Page 19 of Worth the Risk

There was an amused glint in the steel gray when his eyes returned to hers. “That’s not to say I don’t butt up against limits when I feel a sub is ready for more.”

“You’ve done this often, it sounds like.”

“I’m a good deal older than you, so naturally I’ve had more time to explore. Is that another reason you stayed away, Bella? The age difference isn’t something I can dial back, I’m afraid.”

She didn’t hesitate with her truthful answer. “Actually, that was the least of my concerns.”

When his face relaxed, her tension lessoned. That he thought the age gap was their biggest obstacle was telling.

His fingers left her chin to brush along her jaw and tuck a long spiral curl that had come loose from her ponytail behind her ear. The gesture, so nurturing and familiar, made it hard for her to reconcile the sadist she’d conjured in her mind with the gentle dominant in front of her.

“I’m not asking you to commit to anything,” he murmured, the honey-smooth deepness of his voice sliding over her edgy nerves. “I want to get to know you better. We can take things slow and see where it goes. What do you say?”

Bella stopped short of licking her lips again. Instead, she bit the bottom one to keep it from trembling as her heart pounded. She’d be taking a risk, but he was the most intriguing man who’d ever taken an interest in her. Most had been boys, really. Or bullies.

Against her better judgment and hardly in keeping with her safety plan, she threw caution to the wind.

“I’d like to see where this could lead, too,” she said in a voice that would have been inaudible with the heart-pounding music and the hum of conversation and laughter if he weren’t standing so close. More loudly, she disclosed, “I work three in a row, but I’m off on Thursday.”

Dan’s smile flashed briefly, his eyes lighting up. “How about dinner on the River Walk? Then we can take a stroll by the water, under the moonlight.”

“Oh, yes, please. I’ve heard all about it but haven’t been yet.”

“Perfect. You’ll get to know me better and, as a bonus, see a little more of the city you’ve chosen to call home. Give me your address, and I’ll pick you up at seven.”

Bella froze, trying to come up with a way to prevent that from happening.

“I’m not expecting you to ghost me again,” he said, incorrectly assuming the source of her hesitation. “It’s what a man of my years does when he takes a beautiful woman out for dinner.”

She bowed her head again. “It’s not that. It’s just...”

He caught her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze once more. “Open and honest,” he reminded her. “It’s just what, Bella?”

“I was practically broke before finding this job. Where I’m living is only temporary.”

“Unless it’s in a motel in South Town, how bad could it be?”

She stiffened, stricken that he had pegged her correctly yet again.

He sobered instantly, all teasing and joking aside. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

This time she wasn’t fast enough to stop it, and her tongue slipped out, gliding quickly along both lips.

“Fuck me. You aren’t kidding.” He closed his eyes, and she could actually see the play of emotions on his face—shock, horror, anger—before he regained his calm and opened them again. “Whether or not we make something of this, you can’t stay there, Bella. A woman alone... Hell, no. It’s one of the worst areas in town.”

“It was all I could afford except for the back seat of my car, which is really uncomfortable, believe me.”

Her careless disclosure that she’d done it before—more times than she’d liked, but he didn’t need all the gory details—made him turn pale. “I was planning to look at apartments this weekend,” she rushed to say.

“Good thing I’m free.”

“What?”

“I’m going with you,” he declared.

Funny, she didn’t recall inviting him.

“I’ll put out some feelers of my own and pick you up at 9 a.m. Anything we find is better than South Town, and we’ll move you in on Sunday.”

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