She wasn’t hiding.
Eve stood up, straightening her clothes. Well, what there was of her clothes. Damn it. Why had she come here?
To make sure Alex survived. That was why she was here. That was why Sean was here. No matter what that Kristen girl said, she wasn’t hiding and she had a purpose.
She glanced at the mirror, smoothing back her hair. Evans didn’t matter. Alex was the only thing that mattered.
She turned. She would figure it out later. Right now, all that mattered was getting through the next couple of hours until she could talk to Alex and make him understand that nothing had really changed between them. She’d thought about changing their contract, but that had been a mistake.
I’ll fuck you when I want, where I want, how I want, and I won’t listen to your protests. You belong to me. Mine. You’re fucking mine for however long this lasts.
Nothing had changed? He seemed to think so. He seemed to think she had a real role to play. His sub. His slave. His.
His to command. His to control. His to fuck and love and satisfy.
It was like a drug she’d managed to kick long ago. Submitting to Alex had always been a high. She hadn’t needed to think about anything when Alex was in control. She only needed to feel, to give over.
And that hadn’t gone well. That had ended in pain and misery.
No. She wasn’t going down that path. Nothing had changed between them. They were still divorced. They still had all of the same problems that had been between them since the incident with Evans. This was just a job.
She walked out the door, determined to put a good face on things, and ran straight into a nicely cut chest. She just about fell back, but two hands gripped her arms, balancing her so she didn’t fall.
“Hello again.” Jesse Murdoch loomed over her, his handsome face staring down. Sandy blond hair and ice blue eyes. He really was perfection with his sensual lips and a strong jaw, but no one had moved her since the moment she’d caught sight of Alexander McKay. No other man would ever make her heart race. No other man would ever force her pulse to pound through her body. She could appreciate them on an intellectual level, but there was no man for her but Alex McKay.
But she had to play a part now. She smiled up at him. He was the one Kristen couldn’t figure out. If there was one thing Eve could really contribute to the team, it was her instincts for the human psyche. But she needed him to trust her first. “Hi. Is my Master finished with the meeting?”
She wasn’t going to lead him on. He needed to know she was the “good girl.” Men would do a lot for a woman they seriously considered to be innocent and pure. Jesse had that look about him.
He smiled, but there was a sadness to it. “So you’re pretty much into him, huh?”
She put a hand on the collar at her throat. “He’s my Master. I would hope I would like him.”
“Sometimes that’s not the case around here.” He was still standing close, but something had changed. The tension was gone. He was just friendly now. “Sometimes a woman stays with a man because they don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She took particular note that he’d called her a woman and not a sub. He hadn’t followed her lead. It could mean nothing or it could mean that he wasn’t as invested in the lifestyle as he wanted them to believe. Jesse Murdoch wanted to be the white knight. He wanted to charge in and save someone. Unfortunately for him, she didn’t need saving. “I love him.”
He sighed a little. “Fine. All the pretty ones love someone else. Anyway, if you need anything, you call for me. If your man isn’t around, you call for me. Can you do that for me, sweetheart?”
“She isn’t going to do anything except to step away from you and get her ass to my side.”
There was that voice that had a direct line to all her pink parts. Alex stood in the hallway, his big body taking up all the space. Jesse was just as big, just as broad, but somehow he didn’t fill the space the way Alex did.
Eve stepped away, and the minute she came within arm’s length of Alex, he pulled her close and forced her behind him as though there was a threat just waiting to take her out.
“I don’t know how this club has worked up until this moment, but I just officially became the Dom in Residence here, so this just became, for all intents and purposes, my club. So I’m going to teach you the first rule of this club. Don’t you fucking touch my sub. Mine. That collar on her neck was placed there by me. She belongs to me, and this isn’t some happy little office where there are civilized rules and I have to put up with you hitting on my woman with a smile and hope that she doesn’t reciprocate. This isn’t the civilized world and the next time I find you alone with my submissive, I’ll make sure you never do it again. Am I clear?” He was a caveman, a Neanderthal, a freaking possessive maniac, and she kind of wanted to do him hard right then.