner of the bookstore. The Vegas sun accentuated the blond highlights in his sandy-colored hair, and she couldn’t help but watch him work. He never acknowledged her as he typed on the laptop resting on his thighs, staying entirely focused on whatever he was doing. Kenzie moved to the register and booted up the computer, getting it ready for the day’s transactions.
She took quick peeks at him, noticing his intensity, with his brows drawn together. Kenzie mused to herself that his working expression was a lot like his Dom expression, and she shivered, biting back a moan. That’s when Porter focused on her, his look reflecting a man who knew his presence was affecting the woman near him. Hell, this was going to be a long couple of days.
Perhaps she didn’t realize how much Porter affected her. Maybe she thought it was only in Club Sin that it would happen. Now her body buzzed with longing for those wicked and sensual touches he had mastered. Warmth burned between her thighs as she strode around the register, moving a bit closer to him, drawn by something so electric. “Thanks for opening the store on time,” she said.
He smiled in his charming way. “You’re quite welcome, kitten.”
God, this guy confused her. He didn’t have to be here with her, she knew that. Their arrangement never called for that. Maybe, with all this hanging over her, she needed answers. And needed them now. “Why are you doing this for me?”
His reply was instant: “Because you need me to.”
No, that answer wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t personal enough. “Because we’re friends?”
Porter regarded her, then placed his laptop on the table next to him and rose. The heat of his body wrapped around her in the most delicious spell. His masculine aroma tickled her in all the right places. One brow arched in a seductive curve. “I think we can stop pretending that you don’t know why I’m here, don’t you?”
She wasn’t pretending. “As my Dom, it’s your job to keep me safe.”
“Of course there is that.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek, bringing forth a sizzle within her. “I’m here because I want to be. I’m here because I want to make sure you are safe. It’s that simple.”
Though this wasn’t simple at all, it was entirely confusing. More and more, she sensed herself wanting to allow things to go somewhere deeper with Porter. Yet even as he said this now, his actions showed otherwise. If he cared for her in a romantic way, why wasn’t he grabbing her and kissing her? Why wasn’t he having sex with her out of affection, not out of a way to ease her strain or make her submit? His behavior was that of a Dom, not a lover. Not once had he asked her a personal question to get to know her better. More important, he had yet to ask her out on a date. That’s what lovers did.
As much as she wanted to believe him—and, oh, did she ever—Porter was dangerous to her. There would be a time when this between them would be over, with her store intact, she hoped, and then what would happen?
The barrier between them was there to protect her. She couldn’t possibly be hurt again—she simply didn’t want to deal with that type of pain again. Three times she’d felt her heart break, once with Joslyn, once with her mother, and again when Gran passed away. She’d had enough heartbreak to last a lifetime.
Avoidance worked for her. Some might not understand that, but they also had never gone through what Kenzie had. She didn’t want to be broken. Nor did she want to return to that sad place in life where she had lived for so long. She stepped away from his touch. “Well, thank you for being here. I appreciate it.”
“You don’t need to thank me.” His eyes narrowed at her retreat. “Keeping you safe is a priority.”
Her body sagged against the proof she needed to remind her that he still had his Master status on his mind. Sure, he was weaving a spell of trust around her, but it wasn’t for the right reasons. He wanted her submission not to love and hold, but to prove a point that he was a skilled enough Dom to get it.
Apparently, he was.
—
Two hours had passed since Kenzie’s bookshop had opened, and it surprised Porter how busy the store had been. He thought a little shop like hers would have slow sales, but Kenzie knew most of the customers by name. They’d greet her and chat for a while over the newest book they were picking up or about things going on in their lives. Porter figured that’s why the store did well. Kenzie provided personal touches that larger companies didn’t.
Throughout the morning, he thought she was incredibly sweet with her customers, showing him another side of herself. She was a great friend to the Club Sin submissives and she was well liked, but this gentler side of her was different.
He liked her this way, not dressed up in sexy clothing, but with little makeup and dressed down in jeans, with a blouse showing off slight cleavage. It also surprised him how much Kenzie read. Her love of books was part of who she was. Whenever the store would go quiet, she’d sit with a book at the register and read. This side of her warmed him. In fact, he had never seen her appear so peaceful.
It reminded him of when she showed her submission, and he realized now this was the look of Kenzie when she was content. He wanted to see more of that state of mind; he just didn’t know how to make it happen. Though as the frustration built like a heavy rock in his stomach, he also reminded himself that Kenzie was slowly showing signs of trusting him, even if they were small signs.
His phone ringing snapped him into the present, and he noticed that Kenzie was watching him over the top of her book with her brows raised. Apparently, he’d been staring blankly at her. He smiled before he reached for his phone, seeing on the screen it was Chloe. “Porter,” he said into the phone.
“Hey, it’s me,” Chloe replied in her soft voice. “So, I’ve been researching this shithead all morning. You?”
“Yeah, me, too.” And what he found he didn’t like. A hardened criminal was an understatement when it came to Adrik Petrov.
“This guy is all types of bad news,” Chloe said, confirming what Porter had already discovered. “I just got off the phone with Sawyer and he gave me details on Adrik’s criminal record, which has everything from assault to gun offenses to drug offenses, and the list goes on and on. The w
orst part, he has never served a single day in jail.”
“That’s odd.”
“Right? I’m thinking that he must have deep ties in some crime family that allows him to get off with all but a smack on the hand.”
“Bad news for us,” Porter said, keeping his head down so that Kenzie wouldn’t hear that. The last thing he needed was for her to worry more than she already was. Last night when she’d slept in his bed he had checked on her a couple times and noticed her tossing and turning in her sleep. She was restless, and that bothered him much more than he thought it should. “There has to be something that we can use against him.” Everyone had secrets, but criminals had secrets that could ruin them. Porter just needed to find Adrik’s. “Keep looking at anything that we could possibly use as leverage, so that he will leave this corner of the block untouched.”
Porter believed Adrik was simply a power-hungry fucker. Perhaps when Kenzie said no to him she had created a game. It was easy enough to leave the one small building on the corner and build the casino next to it. Christ, all Porter wanted to do was keep her safe and away from that trash.
“I’ll give Sawyer a call and see what else he can do,” he said to Chloe, lifting his head as a customer entered the store. Porter’s gaze went directly to Kenzie and he noticed her tense up before she exhaled a slow breath. Frustration rippled through him; he didn’t like her being this scared. As each customer came into the store, she’d tense up until she recognized the customer. He rubbed his eyes, sensing a headache looming. “Keep digging on your end.”
“On it” was all Chloe said before she hung up.
Porter ended the call and immediately dialed Sawyer’s personal cell phone. He answered on the third ring, and Porter said, “It’s Porter. I need you to do me a favor, if it’s not stepping over too many boundaries.”
“Name it,” Sawyer responded.
Porter ran a hand over the back of his neck, feeling both the strain of all this and also the eagerness of the job. He loved hunting for clues, but he wished it didn’t involve Kenzie. “Chloe called and told me about Adrik’s criminal record. Can you look into those case files and see if there were any witnesses? I’m thinking that’s our best lead. We need to develop a case that is solid enough that if we took it to the police it would stick. He needs to feel as if we’ve backed him into a corner.”
“I agree that a witness may be able to help here,” Sawyer said, his voice tight. “Even after all the documents I’ve looked through, this guy has some important friends. It seems that any of the witnesses clam up before trial. But I can certainly dig a little deeper and see if there is anything else or something I missed.”
“People will always talk if they think the situation is safe enough, too.” Porter had seen it time and time again. Sometimes police were held by thick red tape, but Porter wasn’t, and more often than not, that freedom helped him get what he needed so he could close a case.
“I’ll do what I can,” Sawyer replied. “We can’t use anything in these reports to arrest him, since this isn’t an official case. If it ever gets to that point, I’ll have to send it to the special investigations department and they’ll have to open an active case.”
Porter understood well enough. Sawyer was part of the SWAT team. He had no reason to be investigating this case. They couldn’t do this the traditional legal way, mainly because Adrik had seemed to often fall through the cracks. Apparently, he had paid off too many people, and Porter suspected he had judges and possibly others on his payroll.
His focus wasn’t on those dirty judges, or maybe even dirty police, or on the witnesses who had refused to own up to their statements to put a criminal behind bars. He only concentrated on the pretty woman sitting at the register, looking so beautiful with the sun beaming across her face. “Understood. Just do what you can.”
“Of course.” Then the phone line went dead.
Porter placed his phone back on the end table and Kenzie lowered her book to her lap, obviously sensing his perusal. She studied him before she left her seat, and a few minutes later returned with a coffee in her hand. “You look like you need this.”
He accepted the mug with a smile. Reading him well, was she? “Thanks, I do.” No matter the frustration rolling through him, he rather enjoyed that she thought of his comfort. She hadn’t asked what he’d said on the phone or if they’d found out new developments, she only focused on him.
We’re getting somewhere…
Without another word, she returned to her stool behind the register and picked up her book. It might be a small step forward, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. That, as it seemed, was a bright light in this dark day.
He took a sip of his coffee, and the sweet taste of sugar made him smile. “Kitten?”
She lowered her book from her face. “Yeah?”
“It’s perfect.”
She gave him her spirited grin. “Of course it is, I made it.”
Chapter Twelve
Kenzie cursed Tuesday, craving her bed and wishing it were the weekend for more reasons than one. Sleeping in sounded really good. Porter’s wicked touches were an even better idea. She sighed, loathing the fact that the weekend was so far away, and she eyed Porter next to her as they sat in his parked car on the Vegas strip.
Unable to stop herself, she shivered, held captivated by his presence, making her feel like a foreigner in her own skin. Being near him always caused all types of odd reactions that just weren’t normal for her. Perhaps it was that she hadn’t spent as much time with a Dom outside of the dungeon as she had with Porter. She wondered how other submissives lived with Doms day in and day out. She was on constant fire around Porter and badly wanted him—with an odd desperation—to extinguish the flames.
She fought against the desire to jump his bones right then and there, and instead, she stared out of the windshield into the dark night, finding herself bored of watching another man. After Porter received a lead from Chloe on Adrik’s whereabouts, and once Kenzie’s evening employee arrived, they had left to gather evidence on Adrik.
Now the dipshit stood in a circle of men on the corner of one of Las Vegas’s top casinos, and he’d been there for a good half-hour. Shortly after Porter parked his car, they sat while he clicked his camera, taking pictures of the thugs across the street. Whenever a new person joined Adrik, his camera clicked again.
Kenzie peeked at Porter out of the corner of her eye, and a sizzle swept through her as she observed him doing his job. Just like when she watched him at her bookshop, he was so focused, so determined, and it was damn sexy.
“We’ll get all these people identified and then we can go from there.”
Kenzie blinked, instantly realizing he had caught her staring at him, since his eyes were a little more heated. She cleared her throat, reaching for her latte in the cup holder by the gearshift. “What will that do exactly?”
“It’ll give us more knowledge. The more we have, the better we’ll be.” He placed the camera on his lap and grabbed his coffee, taking a sip. “Chloe is researching Adrik on her end and Sawyer is doing what he can, but I want to know who he surrounds himself with. Perhaps we can get one of them to talk.”
It all seemed so simple when he said it, but she didn’t think any of this was that simple. “To give us dirt on him?”
“That’s right. Anything illegal that Adrik might be involved in. There will be something that he can’t weasel his way out of, and we need to use that to build a case against him.”
Kenzie took another sip of her latte, tasting the vanilla hints. “You don’t plan to actually get him arrested, right?” That thought didn’t appeal to her in the least. She’d seen firsthand the type of guys Adrik had working for him, and she didn’t want to be the one responsible for putting him behind bars.
Porter’s expression softened at whatever reaction crossed over her face, and he gathered her hand in his. “My worry is only about you and your store.”
She smiled, touched by t
hat, of course she was. “You know, I gotta admit, if feels good to hunt him. All I’ve felt is hunted.”
Porter gave her hand a final squeeze before releasing it, and then he placed his coffee back in the cup holder and raised his camera, snapping more pictures. “Believe me, Adrik deserves a lot more than to simply feel hunted.” There was an edge to his voice, a possessive, deadly edge.
She wondered if that was simply because a Club Sin submissive was being threatened, or if it was because she was being threatened. The question hung on the tip of her tongue, needing to get out and finally put all this confusion to rest. Yet doubt swept through in nearly the same second. She’d already asked the few questions to see where Porter’s head space was, and he’d given her enough answers for her to conclude he helped her only because it was his duty to her as her Dom.
Duty, not love, she reminded herself.
There was a fine line, but it was such a powerful line that a submissive couldn’t lose sight of it. And Kenzie couldn’t lose sight of it, not if she was to come out of this arrangement with her head held high.
Porter placed the camera on the backseat and then started the car. “I think we have enough for now, and it’s getting late. You must be tired.” Without waiting for her to reply, as if he simply knew the exhaustion weighing on her, he did a U-turn to avoid driving by Adrik.
A few moments passed as the loud engine roared around her before he asked, “I’ve been curious about something. How did you get into owning a bookstore?”
“The store belonged to my gran. When she died, it was left to me.”
“Is that who raised you?” he asked, taking a hard left.
“She raised me since I was eleven years old.” The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake.
Porter, of course, quickly caught on. “Were you with your mother and father before that?”
“Just my mother. I’ve never met my father,” she replied, quickly turning away from him with a hard lump forming in her throat. “I don’t have daddy issues or anything. He wasn’t ever around, so it’s not like I missed out.”
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