Page 15 of At His Beck & Call

Stubble runs over his jaw, his face sharp and angular, with a straight nose and eyes set wide apart. He’s strikingly handsome, but the dim lighting makes him look like some kind of dark demon.

I take a long, discreet breath and walk toward his desk.

He doesn’t move at all; the only sign he is even alive is his chest rising and falling. He sits very straight, eyes following my every move as they lower over my body and then back up to my face.

Does he like what he sees?

I can’t imagine this is what he wanted. Surely, he would want someone tall and elegant like Bethany. But Pippa insisted I was his type. Looking at him now, I can’t believe it at all.

As I reach the desk, he leans back, assessing me. His eyes, now that I am closer to him, are a very dark brown,almostblack, but not quite. As soon as he looks me in the eye, I shiver, uncertain how he has managed to make the room feel so much smaller without saying a word.

He looks at me, and it’s like the air has been sucked away. I can’t breathe, can’t think, and he just sits there, not saying a damn thing.

Chapter 6

Oliver

I’m starting to think Pippa Grooman doesn’t listen to a word I say.

I watch the new escort fidget in front of me, and I wonder if I should even bother with the interview. She looks like a deer in headlights.

The last woman they sent didn’t even last a week, yapping on incessantly about trivial nonsense and driving me insane.

At least this one is silent, so far. She looks as meek as a mouse. I wonder if shecanspeak.

Beautiful though. Incredibly so. She has an interesting face, with small features, a heart-shaped mouth, and deep, stormy blue eyes with distractingly long lashes. Her hair is tied in a neat ponytail down her back and appears black in the room’s low lighting. She’s tiny, too. Easy to bend to my will, perhaps. I feel a pulse of heat between my legs.

Interesting.

“Sit down,” I say, rising from my chair. As I do so, her eyes widen. She can’t be more than five feet tall, and I am 6’6. I tower over her, and the height difference makes my cock twitch.

Maybe Pippa Grooman isn’t as inept as I thought.

She lowers herself into the chair to the right of my desk, and I walk slowly around to the one opposite, sitting in front of her, crossing my legs casually as I assess her for a second time.

She looks around my office, her shoulders rounded, body on edge and tense. I don’t need another woman to tell me how intimidating I am; I already know and can’t do a damn thing about it.

If she asks any ridiculous questions, I’ll just send her away. I don’t need to explain myself to anyone, least of all an escort I hire to fuck.

“Your name is Melissa Davenport, correct?” I ask. The details Pippa sent over of this woman’s credentials were an interesting read. I already have them memorized. I wonder whether Pippa has exaggerated some of it, though. This woman doesn’t look in the least bit ‘confident’ or ‘tenacious’. She looks as if she wants to disappear into the shadows.

“Everyone calls me Lissa,” she says eventually in a small voice. “But you can call me whatever you feel is appropriate.”

She exhibits a totallackof confidence, in fact. Where did the agency even find her? Either she’s in the wrong line of work, or she’s an accomplished actress.

“What would you prefer?” I ask, using every ounce of my patience.

There is a little pause, then she looks at me through those impossible lashes and picks at the cuticle of one of the fingers resting in her lap.

“I… prefer Lissa,” she says, her voice low.

“Well, that’s what I’ll call you then,” I say, pushing myself to the back of my seat. Maybe if I make this enormous body appear smaller, she’ll stop looking so terrified.

I enjoy dominating women in bed, I always have, but I don’t want anyone to feel actual fear in my presence. The shape of hershoulders, the way she is slightly curled in on herself, is setting my teeth on edge.

“I’d like you to relax,” I say gently. She looks up at me, eyes worried, every muscle in her body stiffening.

Damn it. This isn’t going to work at all.