Page 17 of Lily
A guarded heart meant a whole heart. Lily was immensely happy she had kept hers safe, otherwise being dumped by text? Well, that would have stung a lot more than it had. She felt more stupid than anything for finally opening the door to Trent, only to have him leave through the window and leave her alone. She flushed at the memory and clenched her hands in frustration.
"Hey, where did you go?" Sam asked, and Lily left the maze of her thoughts to look at him.
"What?"
"Where did you go, Lily Bell?"
"I'm right here," she said, gesturing to herself and the car seat.
He shook his head. "You're sitting in that seat, but your mind is somewhere else. Somewhere bad. Why?"
"You know, I think you're the curious one."
"I am," Sam said. "Makes me a good Dom."
Lily, who had been looking out the window and steadfastly ignoring the man beside her, began to ask the normal type of question someone did when zoning out and trying to pass for polite. "And how does that make you a good…" her voice cut off when her brain caught up to the words she had heard, but not truly listened to, "…make you a good Dom…" she finished, her voice trailing off.
"Gives me a chance to study people, to figure out what they like and what they don't like."
"Oh?" Lily swallowed hard and worked to keep herself relaxed, but it was no use. She was sitting rigidly in her seat, body taut like an overdrawn bowstring. "And what's it like?"
"What's what like?"
"Being a Dom. Do you like it?"
He smiled, his hands moving to slide over the leather of the steering wheel in front of him in such a sensual way that Lily swore she felt his hands on her body. "Oh, I love it. There's nothing like it, Lily Bell."
"You know I like being called that, huh?"
"Oh, yes. I'm more than happy to oblige."
"And little one?" she asked.
"That one was easy," he said. "Figured you might be a sweet girl like Ashley and Tash."
Lily's eyes widened. "What do you mean, like Ashley and Tash?"
Sam sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and wiggled it for a second before he said, "Let's wait a few more minutes to have this conversation, hmm? We're a few minutes away from my house and can do it there when we aren't in a moving car?"
They were well outside the city now. It was darker with trees rather than streetlights and the houses were few and far between with driveways leading from the highway to each secluded residence.
"I guess."
"Don't pout," Sam said and then pointed at the radio. "Why don't you pick out some music?"
"I'd rather hear the answer to my question," Lily muttered, but she reached forward and began to fiddle with the radio dial nonetheless.
"And I'll give it to you, but you'll be happier when we aren't trapped in a small space with nowhere for you to go. You should be able to leave if you want."
"Why would I want to leave?" Lily asked.
"It's not that you will, but that you have the freedom to. That's what's important, Lily Bell."
He had her there. Choice. Freedom. Power. It was all part and parcel of the same thing, the ability to end a scene when one chose to, and was just as important to equal footing during a conversation that veered to the topic of BDSM. Her estimation of Sam went up.
"All right," she finally conceded, her voice grumpy, though her heart was practically doing cartwheels in her chest because all of the things she had willed herself not to feel—attraction, comfort, safety, downright longing?
Those were all okay now. Those were allowed, because Sam was a Dom, and Lily found herself wishing the man would ask to be hers.
