Just For You, Sir (Doms of Decadence) (2 page)

Immediately, her gaze dropped, her submissive side kicking in. Derrick was surpr
ised by her show of spunk; he’d have said she was too timid to speak out.

“I can’t walk around like this, Sir,” she muttered.

“You can, and you will. Any more protest and I’ll decorate more than your nipples, understand?”

Her head shot up and she bit on her lip as she stared at him.

“What do you say?”

“Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

“Go on then, you’re already behind in your work.”

With a sigh, shoulders slumped, she turned
away.

Dylan muttered something under his breath. “Tilly,” he
said.

She stopped, tur
ning. Dylan stepped up beside her.

“Shoulders back, head up. You’re beautiful, sugar. You just need to believe it.” He tapped her chin. “When you’re ready to talk to me, I’ll be here, understand?”

“Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

“Seriously lacking in self-confidence, isn’t she?” Derrick asked
after she’d walked off.

Dylan frowned, nodding.
“We’re trying to work on that, but it’s not easy to break through those defenses she’s erected around herself.”

Derrick nodded.

“Something going on with you, man?” Dylan asked.

“What makes you ask that?”

“You seem kind of disinterested, detached.”

He was s
urprised that Dylan had noticed, he thought he’d hidden his feelings better.

“How is Roarke? Haven’t seen him in a while,” he said, trying to change the subject.

Dylan threw him a knowing look, but answered anyway. “He’s busy settling Ava and Sam into their new place. They bought this huge place just out of the city. I’ve never seen them happier. It’s sickening,” he sneered.

Derrick smiled sadly. “That sort of happiness can be a blessing and a curse.”

Dylan looked at him with surprise. “You ever been married?”

“A long time ago.
Back home in the UK.” He put his glass down, fighting back the old memories. Nothing good would come from them. Although he still lived with the guilt and regrets, it had been nearly twenty years since Cara had been murdered. He’d learned that punishing himself served no purpose. All he could do was make sure he never made the same mistakes again.

“How’s Holly?” Dylan asked, thankfully changing the subject.

Derrick smiled. His sister-in-law was the only family he truly had and he adored her.

“She’s great. She and Brax bought a new place a bit closer to Austin. Brax didn’t like her having
such a long commute. She drives in three days a week now.” Holly had protested the move, but although Brax would indulge her in most areas, her health and safety were things he took very seriously. Brax wasn’t just her husband, but her Dom as well. Her well-being was his main priority.

Derrick was grateful that Holly had found a man who would take care of her and
who made her happy.

“Alex looks worried,” Dylan commented and Derrick turned his head to see the other man approach, a frown on his face.

“Tara needs to go home,” Alex said. “She’s exhausted, but she’s refusing to admit it.”

“I can cover here while you take her home,” Dylan offered.

Alex shook his head. “She’s refusing to leave with me. Stubborn little brat.”

Derrick stood. “I’ll take her.
”

Alex hesitated, looking at him seriously.
“You’ll take care of her? She might need someone to stay with her for a bit.”

Derrick raised his brows.

“Yes, mother, I’ll tuck her in and sing her a lullaby.” He clapped the other man on the shoulder. “Relax, Alex. I’ll look after her. I promise.”

***

“Thanks for bringing me home, Sir. I’m fine now.”

Derrick wasn’t so sure. Tara was huddled into a corner of her living room couch, a blanket wrapped around her as she sipped on the hot chocolate
he’d made her.

There were dark circles under her eyes, standing out in contrast to her milky-white skin. He looked around the apartmen
t, not liking what he saw. Although she had tried to brighten the place up with some colorful cushions and cheap artwork, there was no disguising how rundown it was.

The walls had peeling wallpaper that looked like it was right out of the ‘70s,
there was a big hole in the wall behind her head and the carpet had seen better days.

“I don’t like leaving you here. It’s not safe.”

“It’s fine, Sir. I’ve lived here for two years now.”

The
neighborhood wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t a high crime area, either.

“All right,” he said reluctantly. “But tomorrow, I’m having a friend drop in to put b
etter locks on this door and a security system.”

“I can’t afford that.”

“I can. And before you protest, either you take my offer or I’m going to call Master Alex right now and have him come over. What’s it to be?”

Her eyes grew wide. “The security system,” she said in a quiet voice.

Yeah, that’s what he’d figured.

“Okay, love. I’m going now. I want to hear you lock up behind me.”

Derrick waited until he heard the lock engage before heading down the stairs, and outside into the warm Austin evening.

Fatigue pu
lled at him as he climbed into his car. He usually had his driver take him to the club, but Robert was away visiting family, so he was on his own.

Pushing past the fatigue
, he pulled away from the curb and headed home.

The loud screeching of tires woke
Jacey from a light sleep. Heart beating frantically, her skin clammy, she sat up. She glanced around frantically, but she couldn’t see much from where the doorway she’d been sleeping in. Jumping up, she watched a small car spin out of control across the street.

Jacey cringed as the car
crashed into a power pole. Shaking off her shock, she grabbed her backpack and slinging it onto her back, she ran toward the accident, throwing the old blanket she’d had wrapped around her to the ground.

The car had rolled onto its roof. Jacey knelt on the pavement to peer into the
driver’s side. A car door slammed shut and she glanced up, swallowing nervously as a large man approached quickly. Jacey fought the urge to turn tail and run.

“What happened?” a deep voice asked
. “Are you all right, miss? Miss?” he said in a firmer voice.

“I’m fine,” she said. “I wasn’t in the crash.
”

A low moan
drifted out from the car and Jacey sighed in relief. “The driver is alive. We have to help.” As she reached for the car door, the man grabbed her hand, pulling her back.

Sh
e glanced up at him in surprise.

“We need to get some help,” h
e told her as he pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. “We could make the injuries worse if we do something.”

Of course, what had she been thinking? Jacey nodded
. Kneeling carefully on the ground, she peered in the driver’s window. “It looks like a woman. She’s not moving.”

“Here, let me have a look.”

She glanced back to find him crouching beside her, a flashlight in his hand. Where had he gotten that?

“I had it in
the boot of my car.” He had a slight English accent. Sexy. Jacey shifted away and he aimed the flashlight into the car.

“Looks like there is just the driver. A woman. Can’t really see how badly she’s hurt.”

There was another moan from the driver.

“At least she’s alive,” Jacey said. “What
happens if the car catches on fire?”

Derrick
glanced around the car. “I can’t see any sparks. If you smell any burning, let me know. An ambulance should be here, soon. We’d better wait.”

“It feels wrong to just stand here and do nothing for her,” Jacey
said frantic with worry.

“I know,” he said. “Tell you what, there’s a blanket in the b
oot of my car, why don’t you go get it while I try to open this door. We can try to keep her warm.”

Jacey nodded and jumped up, grateful to have something to do. She
rushed toward the high end, luxury car parked behind the accident scene. Moving around to the still open trunk, or boot as he kept calling it, she quickly grabbed the blanket.

Hurrying
back, she saw that he’d manage to get the door open. She was trying to cover the woman without jostling her, and securing it so it didn’t fall off when she heard sirens.

***

Derrick slipped off his jacket and swung it over the shoulders of the shivering woman standing next to him. The temperature had dropped, but he suspected her tremors were due to adrenaline more than anything. One of the cops had asked them to stand on the sidewalk near Derrick’s car until he could take their statements.

“Oh, I’m okay,” she said, trying to pull the jacket off to hand it back.

Derrick laid his hands over hers, stopping her. “Keep it on, you’re shivering.”

“But you’ll get cold,” she protested.

He raised a brow. “Your comfort comes first.”

Her forehead twisted into a frown.
“Why?”

Derrick had only just met her and already she stirred his protective instincts.
There was something about having a woman lean on him that filled an empty placeinside him, that made him want to be stronger, a better perso
n.

S
lightly built, she seemed delicate and yet he could see the strength in her. She hadn’t panicked when she’d come across the accident.

He
studied her with a frown. The street light they were standing under pierced the darkness, allowing him a better view. Large eyes stared up from a thin, pale face. Dark, curly hair surrounded her head, giving her an almost pixie-like appearance. She was so tiny, she barely reached the middle of his chest.

How to answer her without sounding like a complete Neanderthal?
Had she been Holly or one of the submissives from Decadence, he wouldn’t have had to explain himself; they’d have understood his need to look out for them.

“Just part of the good manners my mum drummed into me, love. You wouldn’t have her ashamed of me by handing my jacket back, would you?” His explanation seemed to work as she snuggled deeper into his jacket. He liked the idea that his scent surrounded her, marking her.

Bloody hell, what was he thinking? He didn’t even know her name.

“I’m Jacey, by the way,” she said, holding out
one hand while trying to keep the jacket on her with the other.

He took her hand in his, holding it for a long moment. “Derrick
. It’s nice to meet you, Jacey.”

“You too.” She gave him a puzzled smile as she tugged her hand free.

Derrick glanced around, trying to find something to distract himself from his growing attraction to Jacey. The EMTs were loading the driver into the ambulance.

The same policeman who had asked them to wait broke away from
his colleagues and walked toward them.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,”
he said, pulling out a pad and a pen. “I’m Officer Mast. If I could just get a statement from both of you, along with your names and addresses.”

“Is the driver going to be okay?” Jacey asked in a quiet voice.

“I believe so, ma’am,” the officer answered. “Looks like she banged her head, she’ll be bruised and sore for a while, but she should be fine.”

“She’s
bloody lucky, driving around in a sardine can like that,” Derrick muttered with a frown, thinking about how small it was to his sister-in-law’s car, and how he had never been happy with Holly driving it.

“An expensive sard
ine can,” the officer commented, nodding in agreement. “They’re taken her to the hospital, so we just need to piece together what happened. Is that your vehicle?” He nodded over at Derrick’s car.

“Yes, it’s mine. I’m afraid I didn’t see the accident, however. By the time I pulled up, the car was already on its roof.”

“And you, miss? Were you in the car as well?”

“No, I was walking past and
saw the accident.”

“Okay, I’m going to call a colleague over to take your statement, miss.
Joe,” he called out. “Come over here, will you?”

“Is that okay with you?”
Derrick asked Jacey as the two policemen spoke to each other. “I can stay with you if you’d rather.” He wouldn’t leave her if she was feeling vulnerable or afraid.

She stared up at him for a long moment.
“You’re an interesting man, Derrick. I have a feeling your wife must be a lucky woman.”