A Little Harmless Obsession

by Melissa Schroeder

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t boss them. I keep it all together.”

  “And you’ve been doing it much longer than most people would be able to do.”

  She shrugged.

  “And that is a lot of responsibility to take on as a twelve-year-old.”

  She had worked all of this out, had realized that her need for control to keep the family together is what had caused her to attract the wrong kind of man. She didn’t want a man to order around.

  “I can tell from your expression that you have figured it out. But what took so long?”

  “It wasn’t easy. I don’t sleep around and well, when you don’t have that many partners, it takes awhile to figure it out.”

  Evan nodded as he watched her pick up the sandwich and take a healthy bite. He was glad to see her finally eating. It wasn’t as if May was too skinny, but he knew the past few days had been hard on her and her appetite had suffered. Her brother Danny had mentioned it. It had been so hard to leave her alone, to get out of that bed and allow her some rest, but he knew that she needed a respite—although he was already looking forward to taking her again. He could imagine setting her down on the strong cherry-wood table and taking another taste of that incredible pussy.

  His cock twitched, threatening to bust his zipper. He shifted his weight, trying to ease the strain. “So, you didn’t date much.”

  She finished chewing before answering. “I did date a lot. You’ve seen how my dad is, and well, working at the restaurant gives me access to a lot of men.”

  He damn well knew it. More than once he had seen a tourist pick her up for the night, and more than once he had tortured himself with the thought that she had gone home with the bastard. It was somewhat gratifying to know that she had apparently kept her standards high.

  “When you don’t have a lot of sex, it’s hard to tell what the problem is. None of my friends had issues. They all loved it. Me, well, it left me cold. I thought I was frigid.”

  The statement pulled an unexpected chuckle out of him. “You are anything but frigid.”

  Never in all his years as a Dom had he experienced a sub who responded so readily. There was a good chance if she had been any more responsive, he’d keel over from pleasure.

  She avoided meeting his gaze and he hated that. When May was trying to avoid something, she didn’t look him in the eye. Probably because she couldn’t lie worth a damn.

  “It isn’t easy being so sheltered with the family, then you know young men…they don’t always know what to do. So I waited. Nothing happened.”

  “But you did get aroused.”

  She sighed. “You aren’t going to let this go.”

  “No. May, I’m not doing this to embarrass you.”

  She tossed him a look that told him she didn’t believe him.

  “I’m your Dom.”

  She smiled at him, the smile so full of satisfaction that his heart skipped a couple of beats.

  “I know.” The pleasure he heard in her voice made him smile.

  “And in order for me to help you gain the most satisfaction, I have to understand your wants…needs.”

  “I realized that I found myself more attracted to romances with a really alpha guy. Especially erotic romances. Especially if there was some kind of dominance thing going on.”

  “So you got off when the woman was dominated.”

  She nodded. “I mentioned it to Cynthia and she let me borrow some books and hooked me up with some websites.”

  “And got Micah to give you that deal.” He spat out every word, still pissed at his best friend’s woman for doing that.

  May placed one of her small hands on his chest, right over his heart. “Do you really mind? If it hadn’t been for that, I would have never gotten the nerve to try, you would have never been forced into acting as my Dom, and we would have never gotten together.”

  Her soft, heartfelt words slipped over his flesh, into his blood stream and warmed his heart. She was right. If it hadn’t been for that, if she hadn’t been put out there in such a way, he would have never taken a chance.

  “Now, I told you. You tell me.”

  That stopped him. “Tell you what?”

  “How you became a Dom? I mean, your need to control must come from somewhere.”

  He shrugged. “I just get off from watching a sub be controlled.”

  She cocked her head to the side and the ends of her hair brushed along his forearm. “So it is just an act.”

  Jesus, he didn’t mean for this to go this way, to veer off into things he didn’t want to talk about. But she was looking at him with those Caribbean blue eyes, questioning him, and the worst of it was, he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her about his crackwhore mother and what she’d done to him, but he had never shared that with anyone other than Micah and Chris.

  But from the irritated look on her face, not to mention the disappointment he heard in her voice, he had to come up with something.

  “For me, it isn’t so much needing the control as it is what I can give you by having the control.”

  She took another bite of potato salad and chewed it silently. “I’m still not sure I understand.”

  “May.”

  He waited until she turned to look at him, those expressive eyes filled with wariness and questions. He cupped one side of her face with his free hand. “I didn’t know true pleasure until I had brought a sub to completion. It was like a whole new world opened up to me. Yes, I had satisfaction with straight vanilla sex, but until then, I didn’t realize that I could give someone such pleasure.”

  She sighed and leaned forward to brush her lips gently against his mouth. The warmth of her breath, the soft, wet touch of her tongue stopped all rational thought. It was just that simple that she kissed him, wanted him, and he would not be able to control himself.

  The simple gestured deepened, her tongue moving into his mouth to tangle with his, taste, savor. At the moment he wanted—no needed—her.

  Somewhere in his rational mind a voice told him to stop, to gain control. It took several seconds for it to finally penetrate.

  Abruptly, he pulled away, tearing his mouth from hers. Both of them were breathing heavy, and May wore an expression of triumph.

  “Hmm, so you think to test out your Dom? See if you could make him lose control?”

  The smile she offered him was filled with happiness…anticipation.

  “I think you need to learn another lesson.”

  He lifted her off his lap and plopped her on the table, shoved the shirt up to her waist, pressed her legs apart and set to proving that he still had complete control of the situation.

  Chapter Fifteen

  May took another sip of ice tea and looked over the schedule for next week. She was stuck working out in the restaurant because Chris was busy on the phone. It had been that way since she had gotten there about eleven that morning. He’d been short tempered and a bit nasty, so she had stayed out of his way. She knew that something had to be going down if he was acting like this. Chris had an even temper, sometimes too even in her opinion, and he rarely snapped at her.

  So here she sat, her body tired, her muscles feeling used, trying to concentrate on next week’s schedule.

  She had insisted that Evan take her home the night before. It wasn’t as if her father would have complained, but seriously, she needed some sleep. She had a good idea that if she had not gone home, Evan would not have left her alone. When she realized that she was sitting staring off into space, with what she was sure was a goofy grin on her face, she shook herself and tried to get back to work. Unfortunately, the main reason she couldn’t concentrate came walking through the door. Without pausing, he strode toward her. He really did have a sexy walk. All power and grace. Most of the time he looked as if he had nothing better to do, but now he seemed to be in a rush. Her heart started to beat hard against her chest, and even though she knew nothing would happen here, her body already reacted. The slow beat of arousal started
thrumming through her blood, her nipples tightened and everything around her faded…everything but Evan. He slipped into the round booth, scooting all the way over to her side. The heat of him, the fresh scent of ocean-kissed air surrounded her.

  Without a word, he cupped her face between his big hands and dove into her mouth. The kiss was like his walk—sexy, powerful—and it left her head spinning. He pulled back and smiled down at her.

  “Hey.”

  She chuckled. “Hey, yourself.”

  He looked down at the schedule. “Are you working tonight?”

  “This is for next week. But I am supposed to be off tonight. I’m going to offer to work though. The boss is in a mood.”

  He frowned. “Something up?”

  She shrugged and picked up her pencil. “Not sure. He about bit my head off when he came in this morning and pretty much has kept the door shut. I have a feeling there might be problems at home.”

  “You don’t think there is anything wrong with Cynthia?”

  She shook her head. “No. He wouldn’t be here right now if there was.”

  Evan nodded and started to toy with the ends of her hair.

  “So I guess I can’t convince you to come over tonight?”

  “I guess that depends on the boss.”

  “What depends on me?”

  Chris was standing in front of the table with his hands on his hips, regarding them with interest. Evan smiled at him. “May said she might be working tonight.”

  Chris grimaced and slid in opposite of them. “No, because I am going to have to ask a big favor of you, May.”

  “What?”

  “I have to go back to the mainland, to Georgia. My sister’s in the hospital.”

  “Oh, no. What happened?”

  “I’m not really sure other than she was attacked at work, or after work…I can’t get a decent fucking answer off of anyone. Mom is on her way, and I am going to take a flight out tomorrow night. Cynthia is trying to say she will go with me, but I am going to try and leave her here. She just opened the bakery and this will hurt if she pulls out and leaves.”

  “I think you’re going to lose that battle. Besides, she just hired that new baker,” May said.

  He nodded. “But I gotta at least try. I’m going to close tonight, then come in tomorrow morning. I’ll talk with the kitchen staff in the morning about it. I hate to ask you to work so many hours.”

  She shrugged. “I can handle it and if worse comes to worse, I can work split shifts. Simone has come a long way, and I can start to train her to be third key. I told you we needed one.”

  He smiled. “Never afraid to say you told me so. Well, I gotta get on the computer and start working on getting a flight into Atlanta.”

  He slipped out of the booth and both of them watched him go.

  “That’s not good. Jocelyn has been messed up for awhile.”

  “Top of her culinary class, named one of the ten top pastry chefs in the country Jocelyn?”

  May nodded. “Started before Chris went back for that wedding. He’s been worried.”

  He gave her a swift hard kiss. “Looks like you have tonight off. How about dinner at my place?”

  “You cooking?”

  He nodded.

  “You’re on. I should be done here about four.”

  “I’m going to check on Chris.”

  He gave her another quick kiss and then slipped out of the booth. Her whole body celebrated from the brief contact, but she knew better than to get used to it. She knew what they shared was unique, that Evan had never started a D/s relationship with anyone he knew really well, but she also knew it wouldn’t last. Evan wasn’t a man to tie down, and while she felt a little sad at that, she pushed the thoughts and feelings away. He was giving her all he could and for the moment that was enough.

  But even she knew her own thoughts didn’t ring true.

  Evan shut the office door behind him and then settled in a chair in front of Chris’s desk.

  Without looking up, Chris asked, “I take it I don’t have to ask you to keep an eye on May?”

  Evan didn’t say anything because he knew Chris didn’t expect an answer. Truth was, he had told himself to stay away, to just maybe call her this afternoon. But he had checked in on the work being done at her house, had lunch with her father and grandfather, and couldn’t seem to stay away. Being in her home, seeing all those pictures of her, he hadn’t been able to resist stopping by.

  “So you booking one or two seats?”

  Chris grimaced again. “Two. Cynthia read me the riot act when I told her I was going alone. She said if it took too long, she’d go down to see Max and Anna.”

  “You have no idea of what is going on?”

  Chris let loose a sigh that was filled with frustration and worry. “No. But I do know that she was having problems before this. She wouldn’t say, but I did a little checking. That asshole she worked for has a thing for his chefs.”

  “You think she was dating him?”

  “Hell, no. Jocelyn refuses to date anyone she works for. She said it can lead to problems, and she didn’t want them. But I wonder now, and I wonder what he has to do with what happened.”

  “Police are no help?”

  The muscle in Chris’s cheek flexed. “I do know she was attacked, but that is all Mom would tell me. I can’t get a hold of the detective in charge of the case. So I guess I’ll find out when I get there.”

  “You need me to keep an eye on the apartment?”

  “Nope. I’ll call if we’re there more than a week. So I take it things have changed between you and May?”

  Evan just stared at him, refusing to say anything.

  Chris laughed. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to handle it after you did the submission.”

  “What the hell do you mean?”

  “Jesus, Evan, I knew why you hung around here. We’ve been friends a long time and you didn’t start haunting my doorway until I hired May. And then, you weren’t around much when she wasn’t working.”

  Evan could feel his face warm and Chris hooted. “Christ, Evan Chambers is blushing.”

  “Let it alone.”

  It took a few moments for Chris to bring himself under control.

  “Ah, that felt good. Since I got the call this morning I have been a mess. There is one thing. Don’t hurt her.”

  “What makes you think I would think of doing it?”

  Chris waved away the question. “Shit, we’re men, we fuck everything up. Just be careful with her. She loves you.”

  Uncomfortable with the idea, Evan shifted in his chair. “She doesn’t know me.”

  Chris studied him for a long moment. “I think she does and that’s what scares the hell out of you. Be gentle.”

  “So you aren’t worried about your best friend?”

  Chris nodded. “But then you never listen to me. I could have told you a long time ago that May would be good for you.”

  “There can be no long term, you know that.”

  “You think that. What your whore of a mother did to you, allowed to happen to you, it doesn’t change anything.”

  “Let it go.”

  Chris sighed. “I’m going to have to because I just don’t have the energy. I have to concentrate on getting to Atlanta and getting Jocelyn taken care of.”

  Three days later, May looked up from the hostess stand to see Detective Carino walk through the door. She smiled and he responded in kind.

  “Are you here for a bite to eat or do you have info?”

  “A little of both if you have a moment?”

  He picked the best time, and she was sure he knew it. The mid-afternoon lull was worse than usual. The beautiful weather outside was keeping everyone out at the beach.

  “No problem.” After showing him to a table, she gathered up two iced teas and joined him while he looked over the menu.

  “What do you suggest?”

  “Kalua Pig Pizza. It’s mo’ better.”

  He smil
ed at her, his hazel eyes laughing. “It took me awhile to get used to that saying when I first got here.”

  “Where are you originally from?”

  “Seattle. HPD did some recruiting up there and I decided I’d had enough rain to last a lifetime. I was ready for warm beaches and sunny days.”

  After Simone came to their table and took his order, he said, “We haven’t made any more progress, I just found some interesting tidbits that I wanted to bounce off you.”

  She nodded.

  “Well, your friend Rick was missing from the fundraiser that night, for a period of twenty minutes. It doesn’t prove anything, but it is curious.”

  May shook her head. “I just don’t see him doing it. He was pissed when we broke up, but I think he was just irritated that I did it before he got the chance to.”

  He studied her for a moment. “Might be that he has something to prove?”

  “Maybe, but truth is, Rick is lazy. Revenge is one thing, but he cares more about his career and public image. Yes, I dumped him and that smarted. But in truth, once Chris threatened to have him arrested, he disappeared. He never stalked me.”

  “I would stay clear of him.”

  “I always do.”

  He laughed. “I also wanted to ask you about a Dr. Akito.”

  Her mind went blank for a moment, then she remembered the date from a few weeks earlier. “Ah, I only had one date with him. And I didn’t know him beforehand. Why would you check him out?”

  “When I talked to your brother, he mentioned him, and while it wasn’t that important, I thought we should at least run a check on him. He was arrested for assault.”

  Her eyes widened. “Really? I would have never guessed. He seemed so…well, passive.”

  “The charges were dropped by his ex-girlfriend.”

  May shook her head. “But I didn’t even date him before the first incident.”

  “Ah, your father told me he asked about you. That he had dined in here before.”

  A chill raced over her flesh. “That’s weird.”

  “Yeah, so we’re checking him out a little more closely. But you’ve had nothing else happen?”

  She shook her head. “I would have contacted you otherwise. Truth be told, I’ve been on pins and needles, waiting. I hate it…the not knowing if or when it will happen again.”