Page 19 of Danger and Dominance
Instead of losing interest in her, he must have gone and looked up how long Master Law had to make good on his threat, then waited it out.That’s what she’d assumed.It had made her feel relieved that he wasn’t out there hurting some other woman while simultaneously terrified he was so focused on her.
He’d also protected himself by not going after Master Law or anyone else from the club again.Even when he’d come back, he wasn’t doing anything that actually hurt anyone.The closest he’d come to doing something that he could be in real trouble for was slashing Mistress Olivia’s tires, but they couldn’t prove that was him.
“So, you don’t think he’ll bother them?”she asked, desperately wanting it to be true.
Jensen hesitated.
“I don’t think he’ll be dumb enough to do anything that could get him jailed.”He gave her a sidelong look.“As you know, there’s still a lot he can do that won’t put him in jail, but at the very least, I don’t think you have to worry about him deliberately hurting anyone.”
That made her feel better.As much as she didn’t want him bothering anyone at all, Jensen’s frank assessment of the threat level was a relief.He didn’t try to give her false platitudes or empty reassurances that Don would leave everyone alone… but he truly believed Don wouldn’t hurt anyone.
There was that.
If he hurt someone because of her… she’d been in therapy long enough to know that logically, he was making the decision, and it was because of him and not because of her, but that wouldn’t stop the guilt she felt.She’d already tried to pay for Mistress Olivia’s new tires and been roundly rejected.No one blamed her for Don’s actions… but she still felt the guilt.
If she hadn’t gotten involved with him in the first place…
If she’d seen the red flags at some point…
If she’d gotten away sooner…
If she’d just kept her mouth shut at Stronghold instead of trying to safe word.
It had been a call for help, but she’d done it without thinking through the consequences for other people.She’d done it without thinking about how everyone else might be affected.She felt incredibly selfish when she thought too much about it.
All she’d been thinking about at that moment was herself, how much Don was hurting her, and hoping someone would make it stop.Hoping someone would come rescue her.Iris, Master Law, and the rest of the Stronghold members had, at a cost to themselves.
“Cassidy.Eat.”
For the first time, Jensen’s Dom side showed through, and Cassidy’s fork was halfway to her mouth before she realized what she was doing.She’d heard the command, and her hand had moved of its own accord.
Shoving the forkful of pancake into her mouth, she stared at Jensen.He might have a boyish face, he might be the youngest of David’s team, and his nickname might be ‘Baby,’ but he was definitely a Dom.Meeting her gaze, seeing her taking a bite, he nodded approvingly and went back to drying off the pan he’d just washed.
Well, damn.
Even knowing that appearances could be deceiving, she hadn’t entirely expected that of him.He was so happy-go-lucky.Especially compared to some of his team.Like David.
She wanted to ask Jensen about David, but she couldn’t think of a question that wouldn’t sound like she was fishing for information.Because, of course, that’s exactly what she would be doing.Maybe if she asked about the team as a group?
“How long have you been with Black Fox Security?”she asked.That was safe, right?
“Since it started.”Jensen hung the pan up in its place on the potholder hanging from the wall before turning to face her, wiping off his hands.“Lincoln was our commander in the field, and when he left, we went with him.It took a bit of time since we weren’t all able to leave at once, but we all knew we wanted to join him.”
“Kincaid said you each have your own specialties?”
“We do.We’re all pretty well-rounded, but we have our things.Like Mason with psychology and profiling.Claudia’s our sniper, and we all take turns being her spotter, but Drew is the best at it.He’s also the muscle when we need it.”
“What about you?”
“I’m the sneaky one.Like a ninja.”Jensen winked at her.
That made her laugh.But he’d still left out the person she really wanted to hear about.Why was she so interested in David?She couldn’t really say, other than her instant attraction to him.Which was not a good reason to be trying to find out more about him.It would be a good reason to stay away.
Her ‘picker’ when it came to men sucked, as evidenced by Don.
On the other hand, if she was going to be protected by a team of people, she wanted to know more about them.That was reasonable.
“Does David have a specialty?”Since she’d asked about Jensen specifically, it couldn’t hurt to ask about the final team member.Nothing suspicious at all.
