looked like she needed a good cheeseburger every day for the rest of her life.
She watched her surroundings with wide eyes. Christ, she looked like she was about thirty seconds away from bolting. Angus hadn’t been kidding when he said she was green.
Then her eyes hit his. He sucked in a breath. Big, brown eyes that were filled with such fucking sadness it was a kick to his gut. Screw the cheeseburgers, now he wanted to know who had put that look in her eyes. And then he wanted to fucking tear them to pieces.
His hands curled into fists.
She was dressed in a lacy, red bra and barely there panties. Over her lingerie was a black, leather one-piece that was really a series of straps going around her thighs, waist and up between her breasts to connect to a strap around her neck. And she had on a pair of strappy, black stilettos. There was a lot of skin on show. Not that he was judging or complaining. There were plenty of people in here wearing less. But newbies tended to dress more conservatively, shy about showing off too much skin.
Kind of looked like she’d Googled BDSM outfits and bought the first one that had come up.
She tugged at one of the straps then clasped her hands in front of her awkwardly. She didn’t look out of place exactly, yet she didn’t seem to belong here either.
When they reached him, she stayed a few steps behind Angus. He frowned slightly, even though it was something many subs would do. He shook it off. He was being ridiculous. He didn’t even know her. He was going to act the part of her babysitter for an hour or so. That’s all.
“Here she is. Thanks for doing this again, man.” Angus turned and walked off. Just like that. Ink stared after him in shock.
What the hell?
What kind of an introduction was that? Ink didn’t know her safeword or her limits. Sure, she probably wouldn’t want to play tonight but he should know these things.
“Un-fucking-believable.”
“Sir?”
He turned his gaze to her and she quickly lowered her gaze, her shoulders hunching slightly. His gut tightened.
Shit. Damn.
“Look at me.” His voice was more of a bark than he’d intended and she jumped, staring up at him with those wide, fucking sad eyes.
Christ. What was he going to do with those eyes? They’d damn well haunt him in his sleep.
Ink sighed, rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Sorry, didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m grouchy at that dick, Angus, not you.”
She blinked, looking a little shocked. She turned to look at where Angus had ducked away. “You’re mad at him?”
“He just dropped you off without telling me a single thing about you, not even your name. So yeah, I’m grouchy at that dick.”
Surprise filled her face. “Oh.”
Oh? That’s all she had to say?
Someone stepped between them and he had to force himself not to snap at them to get out of his way. He had this feeling that if he let her out of his gaze that she might just float away. There was something surreal about her.
“Come here.” He pointed at the floor in front of him once the way was clear and he had her firmly in his sights once more.
She gave him a hesitant look but stepped forward. He resisted the urge to touch her.
Newbie. Go slow.
She looked like one wrong touch and she’d run screaming from the room.
“What’s your name?”
“My name? Oh its, umm, it’s Betsy.”
Her nerves were clear. And totally expected.
“Hi, Betsy. I’m Ink. Before you ask, it’s my real name.”
“It is?” Her eyes widened.
Well that dive bombed. “Ahh, no. It’s not. That was kind of a joke. It’s a nickname. But don’t ask me what my real name is because then I’d have to kill you.”
Lame, dickhead.
She flinched. Her gaze ran over his tattoos. Right, she was probably taking that threat literally. He was used to people judging him by his appearance. It cooled his arousal.
If she could judge so easily then she wasn’t for him.
“Come on, let’s go find a place to chat.”
He headed off to one of the aftercare areas when he noticed she wasn’t beside him. With a sigh, he turned back to tell her to walk beside him. He wanted her where he could keep an eye on her.
A bullwhip cracked and Betsy froze. Her eyes went wide, fear filling her face.
Sympathy stirred inside him. The bullwhip could be a scary noise if you