Requested Surrender Read Online Free Page A

to move forward from here, I think it’s best you don’t make any demands.”
    “I’m not wearing this and you can’t make me.”
    He stopped picking and cocked his head to study her. Waiting until a bright blush colored her cheeks. “I wouldn’t be so hasty with that declaration. After all,” he pulled the key out of his pocket and held it up, “I have the decision maker right here.”
    He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but her shrugging offhandedly before she mimicked him by folding her arms over her chest was definitely not it.
    “Gee, I’d sit down for what I’m guessing is going to be a fascinating lecture on proper female comportment, but the leather’s hard. There’s no give as”—she leaned forward and loudly whispered—“it hasn’t been worn in yet and trust me on this, it won’t be.”
    This was the first time he actually got—as in literally—the term ‘hot under the collar’. He had visions of tugging on his tie until it was loose. Unbuttoning his shirt. Taking off his coat. Rolling up his sleeves and dragging her over his knees for a spanking she wouldn’t soon forget.
    Instead he shoved the key back into his pocket and asked, “Were you sleeping with him?”
    “Joe?”
    He lowered his voice. “Are there other men I should be asking you about?”
    “Other…? No.” He was glad when she scowled because it meant he’d touched a nerve. Yet she was calmer and more in control when she said, “As for Joe? No, I wasn’t.”
    How was that possible? He stared at her trying to make sense of what she was saying. Was she lying? It was hard to tell. She had a great poker face. One of the things that really attracted him to her. “I want you to look at me when you answer this next question.”
    “I am.”
    “In the eyes. Good. Now, do you want to continue exploring a relationship with me? Really think about this, as once you give me an answer, there’s no turning back. It’s either yes or no. You commit or you don’t.”
    She didn’t blink and he wasn’t sure whether to be happy or pissed about that kind of courage. He went with pissed a scant second later when she pushed the envelope. “Are you going to unlock this belt?”
    Guts. She certainly had them. What he wanted to know was why? Every time he backed her into a corner the brat in her came out swinging. He walked to her until there was less than an arm’s length between them and answered, “No. Regardless of your choice you’ll have to earn your way out of that, so don’t let the prospect of freedom sway your decision.”
    Her jaw dropped at the same instance her arms did when she hunched forward and looked up at him with wide eyes. She reminded him of an outraged child who’d been told she couldn’t join the other kids in the candy store. “How is that fair?”
    A curl slid against the right side of her cheek and he had to fight the urge to reach out to touch it. “Who said anything about fair?
    That snapped her to attention so fast the lone curl sailed backward with a bounce. “I suppose I had this coming.”
    He wasn’t going to launch into that argument as he wanted to drive things forward instead of back. “An answer?”
    She searched his face and he could almost smell the wood burning. She wasn’t stupid. She knew there was going to be a catch but was she willing to commit without knowing what the catch was? That was the real question.
    “Yes. Okay. Why not? My answer is yes, I’d like to continue for as long as…”
    She was stuck on how best to continue. They both knew it so he threw her a bone. “Let’s not worry about longevity at the moment. I’d rather be practical.”
    “Me too. Can we just get this over with? I’m not going to argue with you. I made a mistake. I’ve already apologized but if that wasn’t enough for you, tell me what you want me to say and I’ll say it. I’m leaving for the Dominican in less than twenty-four hours.”
    Now came the hard part. “What does your leaving