Sweet Discipline Read Online Free PDF Page B

you?”
    “How do you know all that?” she demanded.
    He didn’t answer, though it was increasingly obvious someone had done a thorough job researching her. “You are,” he referred to the measurements Angela had taken. “Five foot seven,” he glanced at her groin, “a natural brunette, and currently you are thirty-two pounds above preferred weight. Hmm, a pound per year.”
    He flipped a page. “You’re generous to your friends, ambitious, creative in your recommendations. You are hard-working and generous with your associates. You support several charities and give them both time and money.” He nodded 22
    Sweet Discipline
    approvingly. “You are also stubborn, like your comforts and are in need of personal direction.”
    He studied her face. “You’re a complex woman, Norris. Many-sided, and some of them contradictory. Your family and friends have warm feelings for you, yet you have a smart mouth and a temper that gets the better of you. Outside this building, you are regarded with professional and personal respect.”
    Warmth flooded through her. Her shoulders straightened.
    “Inside these walls, however, you are nothing. Nothing until you empower the inner woman, the one who can control herself and her destiny.”
    Warmth fled. Now resentment and anger warred inside her. “But—”
    “I have not given you permission to speak.”
    She bit her lip to hold back her exasperation. She heard him turn a page, then another. “You don’t exercise. You indulge yourself with food and alcohol. Given the choice of walking or taking a cab, you ride. In fact, you’re quoted as saying walk is a four letter word.” He studied her, as if cataloging her physical imperfections. “There is no suggestion that you use drugs.”
    “I don’t. Never have.”
    “A point in your favor. However, you are lazy, indolent and disrespectful of your body.”
    She was really beginning to hate that deep voice detailing her flaws. What would he do if the positions were reversed, if he were down on the floor with his knees breaking and she stood above him reciting his faults? Taking comfort from the image of him cringing as she blasted his autocratic manner, his lack of personality, his coldness, she couldn’t hide a smile.
    “Something amuses you?”
    She was silent.
    “You may answer me.”
    Still, she said nothing.
    “Very well. Your first deliberate act of disobedience.”
    She glanced up at him, letting him see her grin.
    “And second.” He stood. “You may rise. Come.”
    He walked to the door without looking to see if she followed him. It was only when she was two steps down the hall that she remembered she was nude. Too late now, but she walked more quickly.
    He opened the door to her suite and once they were both inside her suite, he locked it.
    That made her nervous. “Leave that door open.”
    Ignoring her, he crossed to the closed interior door, took a key from his pocket and unlocked it. He went in, flipped on the lights, turned and waited for her.
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    Uneasily, glancing at her bedroom, which belatedly she realized had no door, she moved toward him with apprehensive steps.
    He waited, saying nothing. She saw a large armoire on one of the padded walls and exercise apparatus like those she’d find in any upscale gym. A cycle, weight bench, treadmill, several machines and bits of equipment she couldn’t identify but made her stomach hurt. There was also a metal bar stretching above her head from one wall to the other, a comfortable looking chair and an exercise mat on the floor. If all the client rooms were fitted out with individual exercise rooms and top-of-the-line equipment, no wonder the fees were so steep. She knew she’d be spending a lot of time in here. Ugh.
    He gestured her to the middle of the room, then locked this door, too. How come he got keys and she didn’t? The meaning suggested to her did nothing to ease her mind.
    She waited, discomfiture coiling in her as without a word, he