Master No (11 page)

“I understand that, Sir. I do, but I’ve worked with her for months. I think I should…” Erin began.

“Stop.” The order came out of Theo’s mouth as a sharp bark. “Don’t argue with our superior. I think it’s time we had a talk. T, I’ve set the alarm and put out bedding for the couch. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Wow. It was easy to see who was the boss here. Everyone deferred to Master T. She really had to have another name to call him by if she was going to see him in the vanilla world, which it looked like she would.

How had he known about Ghana?

“We’ll be fine,” Master T replied. “The security system seems up to date, but I’m not happy with all the windows. I’m going to have a discussion with my charge about moving this someplace more secure tomorrow. You’re dismissed. And Theo, I expect you to talk to Erin or I’ll have to. I know she’s used to the way your brother runs an op, but I expect more. And I don’t expect that your personal relationship is going to cause any more trouble.”

“Of course not, Sir.” Erin was practically standing at attention.

Theo nodded. “We’ll take care of the situation.”

He led her back to their bedroom, his hand finding hers.

“You didn’t have to be so mean to her. She was trying to get some time alone with her boyfriend.” Erin hadn’t been alone with Theo very much because Faith was always around.

Master T stared at her. “She could have gotten you killed.”

“She wasn’t on duty. She’s supposed to be my friend now. I told her to go with Theo.”

“And she listened to you when she shouldn’t have.” He let that settle for a moment before he continued. “I wasn’t being mean, Faith. I was being their boss. It doesn’t matter that Erin’s employment as your bodyguard ended when you left Africa. She should have been watching out for you until I could. And now they’re back on the clock and they will answer to me.”

“It all seems very military.”

“And you have a problem with the military?”

Well, that answered one question she’d had. She’d wondered how he’d gotten into this particular career. She’d kind of been afraid to ask given the fact that she wasn’t overly fond of military types. She knew it was all psychological. She really liked Erin. She told herself it was because Erin was the exception, but Faith knew that wasn’t true. Erin still acted like she was in the Army half the time, and it didn’t bother Faith at all.

Men. It was men in uniform that bothered her.

“Let’s simply say I’ve run afoul of a couple of military men in my time.”

There was a long pause. “That wasn’t military that took you, Faith. It was a group of criminals.”

“They called themselves an army.” They’d worn camouflage. Of course, she also knew a real army didn’t have little boys carrying weapons almost bigger than they were. Little boys who had pointed those guns at her, who had killed her staff without thought or remorse.

“They weren’t,” T said with authority. “The team that escorted you home after you were released, they were military. How did you feel about them?”

“Honestly, they scared me, too. I was grateful, but I think I’d seen far too much death by that point. If I never see another gun again, I could be happy.” She took a deep breath, trying to banish the memories. “How do you know about this? I thought it was all classified.”

“Nothing is truly classified. When Ian asked me to meet you, I looked you up. When I didn’t find everything I wanted, I dug deeper.”

“Why would you dig deeper?” Their relationship had an end date stamped plainly on it. Most men she knew would simply let it be since they wouldn’t be around her for more than a few weeks, a month at most.

“Because I’ve learned that when something looks too good to be true, it usually is. I want to talk to you about our contract.”

Her stomach clenched. She’d had a nice evening with him after her near murder and then him having to clean up after the attacker’s actual murder. She’d already proven to be trouble. She’d told herself all night long that it was best to separate business from pleasure, but the idea of keeping a wall between herself and Master T didn’t sit well. Still, she had to be practical. “I don’t know that’s such a good idea anymore, do you?”

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” he replied. “I think it’s more important now than it was before. Are you afraid of me?”

She wanted to lie. She wanted to stand there and tell him yes because it would prove that she was halfway intelligent. She’d seen how deadly the man was. Within two minutes of being in his presence, there had been a dead body at her feet. “No. I know I should be. Why on earth would you think I’m too good to be true?”

He huffed and then turned and opened the fridge, coming back with a beer. “Let’s see, you’re from a wealthy family, but you’re not pretentious or snobby. The fact that you’re friends with Erin tells me that.”

“I never really fit in with my peers.” The kitchen suddenly seemed too small for the two of them. It hadn’t been so intimate when Erin and Theo had been here, but she was very aware of how alone she was with Master T.

He stepped closer to her, his eyes on her face. Those blue orbs seemed to hold her so she couldn’t look away from him. “You’re stunningly beautiful, but you don’t seem to know it.”

“I definitely don’t.” She wasn’t the beauty in the family. Hope was. Hope cared about things like makeup and hair. Faith’s fingernails were cut to the nub and unpainted.

T’s hand came out, brushing back a stray lock of hair. When his fingertips grazed her skin, she fought not to shiver. “You’re smart and kind and surprise, you’re also submissive when it comes to sex. You, Doc, are pretty much exactly what I would ask for if I was putting together the perfect female. So I’m not sure I trust that you’re real.”

How was she supposed to respond to that? “You’re…incredibly attractive.”

His lips curled up. “Not perfect for you though. Let’s see if I can find my flaws. I’m not well educated. I work a job that most would consider dangerous. You prefer your danger to come in the form of germs and bacteria. And I’m ex-military and mean. That’s strike three, Doc. Am I out?”

He was close. Really close. He hadn’t been this close since that moment in the alley outside Neiman Marcus. Of course, they’d also been standing over a dead body, and there wasn’t one of those here now. Just her and Master T. Standing really close together so that she could smell the sandalwood of his aftershave again.

All it would take would be to tilt her head up slightly and he could plant those lips on hers. Hadn’t she been dreaming about it for weeks? She’d wanted nothing more but to know what it felt like to be in this man’s arms. From the moment she’d turned on her computer and seen him on her screen, with his gorgeous face and quick mind, she’d dreamed about this moment.

“What do you want me to call you? Uhm, besides Master T. In the vanilla world, I mean. Should I call you Tim?” It came out all breathy when she’d meant it to be an intellectual question, not a “hey, I need something personal to call you in bed when you’re taking me roughly” sort of question.

“Call me Ten, Faith.”

“Ten? Like the number?”

“As in Tennessee. It’s the nickname I grew up with. And yes, that’s like the state.” He took a step back, his jaw tightening as though he didn’t like where the conversation was heading.

“It’s an unusual nickname.” She needed to know more. Now that she was here with him, she could see that they’d both kept their conversations to this point light and flirty. She knew he was a Cowboys fan. He knew she’d gone to the University of Texas at Austin and managed to never actually attend a football game. They’d talked about how they’d gotten into the lifestyle and told a few stories of some of the crazy things they’d seen.

She didn’t know if he had a family. She didn’t know where he’d gotten a name like Tennessee.

Ten’s eyes focused, as though steeling himself to get through something unpleasant. “When they found me, they weren’t sure what to name me so the social workers nicknamed me Tennessee. Later they changed it to Timothy on the registered birth certificate, but the nickname stuck. The bin they found me in was at a diner close to the state line. In a tiny town called Gayleburg. I was happy they chose to name me after the state and not the town.”

“Bin? What are you talking about?”

He leaned back, taking a long sip of beer. “I suppose you should know what you’re getting into. I don’t have a family, Faith. I was raised by the state most of my life. I was found a few hours after I was born. My mother wasn’t particularly interested in having a child so she dumped me in a trash bin outside a diner. A homeless man was dumpster diving and he found me. Got me to a hospital. I was there for a while. There’s a lot of paperwork that goes along with adopting a kid. Most parents wouldn’t touch me because of the legalities.”

“Because if the father came forward, he would have the right to his child as long as he hadn’t helped get rid of you.” She was stunned. She saw horrible things happen all the time in Africa. It was hard to understand how they could happen here where there was so much wealth. Of course the wealth wasn’t for everyone. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“You’re tenderhearted.” He reached up again and brushed away a tear she hadn’t realized she’d shed. “You shouldn’t be. You should be hard after what happened to you. You should have screamed today, Faith.”

And get more people killed? That was what haunted her about Ghana. The people who had died because she’d tried to run. It had been an instinct. Run. Hide. Live. How many people would have lived if she’d stood her ground? “He could have hurt other people.”

He was back in her space again, looming over her. She could feel the heat from his body. If she took a step forward, her chest would touch his and he would likely know exactly how hard her nipples were. What kind of woman was she that she could hear his story and still be so aroused just being close to him? She should be feeling sympathy, not heat between her legs.

“You should understand that you’re my first priority. Your safety is my job now. Until we figure out who’s coming after you and why, I’m going to make the calls and the decisions and you’re going to follow me.”

“I thought we’d already agreed to that.”

“We agreed I would entertain you for the next few weeks.”

“Entertain?”

“Isn’t that what submission is for you, Faith? You want me to make the decisions, but you want to be pleased with them. If we’re going out to eat, you want me to pick the restaurant, but a good Master in your mind would select something that pleases you. I ordered wine for you tonight not because I wanted to force my will on you, but because I happen to know you like a white wine, not the red that would have gone with your filet. You’re not really looking for a Dom. You’re looking to role-play. Tell me something, have you ever truly submitted to a man?”

Wow. That was judgey. And might point out why her last Dom had left. “I can’t help but be who I am, Sir. I suppose you’re right. I do view it as a form of entertainment and relaxation and yes, I likely would have been disappointed if you had ordered red wine for me. It gives me reflux.”

She tossed it out because she wasn’t sure it mattered anymore that her digestive issues might make her seem less than sexy.

“You’re used to being in charge,” Ten explained. “I’m simply trying to understand you. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. People need different things to complete them. You want the fantasy Dom.”

“If by saying fantasy Dom you mean I want a man who cares enough to know what I like and who wants me to have it, then yes. I want that fantasy.”

“But you want it without having to ask for it,” he accused.

“I didn’t have to ask for the wine tonight. You’d already figured it out.”

“Did you thank me for it?”

“Thank you. And yes, at the time I did say thank you. I also thanked you for saving me. I’m not sure what else you want.” She was starting to get irritated. He was talking in circles around her. This was exactly what she didn’t want from a man. She didn’t want this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was missing something, that she wasn’t good enough.

“And that’s what I mean by role-play. You want your Dom to instinctively know what you need, but you don’t want to give him the same courtesy. You want a man who seems to be dominant, but you’re still completely in control. I’m having this conversation with you because while I might have been willing to play along in the beginning, everything changed this afternoon. You should understand that I won’t allow you control in this aspect. I am in charge of the operation and of you. I will monitor you twenty-four seven. I will be informed of where you go and what you do, and I will select the guards to go with you when I can’t. Every aspect of your life will come under my jurisdiction and with only one real goal in mind—you alive at the end of the mission. So I think we need to talk about our contract because it will have two parts. I’ll be playing two parts, but understand the guard will always trump the lover.”

“You make it sound like I’m hiring you to play both. I’m not hiring a lover.” Was she? It had seemed like a fun thing to do. Find a Dom. Spend some time with him. Enjoy something with no strings for once in her life. Now it seemed cheap.

She had to decide between the guardian and the lover. Or she had to pack it up and go home and give herself over to her father and his brand of oppressive care.

“Faith, I’m trying to be honest with you.”

She nodded. “And I thank you for it. I think I’ll sleep on it. Do you have everything you need, Sir?”

He stared at her and for a moment she thought he was going to argue, but he finally nodded and finished off his beer. “Yes. I’ll be on the couch if you need anything.”

He nodded her way and walked out.

She needed to start the day over. She needed for things to not get so fucked up. She’d been happy thinking everything was fine. She’d been looking forward to weeks of not having to make decisions, of being taken care of.

Of pretending someone gave a damn.

Foolish. She was utterly and completely foolish and she needed to tell Master T…Ten in the morning that she was going home to Houston.