She pulled away and scooped up her camisole and thong, refusing to look at him as she slipped them on. “You don’t have to worry, Gavin. I won’t cause a scene. That’s not my thing. Just let me go now.”
She had every right now to omit his title. He was giving up the right to berate her for it. “I know it’s not but I’m leaving also, so we may as well walk out together.” Her surprised gaze flew up and he raised a brow, hardening his voice as he demanded, “Did you think I would end our relationship and turn to someone else with the same fucking breath?” He found the very idea abhorrent.
She shrugged, and for some reason that little maneuver irritated the hell out of Gavin. “Come on.” Taking her elbow, he left the room the same way he had entered, ignoring friends and curious glances as he ushered her into the foyer.
As luck would have it, his brother, Cody, arrived in the entry just then, smiling when he saw them. “Hey, you two. What’s up?” Shrugging out of his coat, he reached inside the closet to hang it up, his blue eyes sharpening as he looked from Aislyn to Gavin.
“We’re cutting out early. I’ll talk to you later.” Gavin hadn’t broken the news to Cody about leaving for the ranch in the morning, but both him and their youngest brother, Drake, were aware he was returning to take over for their father as both Alpha and to run the ranch.
Cody nodded. “Sure. I’ll give you a call.” He went inside the gathering room flicking Gavin a questioning glance before the door closed behind him.
Aislyn retrieved her jeans and copper colored summer blouse from a cubby and dressed in silence. She didn’t question him as he walked her out and to the older model Fiat that had gotten her through school. When she reached for the door handle, he braced one hand on the door and cupped her chin with the other, forcing her to look at him.
“I know you don’t understand. You’re young, Aislyn, still new to the lifestyle. It would be wrong of me to keep you to myself much longer.” That was the only excuse he could think of tonight, lame as it was given their closeness these past months, and he prayed she understood. Her gold eyes turned dark and her mouth set in that mulish pout that always stirred his cock and made his palm itch.
“I’m old enough to know what I want, and who. But”—she jerked her head and he released her—“hey, if that’s what you need to believe to ease your conscience, go for it. Thank you for everything, Master Gavin.”
He stepped back, reluctant to let her go yet. She slid behind the wheel, but before she closed the door, he pulled a card from his back pocket, leaned down and handed it to her. “If you ever need anything, anything at all, call or come to me. Promise me, Aislyn. I can’t let you go until I’m certain you’ll reach out if you have need of me.”
I need you now. Aislyn took the card and swallowed her pride and hurt. It wasn’t Gavin’s fault she’d read him wrong all this time. Maybe she was too young and still too inexperienced in this lifestyle, but that didn’t matter now. Her shattered heart was telling her she wouldn’t join another club and seek another Dom. There was only one Master for her, and if she couldn’t have him, she would return to her old life and make do. She had been fine before she met him; she vowed she would be again.
“I promise, Gavin. Don’t worry about me. Good-bye.”
Chapter Two
Two years later
Nauseating dread churned in Aislyn’s stomach. Her whole body shook with disbelief and fear as she lifted her eyes from the damning proof to her boss standing in front of her desk. Darren Farnsworth had been good to her, hiring her as the office manager of his small copper mining company outside of Boise. Her heart twisted seeing the disappointment and sadness etched on his face.
“I didn’t do this, Darren. You can’t believe...” Her voice caught. “I couldn’t, would never...” She shook her head, looking back down at the printout of overseas accounts in her name that she knew nothing about. Darren had confided in her last month about the audit now taking place, but nothing could have prepared her for his visit to her office to accuse her of embezzlement.
“I didn’t want to believe it, Aislyn, but how can I ignore what’s right in front of me?” He sighed. “I mentioned the shortages just last week and believed you when you said you would find the error.”
Accusation laced his voice, cutting her to the quick. The swath of sunlight hitting her back from the window behind her did nothing to ward off the cold invading her body. “I looked and couldn’t find anything. There must be some mistake. I know nothing about these accounts or the money in them.” So much money, over fifty thousand, the amount clogging her throat with bile. “Don’t you think, if I were guilty, I would have covered my tracks better before today?” She was grasping at straws, anything to get him to at least consider there might be another explanation.
Heath. She dropped her hands to her lap and fisted them, digging her nails into her palms. Would Darren’s wastrel son stoop so low as to steal from his own father and then set her up to take the fall when he heard about the upcoming audit? In a heartbeat. After the number of times Heath had gotten DUIs and shown up for work reeking of alcohol, the trouble his hair-trigger temper Darren had bailed him out of and his constant sniping about his ‘old man’ hoarding all the cash, she could easily believe he would commit such an atrocious, immoral act.
“I’m sorry,
