Read Online Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy by Tracy St.John - Free Book Online Page B

it.”
    “Exactly.” Boy, I sure liked Dan. I
sensed no condemnation from him. He was so smart and yummilicious.
I thanked my lucky stars he’d been the one who found me in those
woods.
    “What else did you offer your dates if
sex wasn’t the main gist of your work?”
    “I had to be intelligent and up to date
on the latest political and business news. I needed to be a good
dancer and conversationalist. Whatever my regulars were into, I had
to be as well.”
    “Plus maintain a certain image.” He
looked fascinated.
    “Of course. If I was to be seen at a
function with my date, I couldn’t be an embarrassment.”
    “But you couldn’t always be seen. After
all, the commissioner you mentioned being a customer couldn’t let
it get out he saw someone outside his marriage.”
    I shrugged. “When I wasn’t a piece of
jewelry for some man’s ego, I was his dirty little
secret.”
    Dan’s eyes were warm on me. “I think
you’re a lovely lady.”

    I glowed under the straightforwardness
of his admiration. “You don’t treat me like trash even though I
dated men and slept with a few of them for money. There’s always
been this underlying sense of unworthiness from even my best
customers.”
    Dan frowned. “I killed a man,
Brandilynn. I committed the most heinous of acts and ruined many
lives. I’m not about to judge you for having sex to feel good or to
pay the bills.”
    I swallowed. I’d conveniently forgotten
his status of a murderer for a little while. “I just can’t wrap my
head around you killing someone.”
    “I couldn’t either for a long time.”
Dan looked at his hands, examining them as if they held the secrets
to the universe … or to a man’s soul. “I suppose if you feel backed
into a corner with no way out, you can do just about
anything.”
    “Am I safe with you, Dan?” I
blurted.
    He looked me in the eye. There were
volumes of truth in his gaze: strength, compassion, and weariness.
The sad knowledge that in the end no one can fathom their own
darkest instincts. I thought perhaps in us all lies something no
better than the most base of animals. Something hidden deep beneath
our pseudo-civilization. Call it survival instinct if you want to
be pretty about it. But in the end, I thought the truth of human
nature might be as cold as a vampire’s eyes.
    Kill or be killed.
    “I will never hurt you, Brandilynn,”
Dan said. “In fact, if you’ll forgive the macho chest thumping, you
bring out the urge to protect. You’re a tough chick on the outside,
but here and there I catch glimpses of a scared little girl,
begging to be sheltered.” He reddened as he said it.
    I couldn’t help but shiver as my
insides went all warm and gooey. If Dan did prove to be a Dom as I
suspected he was, he held all the best characteristics. Strong and
protective, just the thing a little sub like me crumbled before. At
least in the bedroom. I wasn’t nearly as mushy when sex wasn’t
involved.
    My voice husky, I said, “Are you just
saying that to get me in bed?”
    His seriousness faded before the slow
grin that crept over his face. “No, though if that’s a byproduct of
this conversation I’m not going to complain.”
    I stood. “What do you want of me,
Sir?”
    His lap bulged in response and he rose
to his feet. “I want you, my pretty baby girl. All of you, all to
myself.” He took my hand and tugged me to the bed. “Naked,
Brandilynn.”
    I thought my clothes off and stood
quietly as his big, capable hands ran down and back up my arms. His
course then went to where he could cup my breasts in both hands.
His thumbs rubbed over my nipples, turning them hard and
pebbly.
    Dan’s voice turned growly with
excitement. “I was raised to respect women, treat them with kid
gloves. But I always had the fantasy of controlling a woman. Would
it shock you to know I want to pinch your nipples? Slap your
breasts until they turn red like Tristan did earlier?”

    I shivered in anticipation. “I like
being