* * *

Ashley rang the bell and Dare immediately opened it.

She glanced at him nervously, worried he’d say she was late, but he simply stepped aside to let her in. She slipped off her coat and hung it up. His eyes glittered as he noticed her sexy black dress.

“Very nice.”

His deep voice, smooth as silk, quivered through her. She could feel the heat of his gaze across her chest and a flush crept up her cheeks.

“Thank you. You said to wear … um … something nice.”

“I said to wear something sexy.” He smiled. “And this fits the bill quite nicely.”

She stood still as he gazed at her, trying not to fidget. Finally, he turned and led her into the living room. There was a bottle of wine on the table, just like last time. She walked to it.

“Would you like me to pour you a glass?” she asked.

“Pour one for both of us.” He sat down on the couch.

She filled the two stemmed glasses half full and handed him one, then turned to sit on the chair across from him.

“No, Ashley. Sit here beside me.”

She hesitated, then turned and walked to the couch. She sank down beside him, extremely conscious of the heat of him beside her. His big, masculine presence made her shiver.

“What would you like to do this evening?” he asked.

“Oh, um. I want you to show me more about being a Dom.”

“Of course. Everything we do will show you what our Dom-sub relationship is like. But if you were just here for a visit, what would you like to do?”

“Do you mean like talk or play games?”

“Games?” His eyes twinkled and thoughts of erotic, adult games flickered through her brain.

“Like cards or something,” she quickly added.

“Yes. What would you like to spend time together doing?” He leaned back against the couch, watching her. “What do you do with your friends when you spend an evening in together?”

“Well, I have one friend. A … uh, a close friend … who comes over regularly to watch a movie.”

God, she’d almost said Adam’s name, but since Adam closed up whenever she asked him about his internship with Dare in college, she didn’t want to mention Adam, in case there were tensions on Dare’s side, too.

His eyebrow arched and his eyes seemed more solemn. “Is that your boyfriend?”

“No, we run together—for exercise, I mean—and, well…” She shrugged. “We’re friends.”

Dare sipped his drink. “But you’d like it to be more.”

She frowned.

“Tell me.”

She hadn’t intended to. She’d been going to shrug it off. But it was as if that authoritative tone he used could get her to do anything.

“We’ve known each other for a while now and I am attracted to him, but he’s never asked me out.”

“Why wait for him to ask you? If you want to be with him, why don’t you take the lead?”