Page 103 of To Catch a Sub

“I assure you I don’t.”

“It means that Landon is cold when he tops. Not with you. There’s no…distance…between you.” Andrei hesitated, as if he wasn’t sure that was the right word. English was clearly neither of their first languages.

But Colette understood. Andrei wasn’t talking about physical distance, but emotional distance.

And he was right. She’d already tagged him as dangerous, but now she added perceptive to that list.

“Sceneing together was a mistake. There’s too much history between us.”

“From what he said, you barely knew each other,” Andrei countered.

“And time guarantees a deeper connection?” she shot back.

Something crossed Andrei’s face, a flash of grief and rage that made her fingers tighten around the cup.

“No, it doesn’t.” Andrei shifted so he sat sideways in the chair, back against the wall and legs outstretched.

She’d have to step over him to get to the door. Was it a deliberate block? She thought it was. Andrei didn’t seem like the kind of man to do something like that accidentally.

“Why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?” Andrei said.

“Why should I? It has nothing to do with you.”

“Because I want to know. Because I think you need to talk. Because you’d be talking to a Dom, not an agent.” He raised a brow with that last statement.

Colette sighed and took her tea over to the table, dropping into the other chair. She yelped, half rising as her abused butt made contact with hard wood. Without comment, Andrei went to the refrigerator and pulled a large gel ice pack out of the small freezer.

She tensed as he approached her, but all he did was situate the ice pack on the chair, then hold the back of it for her as if they were at a restaurant.

“Normally I’d wrap it in a towel, but you’ve got the blanket.”

Gingerly Colette sat. The ice pack acted as a cushion, and after a moment the cold penetrated through the blanket and cooled her tender skin. She sighed in relief.

“What did he spank you with?” Andrei asked.

“His hand.”

Colette wasn’t really sure why she was answering Andrei’s questions and telling him personal things. They weren’t friends, were barely acquaintances, and every interaction up to now had been combative.

“Do you need more aftercare?” he asked.

“We didn’t do any aftercare, for either of us.” One thing she’d learned over the years was that Doms too needed aftercare for a scene, but were much less likely to get it or ask for it.

“Colette.” There was quiet command in Andrei’s voice.

She stiffened, because it felt too intimate, him saying her name.

Andrei twisted his chair so the back was against the wall, then sat, leaned back, and patted his leg. “Come here.”

Colette’s throat was dry, but she stood. She wasn’t even sure why she was obeying. She should smirk and make a dismissive comment, or laugh it off like it was a joke.

She stopped with her bare toes nearly touching the tips of Andrei’s.

“Just comfort,” he said softly, though there was still something dangerous in his gaze.

Colette straddled his thighs and sank down. It was intensely intimate, to sit on his lap, legs spread like this, but this way her weight was mostly on her inner thighs. Strong arms gently circled her, and she leaned into his chest. She pulled the blanket up under her cheek as she rested her head on his shoulder, face turned away. With her hips back by his knees and her arms tucked between them, the intimacy was minimized.

One hand moved soothingly over her back. She tensed, but only for a moment. There was comfort in his touch, nothing more. A Dom who saw a sub in need.