Page 36 of Under His Command

“Nothing personal. I have some tact.”

Her shoulders slumped in relief. Then she realized how insulting that could appear and peeped up at him. He was watching her, his face blank, the same expression she had seen him use when counseling a trainee who kept failing the simulator. Cassie suspected it was the calm before the storm. Often, those SEAL applicants didn’t return. She hoped that wasn’t her future, too.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“I want to know why you didn’t tell me who you were, and when you were unmasked, why you ran from me—into the street, at midnight, in downtown LA, in a skirt up past your ass with your panties showing. Did you even consider what could have happened to you?” Flynn walked around his desk and bent to open a bottom drawer. He withdrew her purse and dropped it onto the desktop with a resounding clink. “You had no money, no credit card, no ID, no keys, no phone. What the fuck, Cassie?”

At last, his stony facade cracked. He was livid.

“You didn’t look in my purse for my address?”

His face darkened. “Your driver’s license was issued in Massachusetts.”

She swallowed hard. “Yeah, I’ve been meaning to change that.”

His hands clenched into fists on the top of his desk as he leaned forward and growled, “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I didn’t want... I mean, when I saw you... And I was there to...uh—” She closed her eyes, her face flaming hot with shame. “This is so embarrassing.”

“Why? I’m a member of the club. We’readults. There isn’t anything wrongwith it.”

“Well, no...” she whispered. “But you must know why I was there.”

“To meet someone,as was I, since I joined in on the game. Do you think less of me or the others who did?”

“No.”

“Sir,” he corrected sternly.

She flushed hotter, and not just her face. “No, sir.”

“I thought you were shy, Cassie, not submissive.” He straightened, his hands lifting to rub his face, as he muttered to himself, “Damn, I must be getting old for my radar to be so off.”

“I haven’t been submissive for a long time.”

His arms dropped to his sides, and he frowned at her. “You make it sound like the need to submit is something you can turn off and on, like a light switch.”

“I meant that it’s been a long time since I’ve been with someone as a submissive.”

“Why?”

She shook her head while looking down at her hands. Did she explain she was searching for something but wasn’t sure what until she met Flynn?

In the silence, she heard him move, saw his boots and a flash of camo as he came around the desk to stand in front of her once more.

“Answer the question.”

“I haven’t had much success with relationships.”

“It can be hard to find a good match in the lifestyle. How long has it been?”

“Years. Since college.”

“So, what? Two or three?”

She looked at him with disgust. “How old do you think I am?”

“Twenty-four?”

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