Dex was perfect. And in this case, delegating was a part of independence, so it all worked out. He fixed her light, and she got to catalog her paperwork. Win, win.
Her pulse raced just from looking at him. Man, he was attractive. When he’d come in earlier and she’d seen him looking at her lingerie designs, her heart had leapt into her throat. She was self-conscious about her designs. She’d been making them for a while, but she’d just put a few samples out on the floor to see the reaction of the customers. While Dex wasn’t exactly a customer, he seemed to like them. Not that she would ever tell him, or anyone else, she’d made them. She was still working on confidence in that department.
She glanced up for the millionth time that hour and watched Dex work. His shirt was riding up as he reached, giving sight to some seriously impressive abs. His jeans hung low? and that black leather belt weighted them down a bit more, enough for her to see the deep V of his hips…and it didn’t appear that he was wearing any underwear.
She licked her lips.
“Staring at the help, princess?” he called, not taking his eyes from his task. He caught her looking, and she averted her eyes quickly. The low chuckle coming from his chest was becoming familiar to her, and she wanted to reach out and feel that hum against her skin.
He was so casual. So easy. So laid back.
“Just wondering when you were going to be finished,” she said in her best bored tone. Truth was, she wasn’t bored at all. For almost an hour, she’d looked up and down the sexy man she’d fantasized about the other night. How he moved. Her only wish was that she’d seen more of him. They both had the majority of their clothes on and based on the glimpses she was getting, it was shame because Dex was a work of chiseled art.
“Maybe it’s your turn to thank me?” she added. “I’m giving you the hours you want, so this is a success for both of us.”
He stepped down off the stool, stuffed the screwdriver in his back pocket, and dusted his hands.
“It won’t be a success until I get what I want,” he said. While a small grin accompanied his statement, he was serious, and she found herself taking a deep breath before he reached the counter. She had to stay strong. Play this game and keep focus. Especially since he made her life hell when she was in his outdoor realm.
She walked around the counter to face him.
“Well, we’re in my wilderness now.” She looked around and smiled. “Finding an item to use as a weapon is tough, isn’t it?”
He lifted a brow and glanced around quickly. “Not really,” he said.
Before she could blink, he snatched a black garter belt from the nearby display and had her wrists bound behind her back in two seconds flat.
“What the hell?!” she said. He just moved against her until her hands and ass were pressed against the edge of the counter behind her.
“It’s all about taking in your surroundings and using them to your advantage.”
She wiggled her hands, but there was nowhere for her to go. A very hard, tall man was in front of her and giving zero space.
“How is this helpful to me?”
“It’s not,” he said. “Tying you up is to my advantage. Like you said, I’m in your wilderness now. And I’m not just about surviving, princess. I want to thrive.”
His voice was deep and sexy, and she wanted to get lost in it. With a firm grasp on her waist, he lifted her to sit on the counter and kept his body between her spread legs. But to accommodate him, he pulled her skirt up, and his jeans scratched against her inner thighs as he nestled between them.
“By the way, I saw number twelve on your list of fantasies.”
Her eyes widened. She’d known he’d gotten a glimpse, but number twelve was…
“Being tied up,” she breathed.
He just smiled, and with his grip and command, she knew he was content to keep her still. It drove her crazy. In a lot of good ways.
“Now let’s see here,” he said casually, keeping her pinned while he looked over the various items on the counter. They were the small splurge items she always kept near the register. “Since we’re officially on my time now, I will train you. In the spirit of teaching you how to properly use your surroundings, why don’t we start with hydration?”
She frowned. “Hydration?”
He grinned and picked up a small bottle of lilac lotion. It was her favorite. She couldn’t move if she wanted to, and at the moment she didn’t. She sat there, a hard man between her legs, wrists bound behind her back, while she got schooled in her own kind of wilderness with the search and rescuer dishing out the rules of survival. Only she was pretty sure her skin would burn up before this “training” was over.
“It’s important to stay hydrated,” he said and untwisted the cap off the lotion. “That goes for your skin, too. You never know how long you could be out somewhere, and keeping moisture in your body is always a good thing.”