Cherished Read Online Free Page B

around a topic. I thought it best that you know up front precisely what your stay here entails.”
    “I agree,” she said faintly. “I do want to know. No surprises. Much better that way.”
    Xander touched her skin again, frowning. “You’re cold.”
    Was she? She didn’t feel cold. She felt incredibly over warm. In fact, she’d love to throw open the back doors to the patio and breathe in the sea air.
    She shook her head to refute his assertion, but he didn’t look convinced and in fact drew her farther into his embrace so their bodies were touching. She was flush against him. And that wassupposed to help? Now she’d spontaneously combust and burn the whole darn villa down.
    After a moment where he seemed to consider whether he should continue, he directed her gaze back to him.
    “There are rules, and I hate to use such a cold, austere word. Perhaps we should again go back to expectations. You will find I like things a certain way. I have a regimen that I follow.”
    Garon chuckled and said irreverently, “You’re an anal bastard, Z, just admit it.”
    Xander shot him a quelling look and then turned his attention back to Talia. “You may wonder why we aren’t having this conversation in private.”
    She nodded before she could stop herself. She was very much wondering why she had to suffer this embarrassment. She’d never felt so uncomfortable and vulnerable in her life.
    “Because they are in large part responsible for enforcing my expectations.”
    She peeked nervously at where they’d taken seats across from and catty-corner to where Xander sat in the armchair with her draped across his body. If what he was saying was what she thought he was saying…holy hell.
    “It’s really not complicated,” Xander said calmly. “You’ll take direction from me—and them as an extension of me. You’ll never have to wonder whether you’re performing to expectation because there will always be someone to guide you. You’ll be apprised of some things from the start. The important things. The rest you’ll learn as you go. I’ve already stated this isn’t some sort of BDSM arrangement where we keep you tethered and crop you every time you step out of line.”
    At that, Nico frowned, his brows drawing together as if he found the very idea repugnant.
    “And what are these things?” she asked, impatient to get to the point.
    Xander drew in a breath. Good Lord, but he looked like he was readying himself to deliver a speech. Were there that many rules?
    His hand slid up her leg, underneath her skirt and she froze as he rubbed lightly just over her hip where her panty line rested.
    “Each morning you’ll be awakened by one of my men. They’ll bring what you’ll be expected to wear, if anything for that day.”
    She frowned again. “What? I don’t understand.”
    He didn’t look pleased by her interruption.
    “Perhaps the first thing we should get out of the way is that you are to be completely obedient to me, which means that you are to listen while I give you instructions, and you aren’t to interrupt. When I am finished conveying my message, should you still not fully understand what it is I’m demanding of you, then you can ask for clarification.”
    She licked her lips nervously. She was already making a mess of this. This so wasn’t something she could pull off. She may not be the type of woman who was ballsy and took her place in the world and damn anyone who tried to hold her back, but she was strong willed. She knew her own mind and she wasn’t used to having to take orders from anyone. For too long, she had been the decision maker in her life and her mother’s. It was she who told others what to do, what she wanted, how she wanted her mother cared for. And now she was expected to become a meek, biddable… mistress?
    “I would love to know what you’re thinking,” Xander murmured. “Your eyes are so expressive.”
    “No, you don’t,” she muttered.
    His eyebrows lifted and she heard