Page 13 of Caught By Menace

“Why not?”

She blinked. “Because it’s weird.”

He frowned at her and gestured for her to hand over the hairpin. She hesitated before giving it to him. He slipped it into his pocket. “Weird? That’s not very helpful. Do you mean uncomfortable? Do you mean frightening?”

“All three,” she replied. “It’s weird that a grown man wants to cuff a woman and restrain her for sex. Where I come from, men restrain women so they can hurt them. It’s as simple as that.”

“But what if I ask for your permission to restrain you and I promise not to hurt you?”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you trying to negotiate with me? You realize that I ran one of the most successful shops in Connor’s Run, right? You can’t beat me when it comes to negotiation.”

Menace looked surprised. “I didn’t know that you were a businesswoman.”

“You didn’t ask.”

He had the decency to look chagrined. “You’re right. What did you sell?”

“Everything and anything I could make a profit on, but my main business was pawning.”

“That’s loaning money, right?”

She nodded. “A customer brings in something of value and asks for a loan. I keep the item until they repay the loan plus a small amount of interest. If they don’t come back for the item, I sell it in my shop. Simple. Easy. Uncomplicated.”

“Were you very wealthy?”

Naya laughed. “Hardly.”

“But you said your business was successful.”

“It was, but the only way to get wealthy on Calyx is to deal dirty and do people wrong. That’s not my style. No, I ran a clean shop and treated my customers right. I earned a comfortable living.”

“What happened to your shop?”

“I sold it the morning they announced the lottery results and had the money transferred to a bank in the city. A friend of mine will transfer it to the colonies in a week’s time.”

His eyebrows arched. “You must really trust this friend to give him complete control of your funds.”

“I do.”

“More than me?”

She eyed him carefully. “You’re not my friend.”

“I could be,” Menace countered. “I could be more than your friend.”

More than her friend? Her lover? Her confidant? Her support system? She doubted any man would ever be able to be all of those things to her. “You’re my captor. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Menace grunted in annoyance. “I thought we were past that.”

“How about we go back to your planet and I’ll hunt you down and take you back to Calyx where you’ll be my property. Let’s see how quickly you get beyond that.”

“Fair enough,” he finally conceded. “But we are together now. You’re mine. That collar around your neck makes us mates.”

Naya fingered the offensive circle of white leather. Rather glumly, she said, “Not exactly a silver wedding band, is it?”

Menace instantly perked up. “Would you like one? If it would make things easier between us, I’ll get two in the morning and find someone to perform a ceremony.”

His enthusiastic response shocked her. She hurriedly shot him down. “No, I don’t want to get married.”

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