Under His Command (For His Pleasure, Book 17) Read Online Free PDF

the music coming through the speakers was loud and raucous, and the people drinking and talking were just young New Yorkers. It didn’t have the feel of the kind of place that someone like Easton Rather would hang out.
    Kennedy’s confidence started to dwindle.
    Meanwhile, as she made her way through the bar to try and find a back room where a private event might take place, she was getting plenty of interested looks from the single men in the room.
    Kennedy felt claustrophobic. Even when she was a teenager, boys had made plenty of overtures. But she’d been shy and her parents had insisted that she shouldn’t date until she was sixteen. By the time she’d reached the promised age, Kennedy had become uncomfortably shy and developed a reputation as a brainy snob who didn’t like anybody.
    Girls and boys alike had resented her. They’d even circulated rumors about her being a lesbian, or an undercover cop. It had been ridiculous and laughable, but it had hurt.
    She’d never really regained her confidence in social settings as a result. Even at MIT, where she’d been surrounded by other young people who’d undergone similar experiences, Kennedy had always felt isolated and different.
    A couple of students had asked her out on dates and she’d gone, but nothing had ever progressed very far. Truth be told, she’d never even been tongue kissed—just a few quick chaste pecks on the mouth.
    The more years went by without having gained any kind of romantic experience, the more Kennedy had begun to feel that it was just never going to happen for her.
    And yet here she was, in a crowded New York bar, surrounded by willing men who seemed interested, and Kennedy felt the same old feelings of insecurity overwhelming her.
    She focused instead on finding that elusive secret room where Easton Rather would be found. Kennedy strolled the length of the bar as casually as possible and then entered the small hallway that led to the restrooms. There was a door marked employees at the every end of the hall, but that was it.
    There was no obvious door to any potentially secret rooms.
    “Hey sweetheart, can I buy you a drink?” a man said, as she came back out of the hallway. He was a shorter, balding man that looked too old to be in a place like this.
    She smiled at him nervously. “Sorry, I’m—I’m just looking for someone.”
    “Boyfriend?” he asked, putting a hand briefly on her forearm and then taking it away.
    “No, just—“
    “Well then, let me buy you a drink. One drink. You shouldn’t have to look for anyone, they should come to you.” His hand returned to her forearm and stayed put.
    Kennedy quickly backed away. “Sorry, I really can’t. Sorry.”
    “Just one drink. Come on.” He smiled, but she was already continuing to move away and then she was simply walking across the room to get as far from that man as she could.
    Music had started up, and it was loud. The bar was getting crowded.
    She was nervous, wanting suddenly to make her way outside and get some fresh air. Besides, she thought, there was nothing and nobody here to do with Easton Rather.
    It had clearly all been a fantasy, something she’d concocted in order to continue her dream of working for Red Jameson.
    Staring mostly at the floor, Kennedy pushed through the throng as best she could, until suddenly she pushed into somebody who didn’t move out of her way very easily.
    “Excuse me,” the man said.
    First, she noticed he was wearing expensive leather shoes and dress pants. This was very different from what most of the people in the bar were wearing. As she scanned him quickly, she saw that he was in a full suit, complete with tie. His hair was slick, and his glasses trendy.
    “I’m just trying to get outside,” she apologized.
    The man didn’t reply for a long moment. And then he said, “You should watch more closely where you’re going.” Something about it struck her, and she glanced at his hands, his delicate watch, and saw that