Page 3 of Dominion

“Three point eight seven, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.”

“Work history?”

“Three years as a barista at Starbucks, two years as waitress at Red Lobster. One internship with Channel Four News. Close to two years here.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-five.” She rubbed her temples.

He instantly regretted giving her the third degree. “I’m sorry, he said, softening his tone. “Am I making your head worse?” He realized she’d grown paler since they’d left the building.

“No,” she said, but he knew it was a lie.

“We don’t have to talk,” he said.

He muted the guidance system and followed the map, driving in silence until he reached her brick duplex in the hip but transitional Denver neighborhood.

“I’ll pick you up in the morning. Be ready by seven.”

Her mouth dropped. “What? Really?”

He wrote his cell phone number on the back of a card. “Call me if the migraine will keep you from going to work.”

She blinked at him, looking stunned. “You’re picking me up? In the morning?”

“Well, you left your car in the parking garage, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but?—”

He waved his hand impatiently with his usual rudeness, shooing her out of his car.

“Thank you, Mr. Stone.”

“Good night,” he said curtly, putting the car into gear before she even shut the door.

He needed to leave before he followed her in and tore her clothes off, marked her with his teeth, and claimed the little human… He shook his head. That couldn’t happen. Because she wouldn’t forgive it, for one thing. And he didn’t do relationships, for another. No, this very strange development, this sudden interest in a female human could not be pursued. Period.

He sighed and rubbed his palm over his face, her scent still lingering in his nostrils.

Despite the throbbingin her head, Ashley’s senses zinged from contact with Ben Stone. Talk about magnetism. Some said he had the personality of an ice cube, but all she’d sensed was pure masculine power. Even through his crisp designer suit, she’d seen the outline of sculpted muscles in his arms and chest. His dark, Latino looks dripped sexual prowess and the silence made him mysterious. And those pale green eyes had seemed to flicker to amber under the fluorescent lights at the office…

She dropped her things and started a bath, filling a washcloth with ice for the back of her neck. Heat on the body, cold on the head. Not that it ever worked. Nothing helped when she had a migraine. Her phone rang and she looked to see who was calling. Melissa—her twin sister. She hit talk. “Hey, how’s it going?”

Melissa lived two hours away in Colorado Springs, but they still spoke almost every day.

“Do you have a headache?”

“How can you tell?”

“Your voice gets all tight. I’m sorry. Did you try the hot bath, cold washcloth thing?”

“Trying it now. I’m taking you into the bathtub with me.”

“Just don’t drop your phone, you might get electrocuted or something,” Melissa teased.

She snorted. “I think that’s just with hairdryers.” She pulled her clothes off and stepped in the tub. “You’ll never believe who just took me home.”

“Who?”

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