Destined for the Dom (Masters of Submission, #2)(4)

Her lower lip quivered. The only Hunter she knew had broken her heart when she was just a teenage girl. She shook her head, not wanting to believe it was really him.





Chapter Two




Hunter couldn’t take his eyes off Zo?. Her little elfin face suited the short bob she’d styled her jet-black hair in. Two crazy red streaks cascaded fashionably through her bangs. They certainly enhanced her incredible green eyes. He’d forgotten how wonderful they were. The color of ferns on a bright summer’s day, they literally took his breath away. The flimsy red fishnet dress she wore did little to conceal the naked feminine flesh beneath. The swell of her breasts and the tight bud of her dark nipples pressed erotically against the thin material. He could just make out a tiny black G-string and nothing much else. Hunter tried his best not to stare, but he was a hot-blooded male just like any other man.

When they were kids together at the children’s home, he’d always had a soft spot for Zo?, and felt very protective toward her. But being only ten years old when he’d first met her, he’d tried to hide the fact that he cared about her. It was only when they’d both become teenagers that he’d started to notice how pretty and sexy she was. When he was eighteen and legally an adult, he’d left and never returned.

With eyes downcast, Zo? rested her elbows on the table, and brushed her fingers through her short black hair. She lifted her eyes to his, never flinching from his gaze. “So, what happened to you, Hunter? Why come to see me after all these years?” He figured his sudden reappearance in her life had put her on the defensive.

“I suppose I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“After fourteen years?” She sounded incredulous.

“Yeah, crazy isn’t it.”

“A bit.”

Hunter thought he might as well tell Zo? the whole story. “About nine months ago, I bumped into Jake McGovern for the first time since leaving St. Mark’s. He told me where you worked. I said to myself, if I were ever in Pittsburgh, I’d look you up. So here I am.”


“Why?”

Searching for the right words, Hunter swished the bourbon around his glass, before downing a large slug of the potent liquor. Right now he needed it. Zo? looked at him like he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had. “I guess I wanted to see if you’re happy and settled.”

“I see, so you were satisfying your curiosity. Since I’m the happiest girl in Pittsburgh, Hunter, you can go now. There’s no need to feel obliged or anything.”

Hunter watched Zo? for a moment. There was a time when he knew exactly what she was thinking. They’d been so close when they were kids at St. Mark’s. He shook his head. That was fourteen years ago. A lot had happened since then. Was she putting up a defensive barrier? It was something she’d done to block out the evils of the children’s home. He decided to call her bluff. “If I thought for one minute you were really happy, I’d have left without talking to you.”

In all honesty, Hunter genuinely wanted Zo? to be blissfully content. It would ease his conscience, and another ghost from his past could be laid to rest. He certainly wouldn’t have made his presence known. Instead he would have just slipped quietly from the club, and left her to carry on with her wonderful life.

His initial impression was that Zo? appeared calm and at ease with herself. Perhaps he’d wanted to believe she was. It certainly would have made things easier. On the point of leaving, he’d noticed the tension in her body. She’d always had a nervous habit of tensing her fingers into tight bundles, and he spotted her doing precisely that as she walked over to the bar. It betrayed her otherwise calm exterior. Growing up together, she’d done exactly the same thing during times of stress and anxiety. It was her coping strategy when she’d been worried or apprehensive. That’s why he’d decided to stay and talk to her. He had to make sure she was genuinely happy and contented with her life. He owed her that much at least.

She fixed him in her gaze. “Whatever makes you think I’m unhappy, Hunter?” Her words were said calmly, but he had a feeling that was just bravado.

At that moment, a pretty blonde-haired waitress, wearing very little indeed, appeared at their table, defusing the situation. “Would you like to order drinks, Sir?”

“Another bourbon, please. Make it a double will you, and whatever the lady wants.”

Zo? shook her head. “I’m teetotal. I don’t drink anymore.” Her shoulders stiffened as she spoke, and he guessed she may have a problem with alcohol, or maybe she just hated the effect it had on others.

When the sexy waitress turned and walked away, Hunter continued, “I know you’re unhappy, Zo?. I could tell the moment I saw you.”

She laughed mockingly. “So what did you see that makes you so confident, Hunter. We haven’t seen each other for fourteen years for Christ’s sake.”

“It may be a long time since we last met, Zo?, but I’ll tell you what I see when I look at you. I see a woman who’s wondering where her life has gone.” She wore two chunky bracelets, one on each wrist, and he could just make out bruising beneath. He had a hunch she was in an abusive relationship. Hunter continued, “I see a woman who’s got man trouble one way or another. A woman who’s wondering what she has to do to feel happy and alive again.”