Page 30 of The Dragon’s Good Girl

“I did it.”

“That wasn’t the question.”

She exhales through her nose. “You asked me to say no to one thing every day that I would normally agree to.”

“And did you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Every day?”

Her gaze drops for a moment before returning to mine. “Every day.”

I take a step toward her. “Was it difficult?”

“The first one made me feel like I was about to get fired, and yesterday I spent half the day feeling guilty because I made my mother call her own pharmacy.”

I have several questions about why a grown woman apparently requires her daughter to make routine phone calls for her, but they can wait.

“Did your mother manage?”

Margot gives me a reluctant little smile. “Yes.”

“And did you get fired?”

“No.”

“So the world survived.”

“Barely.”

I smile and settle my hands at her waist. “You followed every rule I gave you for an entire week, even when it was difficult. I’m proud of you, Angel.”

The endearment is out before I realize I’ve used it.

I’ve never given a client a pet name. Terms of praise, yes, when they want them, but nothing that belongs to them outside the dynamic. Nothing that has ever slipped out without thought.

Margot is as startled by it as I am.

Her smile fades, though not because she’s unhappy. Her lips part slightly, and for a moment she only looks at me. Then color rises into her cheeks and her gaze drops somewhere around the middle of my chest.

Interesting.

I could correct myself. Instead, I find that I have absolutely no desire to.

Two fingers beneath her chin bring her eyes back to mine. “Don’t hide from me.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

She gives me a look that says she’d like to argue, but she doesn’t pull away.

“You did well,” I tell her. “You’re allowed to feel good about it.”

Her throat moves when she swallows. “Yes, sir.”

“Good girl.”