Page 37 of Salvage Him

I had no idea what I hadwalkedinto.

* * *

Harrison

The doorman escorted me to a lounge overlooking the pool. The guy waited until shearrived.

She didn't trust me, and it hurt more than I cared toadmit.

I watched her approach through the reflection in thewindow.

"Thanks, Jason." She dismissed thedoorman.

I waited for her tospeak.

"What are you doing here?" sheasked.

I turned, opened, and shut mymouth.

She lookeddifferent.

She had changed out of her outfit and wore tight jeans and a hoodie meant to hide her assets. It didn't. Her cleaned face looked more beautiful than her made-up look. If her intention was to temper her looks, it didn't work. She was fuckingbeautiful.

"I wanted to apologize." I ran my hand through my hair. "I'm really sorry. At the club, I was outofline."

She shook her head and opened hermouth.

"Let me finish." I held my hand up but lowered it. "Please."

She tiltedherhead.

"I seem to be doing things wrong around you. I would never disrespect you if I were thinking straight, but I can't seem to do that around you." I bowedmyhead.

"Why?" she whispered but wouldn't look me intheeye.

"Don't make me say it." Itguttedme.

"You're right. I'm sorry, too." She sat down on one of the lounge chairs and relaxed into the cushion. "I don'tmeanto—"

"You didn't." I sat down opposite on a similar chair. Splashing noises came from the pool. Our heads turned to watch a couple playing. "Was that your first time at aBDSMclub?"

She smirked and pushed a stray hair behindherear.

"No." A smile curled up at the corners of her lips. "My ex-boyfriend. He and I met at school, and he had only been a Dom for a short time. I was curious. He brought Abbie and me into thelifestyle."

"Abbie, the girl you came withtonight?"

"Yeah, she and I grew up together." She chuckled, and her laughter made me feel good. "Malcolm, my ex, was a natural Dom, or so he told me, but he was good. He took care of me. Our relationship was ideal, a textbook Dom/sub relationship. His dominance allowed me to be free. I was 100% devotedtohim."

She nodded, and her shouldersslumped.

I perceived a switch; her happy memories turned to bitterregret.

"What happened?" Iasked.

"If there were a Professional Dom Association, Malcolm would have declared himself the president. He let the control go to his head. He tested me all the time. He pushed my hard limits. It escalated. He shared me withotherDoms."

"Oh, Brooklyn. I'msorry."