Page 12 of Dance for Me

“You know, we have some amazing clients who come in here on a regular basis. Everyone from doctors and EMTs to cops, politicians, and ranchers. Braun will require you to fill some standard paperwork out before the doors open tonight, but once that’s done, we have a lovely psychologist who I think you’d get on with.”

Her eyes snapped up, flashing with indignation and fire. “No.”

“Bodie...”

“I said no. I’m fine just the way I am. People need to keep their fucking meddling fingers out of my head.” Even the thought of being pulled into pieces to see how she ticked made her blood run cold. “Drop it, Liam.”

Obviously discontent with her decree, Liam shrugged his shoulders and slid a sandwich on a plate onto the bar. “As you wish. I don’t have much food behind the bar tonight, but you need to eat small meals often so you don’t get sick from overindulgence.”

“Back to mothering me, huh?” Uneasy with the tension hanging around them, Bodie reached out and snagged the plate, dragging it toward her as her mouth flooded with saliva. It was only a sandwich but, by God, her system craved the taste of real food instead of stale scraps. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. When you’ve eaten up, you can go take a nap in the pit until Braun’s ready to do the paperwork.” As though the conversation hadn’t occurred, Liam was busy cleaning up after himself. “No one will touch you, Bodie. I won’t be leaving this building, and Braun will be back once he finishes his inspection.”

Reassured somewhat, Bodie slid onto a barstool and ripped into her food with a decadent moan of sheer hunger. Nothing in the world tasted better than this sandwich.

She polished it off in record time, then rested her forearms on the bar and dropped her head onto them as her stomach gurgled and processed its bounty. Listening to Liam sing under his breath, she fell asleep where she sat.

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Chapter Three

Completing the paperwork with Boadicea proved enlightening to say the least. Cloistered away in his office with the angry, uncertain little minx, Braun took his time with her, making damn sure she read every word of the NDA and club rules before signing her name on the dotted line.

She swung between skittish and defiant so often he was surprised she didn’t give herself whiplash from the erratic mood swings. Apparently her anxiety ruled her emotions, turning her into a snappish bitch one minute and then reverting her back to a polite, shy young woman.

As with everyone who walked through his doors, staff and clients alike, he handed her the limits list to read and process in her own way. If there was even the slightest chance someone was going to play under his roof, that list was filled out and filed ready for use.

Bodie was a million light years away from doing so much as considering the idea of dipping her toes in kinky waters, but he wanted to be prepared in case she took him by surprise and cannonballed into the deep end.

From the expression on her face as her eyes scanned the sheet of activities, he’d have had a better reaction if he’d pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot her firstborn son.

Confusion first, then dawning understanding. From that into horror before it morphed seamlessly into outrage. There’d been a second of dire terror in her eyes before she’d erected those goddamn walls and shielded her true feelings behind it.

While she fumed over the list, Braun leaned back in his leather desk chair and sent a barrage of texts to the Masters and Mistresses of Avalon who he knew for definite would be attending tonight, assigning them all a task. He kept an interested eye on his charge as she huffed and squirmed in her chair on the other side of the desk.

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