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down to his stomach and back to his neck.
    Then there were the strong forearms sticking out below the rolled up sleeves. She giggled as a ridiculous image of Popeye popped into her head. Adam most definitely ate his spinach because his hands were huge. She should’ve noticed when he had his hand wrapped around her wrist but she’d been too busy trying to control her breathing and act unaffected to notice particulars.
    Is it true what they say about men with big hands and big feet?
    She shifted in her seat and crossed her legs, squeezing her thighs tightly together.
    Thank God for the table. Without it, she would be embarrassing herself trying to determine whether or not there was any truth to the saying by getting a good look at his crotch.
    Most disconcerting of all was his laugh. Had she ever heard it before? True, he didn’t smile a whole lot, but she must have heard him laugh at some point. She just hadn’t noticed her chest vibrating to its deep resonance.
    Since Nate had called ahead and reserved the back room, he and Adam felt safe enough to let their guard down. In this relaxed state, joking and laughing with her crew, she could see where some women might find Adam attractive.
    Good thing she wasn’t one of those women.
    She shifted her gaze from Adam to the Renaissance painting on the wall behind him.
    Her chest tightened and a lump rose in her throat. How did a simple two-tone image of a couple clearly in love, elicit such overwhelming emotion? The man peered into his lover’s eyes as he reached to caress her face, while she gazed back with absolute adoration. His possessiveness was depicted as clearly as her devotion. Although there was nothing to indicate it was a picture of a Dominant and his submissive, she was left wondering.
    Where had that thought come from?
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    She must be smashed. What would make her think those would be the dynamics between a Dominant and his submissive? Wasn’t it only about power and control without any emotion or devotion involved?
    What would it be like to have someone think she was the most precious thing in the world? How would it feel to be cherished?
    Her gaze slipped to Adam and she found him looking at her like a lion prepared to pounce on dinner. She shivered and dropped her gaze to the table. He may want her, but he only wanted her physically. And even in that capacity he only wanted to control her.
    She reached for her bottle of wine and considered the notion he probably wouldn’tknow how to show true affection.
    But even as she had the thought, a voice in her head cried liar and a memory swam through the haze. She closed her eyes and let the movie run, remembering the long-ago night with startling clarity.
    She’d run out of laundry detergent and had gone to Nate’s to borrow some. Adam had been sitting in a chair directly across from the front door with a full-figured blonde on her knees at his feet. She hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, other than to observe what a pig Adam was for sitting in the chair while the woman sat on the floor, but now it made sense. She must have been one of his subs.
    As she’d come out of the laundry room her gaze had swept back to Adam. And this time she’d stopped in her tracks. He’d been leaning over, feeding the woman from his plate with tenderness she’d never have thought him capable of showing. For some stupid reason her chest had tightened and she’d had to fight the urge to cry.
    As a similar cloud of sadness floated around her now, she heard chuckling and Nate’s deep voice. “Nik, let go of the bottle.” She opened her eyes and found her hand clenched tightly around the neck of the bottle, to the point it should’ve cracked.
    “Nobody’s gonna drink your wine. Relax.”
    “Yeah, well, one can never be too careful.” She laughed. “Especially with a group of supposed friends like this.”

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    Alannah Lynne
    Only after she’d