Page 28 of Training His Pet

Chapter Ten

Erika’s breath caughtin her throat and the longer she stared up at Dax, taking in his dominance, his strength, the harder it was to push it through. She swallowed.

The kiss had been hard. No gentleness or sweet caresses, just a forceful claiming.

She’d never felt so consumed before. “Pet?” Finally, a word formed.

He pulled back, brushing her hands from his chest with a dark grin. “Yeah.” He nodded, reaching over to her face and tracing her jaw with his fingertips.

She blinked a few times, waiting for the whirlwind of thoughts to settle down so she could pick one to focus on.

A knock on the front door shoved her out of her daze. He winked at her and patted her shoulder before giving his attention to the intruder.

“Dax? Sorry to interrupt.” Devin’s baritone carried through the screen door.

She cleared her throat and ran her fingers through her hair, bringing herself completely out of the daze he’d put her in.

“No problem, man, c’mon in.” Dax pushed the door open and Devin stepped inside. His lips curled into a smile when he caught sight of Erika standing by the couch.

“Morning.” She tried to sound pleasant, but the little crack in her voice probably told him more than she wanted. It signaled to her that Dax had completely knocked her off center with his words. He couldn’t have meant most of it; it had to be just a ruse to get her mind off the story she wanted to write. He was only trying to distract her.

And he’d completely succeeded.

“Sleep okay?” Devin asked, but she heard the hint of amusement in his tone. He knew—or suspected something.

“Yeah, great. This cabin is really nice. Thank you again for letting us use it.” She shoved her hands into her pockets to keep from waving them around like a loon. Where the hell was her spine? She’d just had it not fifteen minutes ago. She would not let Dax turned her into some moronic preteen.

It was a kiss. That’s all.

Just a kiss and a promise for a hell of a lot more.

And what was with that name? Pet? What did that mean exactly?

“Not a problem.” Devin turned back to Dax. “So, what’s happening back in Chicago that made you hightail it up here in the middle of the night?”

“Just a misunderstanding,” Erika answered. This involved her and having them leave her out of the conversation wasn’t going to work for her.

Dax, however, didn’t seem to share her thoughts on the matter.

“Erika.” He waited until her gaze landed on his before continuing. “Go in the bedroom and wait for me. I want to talk to Devin.”

She bit down so hard, the snap of her teeth had to have been overheard. The little twitch in the corner of Dax’s mouth suggested he had.

“This involves me—”

He raised his eyebrows. “Remember what wejusttalked about?”

She straightened her back. “I remember what yousaid. We haven’t reallytalkedabout it,” she shot back at him.

Devin’s eyebrows raised and brought along an amused grin.

“Go.” Dax pointed toward the hallway that would lead to the bedrooms.

She glared at him, her breath coming faster and hotter as she debated her options. While true they hadn’t actually talked through every detail, she had agreed.

---