A Dominant Man by Lena Black Page A

them rent each month, but they put it in an account for me. I’ve actually grown to love this place. It’s my home.”
    “That was a generous thing of them to do. You lived a comfortable life.”
    I roll my eyes. Comfortable is not the word I would use.
    “Is that a question or a statement?”
    “Statement. Your father is Marshall Hyde, correct?”
    “You’ve met my father?” I ask, confounded.
    “Your father’s a business associate of mine.”
    My jaw is dragging on the floor. “Come again?”
    “I would love to, but I need a first in order to do it again.”
    Did I hear him right? I’m shocked for a moment but pull myself together. “Oh, don’t do that. I’m serious. Explain yourself.”
    “It’s actually quite simple. He came to me with a few ventu res, I trust his business sense and invested. We have an excellent work relationship and strong personal. I play tennis with him, and we see each other at functions and such. I really should thank him for having such a stunning daughter.”
    “How is it we haven’t met? I’ve attended many of those functions.”
    “Do you want to talk about why we never met, or would you prefer to get on with the reason we came here? I personally would prefer to eat and discuss a proposition I have for you. Time is of the essence. We only have thirty minutes to hash out the details.”
    “Why are you making this sound like a merger?”
    “It is a merger in a way. Please, let’s sit.”
    I feel like a stranger in my own home. He seems to dominate any environment he’s in, making it his own. We walk into my kitchen, taking a seat at the granite island/kitchen table, on bar height chairs. I love my kitchen, especially when I’m cooking at night with the view and a tasty glass of wine.
    “I’m going to be frank…”
    “Oh! Can I be someone else, too?”
    He cocks a brow, shooting me that lopsided smile that could melt the panties right off me.
    “It’s excell ent to know you participate in role-play…I was going to say, I want to propose you and I enter into a mutually exclusive…” This is it. He’s going to ask me to be his girlfriend. “sexual relationship.”
    My heart stops, and I feel the horror rush to my face.
    “You want me to be your…fuck buddy?” I ask, disappointed.
    “It’s not quite that simple, and I didn’t want to be crude, but yes.”
    “Why would…why would you ask me…I’m not looking for a relationship of that nature. You are crude for bringing it up in such an uncouth manner. No intimacy.”
    “Are you upset I asked, or I didn’t do it on my knee? Were you expecting moonlight, roses, romance? I’m not interested in intimacy, more like fucking you till we both collapse into a sweaty heap.”
    My breathing quickens, and my cleft tingles. I’m frozen, watching him silently, trying to figure out what I could possibly say to him.
    “No! I didn’t expect a grand gesture, but I certainly wasn’t expecting this , either,” I reply, aggravated.
    How could he not want intimate, when he does such thoughtful things for me, like send my favorite flowers with poetic notes, or holding my hand in public.
    Then it hits me. He wasn’t being sweet by holding my hand, he was staking his claim, letting everyone know I belong to him.
    “You only held my hand to ward off other men, to let them know I’m not available. I am not fucking prope rty, Damian. I’m a damn human being with feelings and emotional needs. I’m not a fuck machine!”
    My past was problematical to say the least, and fixing how I handled it was harder. I’m not going back to that type of lifestyle. Hunt stares at me as if he doesn’t know what to say.
    Good!
    After a few moments, he finally speaks, “I’ve never met anyone like you before. No one speaks to me the way you do. On the street, when you clutched my hand and led me down the sidewalk, I wouldn’t have allowed any other woman to do that. Yes, I was st aking my claim. I won’t deny it. However, I was also