He answered, “Absolutely.”

Wow.

That just turned me on and made me curious.

Crap.

“This is…” I paused, “a little,” I searched for a word, “unusual.”

One side of his mouth curled up. “Yeah. It’s also me.”

“Can I be me?” I asked and his brows drew together.

“What?”

“If I’m, um… yielding to you, I don’t know if… I mean, can I be me?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“How?”

“You’ll get the boundaries.”

“Without any explanation?”

“Babe, I bought you that phone because you needed one. I bought you those dresses because the way you dress, I know you like clothes but can’t afford the good shit, so I got you the good shit you’d like that would make you happy. I did not do any of that shit to buy anything from you. And me doin’ something nice and you implying I’m buyin’ you was not cool. So that, that would get punishment in a way you’d have trouble sittin’ down for a couple of days. I told you I drive my ride when you’re in it. You kept pushin’ that, knowin’ I laid that out, that would get you punishment. I already explained the dance floor. Are you not seein’ the pattern of boundaries here?”

“But I like to dance,” I whispered.

“Then put on music at my place and dance all the f**k you want. Have a party and ask all your friends over and dance. Go out with your girls not at my club and dance. But you’re in your section in my club, you don’t dance.”

This didn’t seem that bad.

“So you don’t mind guys looking and getting close at other clubs?”

“Babe, they might look but they won’t get close. I told you go out and dance with your girls at another club but that doesn’t mean I won’t put a man on you. I will and I’ll do that for three reasons. One, not only you but both your girls are beautiful and I already explained the recipe for disaster you are on your own. The three of you is a triple threat and makes me all kinds of uneasy. It’s a miracle your girl’s scene with Nick was the first you three had. You need a man on you and you do the town not in your section at my club, you got one. Two, I don’t want some ass**le touching you or getting near you, you. And I got a man on you, that won’t happen. And three, he’s your ride, no taxi fares, you can all get hammered and still get home safe.”

Seriously, how could one man be so awesome and so crazy all at the same time?

“I think I need to think about this, Knight,” I said quietly.

“Then do it but don’t think you’re f**kin’ doin’ it alone in your bed. I’ve waited a week for your body to be under mine between my sheets and I’m not waiting any longer.”

“I’m not sure –” I started.

“You don’t want me to f**k you tonight, I’ll wait until the morning when you’ve slept on it and you agree. But as you’re sleepin’ on it, you’ll be doin’ it beside me.”

I blinked.

Then I stiffened.

Then I snapped, “Seriously?”

He leaned in, grinning.

Grinning!

“Anya, babe, clue the f**k in. The first time I met you and onward, I have been the man I explained tonight. And you have held on, followed me, come to me, kissed me and didn’t want to let me go. Tonight, I said no booze. You said okay. Tonight, I sent Kurt to get you off the dance floor. I watched, babe, and you left the f**kin’ dance floor. Not ten f**kin’ minutes ago, I told you to come here, you didn’t get close enough, I made it clear I wanted your ass in my lap. And babe, right now, without a word of protest, you are sittin’ with your sweet ass in my lap. I get this shit is intense because I’m intense, that’s the whole f**kin’ deal. I get it’ll take you a while to get used to it. But you want it. Fuck, you even like it. You just don’t understand it yet. But you will.”

Knight Sebring had scared me often. He’d confused me maybe more. He’d totally freaked me out. He’d also been very sweet. And now he was being all of them. Except maybe the sweet part but kind of that too, since he was being open with me, laying it out honestly and taking the time to explain. Though he did think the end was a foregone conclusion, his arrogance didn’t come as a surprise since he’d been that way before. Further, I couldn’t blame him for that because what he said was absolutely right.

I wanted to know his secrets. I wanted just to know more about him. I liked spending time with him.

But he still freaked me out.

“What’s workin’ in that head of yours?” he asked softly and I realized I’d gone unfocused so I focused on him.

“You scare me, confuse me, freak me out and you’re also sweet so I don’t know what to do with you.”

He was honest, I could be too.

“Okay, babe,” he whispered, his thumb gliding back across my lips, my cheek then his fingers clenched gently into my jaw as he went on, “another bonus. You take me how I am, I take the burden of you having to wonder all the time what to do.”

There it was. Confusion again.

“Pardon?” I whispered back.

“You’ve carried a heavy load for a long f**kin’ time, Anya. You trust me, I take that burden. Don’t look into this shit, ask around and make assumptions. You are not wearin’ that dress because I’m what’s considered a classic Dominant. You dress yourself. You eat what you want. You live your life. But you trust me, you keep lettin’ me in, I share your load. And you give me you, we work out, in it for the long haul, I swear, baby, I’ll be happy to take it all and let you live free.”

And there it was. Sweet.

My tension ebbed away as my belly melted and I whispered, “Knight –”

“Anya, baby, I wanna take you home but I still got shit to do. And I want you to sit right where you are while I do it. Then I’ll take you home. Then I’ll take you to bed. Then you’ll sleep with me. We’re done talking. I laid it out. You get me. I’m givin’ you time. Tomorrow, you decide.”

I licked my lips.

Knight’s thumb stroked my cheek.

Then, it wasn’t lost on me all it said about me, about him, about how I was with him already, when I whispered, “Okay.”

One side of his lips curved up and I knew it wasn’t lost on him either.

Then he sat back, pulled his phone out of his inside jacket pocket and hit some buttons.