Cherished: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

“I kind of want to see what it would be like to have a Dom.”
    “Are you serious? Because Mitch told me you’ve been very academic about it.”
    “Yeah, that seems safer than opening myself up. Also, the Doms I’ve worked with haven’t called to me. It’s not that they’re bad. I like Jesse a lot, but he’s strictly a friend, and Mitch seems a little cold to me. I would be all over Alex McKay, but the marriage thing is kind of sacred.”
    “So you don’t do married guys?”
    She didn’t like the hardness in his voice, but she couldn’t quite figure out how to respond beyond the obvious. “No. I guess that would be a hard limit. I don’t date anyone attached to other people. I don’t date a lot at all.”
    He wiped his hands off on a towel and moved around the bar. “I don’t either. Between work and moving, I haven’t had a chance and really, I’m not looking for anything serious.”
    Well, at least he was honest. The one guy she was seriously interested in wasn’t serious at all. Story of her life. She nodded. “Understood.”
    She put the wine glass down.
    “Hey, I’m trying to be honest here, so why do I feel like I just became the bad guy?”
    She shook her head. “Not at all.” It wasn’t like he’d offered himself to her. “I think it’s good to be upfront and open. You know I really should get to work. I didn’t get my word count in today.”
    She was going to make a fool of herself if she stayed much longer. She liked him. She liked how he talked about his sisters. She liked that he could make a salad and kept making sure she had what she needed. It was a recipe for disaster.
    “I thought you were staying for dinner.” He moved in, taking up all the space. This close, she could see that he had a five-o’clock shadow across his perfect jaw. She was a sucker for a square jaw. Damn it. Even his ears were hot. She kind of wanted to lick them to see if he was ticklish there.
    “I think that’s a bad idea.”
    “Because I’m not looking for anything serious?” Will asked. “Does everything have to be serious? Do you go into every relationship looking to get married?”
    “No. I don’t think about getting married much.” Her parents’ marriage was so bad she often couldn’t stomach the idea. “But I’m getting too old to do the one-night stand thing.”
    He moved in closer and she nearly forgot to breathe. He smelled so good. Clean and masculine. Sandalwood. He’d likely washed with it. All over. A vision of him soaping that body made her mouth water. “I didn’t say anything about one-night stands. I said maybe you shouldn’t take every relationship so seriously. Bridget, I want to spend time with you.”
    And her nipples were hard. Yeah, they wanted to spend time with him, but her brain was still in charge. “My sister’s getting married in Hawaii.”
    Oh, her brain was a traitor, too.
    He loomed over her, his body inches away. His lips curled up in the sexiest grin. “Really? That sounds like fun. When is that happening?”
    He was going to kiss her. His lips were going to touch hers and she had the sudden and deep fear that she wouldn’t be the same afterward. Still, she couldn’t quite seem to move, couldn’t get the will worked up to step back. She only managed to run her tongue across her lips to make sure they weren’t bone dry. “Soon. Next week.”
    He sighed, his hands finding her shoulders. “Oh, I guess you’re going to be out of town then. I was hoping to see you while I was on vacation next week.”
    She was mesmerized by his eyes. This close, she could see how green they were. His hands moved to her neck. “You could come with me. I need a date.”
    Now she was kind of happy everyone else had turned her down. It seemed right to ask him, good to be here with him.
    There was the sound of a phone ringing.
    He shook his head as his hands sank into her hair. The way he was taking his time did something for her. The men she’d been with before had all