Page 1 of Mine To Break
Chapter One
It wasn’t often that the Mistress of Dallas went on a vanilla date. But for Colby Wade, a gorgeous cop with a cocky smile, Malinda Kannes decided she’d make an exception.
Besides, after their little impromptu demonstration earlier this week when they were first introduced, she had to think that maybe he wasn’t as vanilla as he thought. That was true of most people she’d met over the years, and she’d come to believe that everybody had a kink somewhere on the scale. Though they might not admit it.
As Executive Producer and part owner of VCONN Enterprises, a cable channel catering to the more adventurous viewers in Dallas, she’d made a name for herself astheDomme in Dallas. Most of the time she could walk around the city without anyone recognizing her unless shewantedthem to, so she hoped that would be the case tonight. It wasn’t like she was showing up for this date dressed in a latex corset and five-inch heels, twirling a spiked dog collar around her index finger. Though the thought brought a smile to her lips as she moved through the darkened dining area.
The look on Colby’s face would no doubt be priceless. Within the hour, their competitor station KDSX would probably have been waiting outside to snap pictures of the narcotics detective and Mistress exiting the restaurant. Way more fame and notoriety than a tight-lipped conservative cop would care to draw. Combined with the tasteful but suggestive commercial he’d helped shoot for their friend’s new designer line, he’d be the talk of the town.
So instead of blatant Domme attire, she’d worn one of her favorite dresses created by Vicki for herBound by Madame Vlabel. Classically elegant lines hugged her hourglass figure in a luminous gold. Vicki said she’d chosen the color to bring out the amber highlights in Mal’s eyes; Mal had chosen it tonight because she always felt like a prowling tigress in this dress. Powerful, liquid-gold sunlight barely contained in a feminine svelte package.
Evidently Colby saw the same thing as she neared the quiet alcove she’d requested for their date. Slowly, he stood, his gaze locked on her. Not afraid at all—but definitely wary and bespelled by the seductive sway of her hips. Tall and lean with close-cropped brown hair and hard cop eyes, his toughness as a former Marine couldn’t be disguised by the navy suit he wore. In fact, the jacket strained at the shoulders and through the biceps, warning that he’d put on even more muscle since he’d bought it.
He pulled her chair out for her, but it wasn’t a submissive gesture. Just good Southern manners. He had an easy Texan drawl and the way he said“ma’am”was like a lover’s caress, whether he meant it that way or not.
“I wasn’t sure that you’d still want to meet me.” She kept her voice light, her power under wraps. She didn’t need to make a display or grand gesture. Not here, not yet. They might never get that far for her to test the waters with him that much. Right now, they were just a man and a woman meeting to talk. Casual. The barest of acquaintances.
He certainly wasn’t applying to be her next submissive.
He sat back down across from her. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away.”
She wanted to ask why her, why now? Why did this intensity blaze in the dark blue of his eyes, shimmering in the candlelight? But the waitress came to take their orders. He ordered a beer and steak, still mooing. She wanted the mushroom risotto, a glass of pinot, and decided to splurge and put her order in for cream brûlée. The last time she’d eaten here, they’d run out of her favorite dessert before she’d placed her order.
“How well do you know Elias?” Colby asked.
“I know that he’s your partner and Vicki’s fiancé, but I’ve never met him socially.” She could tell him about body language, which he might actually buy as a cop. Detective Elias Reyes was top dog, alpha, not a submissive bone in his body. Very much like Colby. Though this man tempted her, where she’d never even glanced Reyes’s way, even if he hadn’t been attached.
Colby took a pull from his long-neck bottle, somehow managing to keep an eye on her the whole time. “He tried to warn me off from this.”
Of course he’d warn his partner off from a woman like her, though his fiancée was no pushover herself. Mal widened her eyes and let her lips quirk. “From this? A nice, casual dinner date?”
“From you.”
He didn’t mince words, which she liked. She also liked that he made his own decisions rather than listen to his buddy’s advice. Though maybe Elias had a point. “Victor tried to warn me off too.”
“Vicki’s brother? Why would he care?”
“I don’t know much about how cops work, but I’m guessing there’s a hierarchy, whether it’s understood or formal.”
Colby nodded. “Sure. I was the new man on the totem pole for quite some time and everybody dumped their shit on me. Now I get to dump my shit on the new guy.”
“Elias is pretty high up that totem pole, wouldn’t you say?”
“Sure. He’s got the experience and the track record to make lieutenant.”
“Is that the top guy in your squad?” When he nodded, she replied, “Then in my world, Victor’s the lieutenant. He’s the Master. Everybody in our world, who plays in this city, knows who he is, if nothing else, by reputation alone.”
“Your world,” Colby said slowly. “You mean…” He looked around but the waitress was nowhere to be seen. “BDSM. Where do you rank? In that world?”
She smiled faintly. “I’m number two, second only to him.”
“So you have to take his orders?”
She blew out a disgusted breath and picked up her wine glass. “That’s exactly why Victor thought this was a mistake. You know nothing about our world. He doesn’t want either of us to be hurt.”
“I’d never hurt a woman, Mal. You know that, right?”
The solemn weight of his voice sank through her body like a stone tossed into a bottomless lake. So sweet. So misguided. “Sugar, it’s not me that Victor’s really worried about.”
