Trust An Even Hand

by Chloe Cox

  Except that he knew if there was anyone who deserved to be happy, to have a life without fear, it was Charlene Bastien. She’d worked hard, she’d made something of herself without anyone’s help, and then when she’d gotten a pile of money handed to her, she’d gone ahead and given it away. And it had cost her her marriage.

  Luke didn’t know much about marriage, and he’d never planned to. But he was pretty damn sure it wasn’t supposed to work like that.

  Hell, even thinking about it got him all worked up.

  Which was why when he heard the crunch of tires on gravel behind him, he turned around looking for a fight.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Charlene was in a terrible mood as she drove back into her driveway, past the willow oaks that shielded the property, right up to the house.

  That is to say, she was in a terrible mood, on account of having proven Luke right back at Belinda’s Bridal by both not trusting anyone, and losing Olivia her dress. Then she drove up and saw a shirtless Luke Logan sweating in her front yard, and somehow the world didn’t seem quite so bad anymore.

  It’s just more of that Dom magic, she thought. She knew she should ignore it.

  But what red-blooded woman could ignore that?

  Whatever he’d been doing—digging up her yard again, by the looks of it—it had been hot, hard work, because he was covered in a sheen of sweat. It was impossible not to look, and to look hard. His tanned back was turned to her as she got out of the car, and she could see every strong, tight muscle in it sliding under his skin as he worked.

  When he turned around, he nearly took her breath away.

  Charlene couldn’t help herself. She let her gaze trail down his body, past his perfect chest and broad shoulders, down each rung of his eight-pack abs, until her eyes were guided by the strong, defined ‘v’ of…his side abs? What even were those, the lines that sloped down on either side of his abs, like an arrow pointing down? Whatever they were, they led her eyes to the spot she was most interested in.

  Charlene snapped herself out of it. She had to, or she would lose her mind right then and there. She forced herself to look up.

  And saw his face.

  Something was wrong. Luke had turned around like he was expecting a fight, his face dark, his eyes hard, his body ready. Strong arms like coiled steel cables ending in hard fists, his chest up, shoulders forward. He looked like a one-man army. He looked like he could take on the Hulk and still have some left over for her ex-husband. He was looking past her, around her, looking for the threat.

  And the raw power of Luke Logan left her speechless. Rattled. Stunned.

  Defenseless.

  And then he looked at her.

  Charlene couldn’t do anything but watch the immediate change come over him. Couldn’t do anything but observe as his body language changed instantly from “fight everything” to “protect” as he covered the distance between them in just a few powerful strides, as his eyes bored into hers, pinning her to the spot.

  “What happened?” he said. “Are you ok?”

  He stopped just short of her. Close enough to touch her.

  God, did she want him to touch her.

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  And Charlene found herself smiling. Just a little bit. But still—smiling.

  She saw his shoulders relax, his eyes warm, and her smile got a little bit bigger.

  “What, the security system didn’t tell you I was coming?” she teased.

  Luke raised a very Dommy eyebrow. “You gotta turn it on first.”

  And then he grinned.

  The two of them standing there, grinning at each other. It was so dumb, and so easy. And Charlene felt so much better.

  But the man standing in front of her was still a Dom.

  “Now tell me what happened,” Luke said.

  Yup. Definitely still a Dom.

  Charlene sighed. No point in fighting it.

  “You were right,” she said. “Jimmy got to Belinda, the woman who owns the bridal shop. I guess he is working with that Alan Crennel club, and they are trying to mess up the wedding, Lord knows why. Anyway, she won’t do the dress now.”

  Luke’s eyes narrowed, and Charlene shivered. She would have sworn she could feel it when he used his crazy Dom X-ray vision.

  “That’s not what I was right about,” he said. “Tell me.”

  “Fine,” Charlene said, skipping ahead to the part where he got it out of her. “You were right. You were right that I don’t trust anybody. I could have told her what Jimmy is like, but I didn’t see the point, and even though I was probably right, now Olivia doesn’t have a dress. So. That’s my fault, I guess.”

  She hadn’t actually thought that until she said it out loud, but now it rang true in her ears. Maybe Belinda would have changed her mind if Charlene had told her the truth. Maybe Olivia would still have a dress.

  Charlene looked up, sad again for the first time since she’d laid eyes on Luke.

  “I screwed up, didn’t I?” she said.

  “No,” Luke said, and the force of his voice surprised her. He took a half-step toward her, bringing them close enough to touch. To kiss.

  “If you could just trust everybody, it wouldn’t be hard,” Luke said. “And it wouldn’t be worth doing. The hard part is learning how to make that damn decision every time. But I trust you. I trust that you made the right decision today. And you’ll find another dress, because you’re you.”

  Charlene could do nothing but blink. Luke looked down at her, his eyes softening as that grin brought out the tiny lines around his eyes, and his one gorgeous dimple.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said. “That’s an order.”

  Now she had to blink, or she was going to cry. Just the fact that he had her back, that he believed her, was enough to make her speechless all over again.

  “You ok?” Luke asked again, more gently this time.

  Charlene nodded. “Oh, I’m ok,” she said, blinking hard. Get yourself together, woman.

  She looked up and down at the dirty, sexy, perfect man in front of her. Emphasis on dirty.

  “But I do need you to go clean up so I can feed you properly,” she said. “Like a human man.”

  “A human man?”

  Charlene laughed. “Instead of this…dirty Dom beast thing you have going on,” she said, waving her hand at his dirty hands, his sweaty chest, his…

  Not helping.

  He looked down at her, hard.

  “You haven’t seen dirty Dom beast, woman,” he rumbled.

  Then he grinned.

  Charlene swallowed, and tried to remember to breathe. Then she turned and walked back towards the house, as quickly as possible, trying to pretend the whole time that his words hadn’t just set her on fire.

  Charlene was right. Luke had to cool off.

  It was amazing how she could turn a bad day on a dime, just by showing up. Of course, first he’d seen that worry on her face, that hurt, and he’d reacted to that. But she had a handle on it. She was dealing with it.

  And then she’d just stayed the sexiest damn woman he’d ever seen.

  So Luke had been glad to head off to the shower, and not just because he knew Charlene Bastien was going to cook while he was in there. His iron self-control was tested every second he was around that woman, and he was still a man.

  As soon as the water hit him, he took his rock-hard cock in his hand, and he let go.

  Fuck. What he would do with that mouth of hers. That ass, the way it swayed as she walked away from him. That skin, the way it flushed when he looked at her right. Goddamn, everything about her made him want to hold her down and make her come screaming.

  He’d been dreaming about it. About stripping her down, spreading her wide, and burying himself in her up to the hilt. About the way he’d make her scream, about the way she’d feel, coming hard around this cock. About all the ways he could make her beg.

  He knew she needed direction, a guiding hand. A sub
that was unsure of herself, scared. He knew all of that, but this was beyond that. Beyond the head games, beyond the mental play of D/s.

  Just. Fucking. Animal.

  He wanted her. He wanted to claim her as his. He wanted to mark her so the whole damn world knew. He wanted to own her, and knew that as soon as he did, she’d own him too.

  What the fuck is happening to me? was the last thing he thought as he came, hard, all over the shower wall.

  Luke stood with his head bent under the water, letting it slide over his overheated skin while he waited for whatever was inside him to make itself known. That wasn’t something he’d ever felt before. That possession. It was new. It was interesting.

  It was dangerous.

  But it didn’t make a difference. He was still a Dom, still a man who knew who he was and what his limits were. Nothing had changed—he was here to protect Charlene Bastien. And he would be her Dom, sooner or later. But both of them knew that marriage or anything like it was a fantasy for people who were built for it. He’d take her as his sub, he’d bring her back to herself, and he’d enjoy the hell out of her while he did it.

  Firm but gentle. Strong but perceptive. He’d Dom her from a distance until he knew she was ready to submit.

  Just so long as he kept his own head on straight while he did it.

  Of course dinner was un-fucking-believably good. Like world-class good, and there was enough of it, too. That almost never happened for a man of his size. Luke hadn’t eaten like that since, well, the last time Charlene had cooked for him.

  He liked this. He liked being able to just sit with her, quiet. Content. Most people were nervous balls of energy around a Dom, and so was Charlene, at times. But right now?

  He looked at her, across the table. She was smiling a little, not even aware that she was happy.

  Luke’s Dom sense tingled.

  She’d looked like that when she was cooking, too. Charlene’s muscles had relaxed, her guard had come down. This was how she was comfortable expressing herself—cooking for people. It was where she felt safe.

  Luke wondered if it was the only thing that had felt safe. Hell, not even an asshole like Jimmy Walters could hide how he felt about Charlene’s food. No one rejected good cooking.

  Then he suddenly knew, without so much as needing to ask, that Jimmy had never appreciated any of it. Any of her. And the idea of Charlene feeling hurt and bewildered, of offering her love up and getting anything other than a reaction of goddamn awe, made him furious.

  He’d bet a whole lot of money that no one ever even saw how much she put into her cooking. Into taking care of people. And that she was used to it.

  That stops now.

  Luke raised his chin, just slightly. He knew that would be enough to get a sub’s full attention, and like she was attached to him by a lead, Charlene turned her head. It was beautiful, but he forced himself to focus, and made eye contact, hard. He wanted her to really hear this.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  Charlene blinked, and then her cheeks flushed. She smiled, then tried to cover it, looking down at her plate. Not quite stammering, but close.

  What he really wanted to do was throw her over his shoulder, take her upstairs, and make her come until she forgot how to speak, but she wasn’t ready—yet. For now he’d have to settle for “thank you.”

  But Charlene was a perfectly attuned sub, and the way her pupils began to dilate, the way her skin pebbled with gooseflesh, told him that she knew what he’d really meant.

  A low growl rose in his throat, and the pressure began to build at the base of his cock. He saw it rise in her, too. Saw her begin to fidget, saw her nipples tighten under her thin cotton top. Fuck.

  Suddenly Charlene shot up from her seat and began collecting her dishes with too much energy, no organization. Just needing to find a reason to move, to focus on something other than the arousal she was feeling. Running away from how she felt.

  “Stop,” he ordered.

  She did. Immediately. Froze with a plate in hand.

  Luke inhaled deeply, and filed that away for later.

  “Sit down,” he said.

  Carefully, Charlene sat down. Put the plate back on the table. Looked up, but not directly at him.

  Luke stood up, and started to gather the dishes. It was only fair. And this sub needed to get used to having feelings again.

  “You cook,” he said gravely. “I clean.”

  Then he grinned.

  Charlene’s smile was like a sunburst. She laughed softly to herself, started to toy with the napkin in her hands.

  “You thought you were in trouble, huh?” he said as he cleared.

  “Kind of,” she laughed. “I don’t even know.”

  “If you’d kept on after I told you to stop clearing, you would have been,” he said.

  “A man who helps out,” Charlene said. “Someone raised you right.”

  “I raised myself,” Luke said gruffly, then stopped.

  He frowned, and bent to put in the last of the dishes in the dishwasher. That was more personal than he ever got with a sub. With a friend, even. More than that, he’d taken himself off-guard. Said it without meaning to.

  That didn’t happen. Couldn’t happen, if he was going to obey his own rules, and be the Dom a sub like Charlene needed. Luke’s past wasn’t relevant to her future, and he’d make sure it stayed that way.

  “Besides,” he said, standing to his full height again, looking down at her, “we don’t have a service sub agreement yet.”

  Charlene had been watching him. Ever since he’d mentioned his past, he bet. She was attentive, nurturing. Part of what made her such a natural sub.

  But now there was something else. Obedience. Appreciation. Barely restrained lust.

  Luke balled his fists, strangled the growl in his throat. The things he was going to do to this woman, the ways he was going to make her come—he couldn’t fucking wait. With a whole lot of effort, he wrenched his animal self to heel, and put the Dom firmly in charge.

  “It’s time,” he said.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Time? Time for what?

  Charlene stared at Luke, standing there in her kitchen in a tank top and jeans, like a muscular, sexy tree that someone had hung some laundry on.

  God, that didn’t even make sense.

  Her brain had basically stopped working when he’d said, “It’s time.” She’d been thinking about all the things it felt like it was time for, and every single one of them involved her being naked and her kitchen table being defiled.

  Charlene didn’t trust herself to speak.

  And somehow, Luke saw that. Again.

  And he was grinning. Again.

  “Time for me to show you the security system,” he said. “The one you think doesn’t work.”

  Goddammit, it was that grin. That one dimple on his left cheek. The way he saw right through her.

  Charlene’s internal alarm bells were going off like crazy, the cool aunt who sat on her shoulder was screaming in her ear, everything told her that this was it. This was danger. She had worked so hard for so long to get to a place where she could believe, really believe, that this part of her just wasn’t important anymore. That her submissive side was in the past. That she could ignore it and neglect it and starve it and her inner sub would shrink down so small she could pretend it had never been there at all…

  And in just a few days Luke had blown that all to hell.

  With every breath she took around Luke she breathed it in deeper: D/s. BDSM. With every word he spoke, every order he gave, every time he looked at her, it burned deeper into her core, and her inner sub grew stronger. That inner sub was feeding off him.

  And there was nothing Charlene could do about it. It was getting to the point where she couldn’t tell what was more dangerous—her attraction to Luke, or her menacing jerkwad ex.

  Well, I’ve only got a security system to deal with one of those problems. Might as well cross it off the list.<
br />
  “Maybe if you show me how to work it, it’ll work?” she said.

  “That’s the idea,” Luke said.

  He’d been watching her, while she thought all that. He was watching her now with those gold-flecked blue eyes. He could probably see the actual thoughts in her head.

  And then, just as suddenly, he released her. And it was a release—he looked away, and Charlene felt like she could move again. He pulled out his phone, and took hers from where it still lay on the kitchen table. Handed it to her.

  “I coded you an app,” he said. “To control the system. You can monitor everything from there, and you can set it up so it sends alerts wherever you want. Straight to the police, for example.”

  Charlene looked up, alarmed. “No, I don’t…I mean, that seems…”

  “You’re not comfortable with that,” he said. A statement.

  “No,” Charlene said. “I don’t really know why, it’s just…”

  It’s just it felt like a lot of trouble to bother anyone with, and the fact that she felt that way made her more than a little bit ashamed. Didn’t stop it from being true, though.

  “You can set it up to send them wherever you want,” he reminded her. “Gavin. Me. Anywhere.”

  Slowly, Charlene swiped through the app, trying to wrap her brain around the fact that Luke had made this in just a day or two.

  And that he was willing to be her emergency contact in case of ‘menacing by Jimmy.’

  “I can’t believe you can do all this,” she said, still playing with the app so she wouldn’t have to look directly at him. “Coding and building and the rest. Shouldn’t you be a gajillionaire off in Silicon Valley making rockets or something?”

  She felt his smile.

  “I do just fine here in NOLA,” he said. “And I don’t like the boardroom side of things. At the end of the day I just want to get dirty and build stuff.”

  Charlene thought of him in her yard, shirtless, dirty, sweaty. Building stuff.

  “Is it really ok if I set it to contact you?” she said. “I mean, I can change—”