Exposed Exposed (Dom Nation #1) - E. Davies Page 0,15
over his face. What did he think of me? Amusement, desire, or studied neutrality?
I was too afraid of what I’d find, so I didn’t look. And he said nothing, and the silence—the silence that ticked, ticked, ticked… it was nothing less than agonizing.
Once I’d stripped my shirt off, I had nowhere else to hide. Yet again tonight, I unbuttoned my jeans. But I hesitated. Not just because I wanted to hide the length that pressed into my thigh.
I could hardly bear the gaze, even though I was about to serve strangers in the street. That should be what stretched my limit—it was by far the bravest I’d ever been.
But I didn’t have to look at Rex to know that he was watching me the way he had earlier, like I was the only thing that mattered. Cool and confident. Letting me let go of everything—giving over my safety and my pride to him for safekeeping.
In here, it was personal, and so much harder than what I was about to do, because Rex wasn’t letting me melt away into the walls. No, I was stripping for him.
I sat on a chair to pull my jeans off and put my shoes back on. When I stood up again, that feeling of nakedness returned.
“Good boy,” Rex praised softly, cupping my cheek. He didn’t make me look at him or say another word. He just touched and let go, moving behind the counter.
I heard him take out a cupcake from the display cabinet with a click and cut it into pieces for samples, humming softly. I didn’t recognize the melody, but I smiled.
Once the tray was loaded, never once looking at him, I took it back and followed him out the door. Nerves shuddered through me. Suddenly that bravery I’d been so sure of was faltering.
If I didn’t look up at anyone, I could do this. I had to do it. I wanted to do it.
What do you need? Rex had asked.
This. This was the answer.
Come on, Slate. Trust him. Trust yourself.
One foot in front of the other, I walked outside. I risked a glance up at the noise nearby. It was louder out here now, groups of men standing around, talking and partying with drinks.
Nothing explicit outside, of course—but groups of men catching up, some arriving and others leaving. Some smoked and laughed, and others hid drink cups from the guy at the door.
There were at least a dozen, and more in the lineup along the sidewalk, waiting to get in. It was buzzing with activity now. All those eyes. All those men. All my hopes, spilling messily from my soul into my imagination.
The breeze was cool on my thighs and chest and back. The cold had never bothered me, thank God.
Someone called out a greeting to Rex, and he called back, “Hey.”
The sharp sounds—the eyes that turned our way—made me shrink back and flinch, my grip painful around the edges of the serving platter. I stared down at the cupcake crumbs like they could save me.
Rex’s thumb touched my cheek. His first knuckle dragged along the roughness of my jaw, the tiny, sensual touch pulling me back out of my head.
Focusing my attention on Rex. None of them mattered. He mattered. Tonight, he was my Daddy, and he was going to take care of me.
“Kneel,” Rex said. It wasn’t the cruel command that one fucked-up, broken part of me wanted to hear, but the confidence in his voice swelled my chest with warmth anyway.
Right here on the sidewalk, I did.
Rex swiftly plucked the tray from my hands, helping steady it while I sank down until I was kneeling.
Oh God, I was doing it. Really, really doing it.
The sidewalk was gritty and cold under my knees. My joints twinged at the strange position, but I eagerly folded into myself and hunched over. Rex’s palm slipped off my cheek as I bent my head too low for him to reach.
I reached up, silently asking, and Rex gave. He slid the cool, metal tray onto the slope of my shoulders.
It felt so tender, giving over my power. But I was safe in Rex’s hands. I had to be, right? If I’d misjudged again, trusted a man who hurt me… I’d crumble into the finest dust.
Rex cupped the tray, steadying it and me, guiding my body into a strangely comfortable position. Balanced perfectly, and utterly still. No fidgeting or shrinking away from roaming eyes and Dominant stares.