A WILDer Kind of Love by Angel Payne

a plane at ten thousand feet. He was really the first to touch her in a setting like this. The knowledge blasted him with arousal, rocketed his arousal.
    He still had to know more.
    “Why?”
    She breathed in then out, her chest shaking. “I was afraid of it, I guess. I always thought I was a deviant, having fantasies of men restraining me, ordering me to their sexual will…but when you’re the good little rule follower of the family, even a little experimentation feels like mortal sin.”
    Dan felt a frown furrow his brow. The statement was given as straightforward fact. It occurred to him that though she always spoke lovingly about her family, she didn’t mention them often. “So you were brought up with lots of religion?”
    “No. Lots of structure. My dad and mom worked hard to support the three of us. With my older sister unable to resist boys and my younger the ultimate anarchist, I learned fast to become the peacekeeper.”
    “You mean, become invisible.”
    “I’m not sure that’s—”
    “The rock that caused no ripples?” he persisted. “The wheel without the squeak? The one who blended just to makes things easier?”
    Pain marred her face, betraying his bulls-eye. Accurate or not, he hated being the one who wielded her grief.
    “Sweet little rose.” He raised his hands to frame her face again. “No wonder all of this beckoned to you.”
    She sighed in bliss but questioned in a whisper, “Sir?”
    He lowered his head. Brushed his lips over her forehead, down her nose, across her mouth. Breathed in her beautiful scent, like fresh-plucked roses dusted with cinnamon, before murmuring, “I see you, woman. All of you.” Pulled his hands back into her hair again, kneading her with yearning possession. “I see you.”
    “Oh…”
    Her mouth opened as if to say more but all that came out was another sigh. She swallowed hard, clearly fighting back tears. Every Dominant bone in Dan’s body wanted to call her on that shit, to demand she not hold the reaction back, but the friend in him overrode the Dom, understanding the pride beneath her battle. No wonder she’d always been the “levelheaded” one at the office, earning her nickname through countless trials of staying the course when everyone else wigged out. Shouldering the burden, even when national security was at stake, came naturally to her—
    And was the first thing she wanted to lose when getting naked for a man.
    Too bad none of her other lovers had gotten the clue.
    No, not really.
    Those bozos might be crying about their loss—which didn’t stop him from rejoicing about it. And from taking a stronger lead now, combing his fingers deeper against her scalp. “Sssshh,” he soothed. “Take a minute and regroup.”
    She was so gorgeous, expelling a long breath before he twisted his fingers a little at the end of a stroke, delivering enough pain to keep her alert and connected to him. “Th-thank you.”
    He did it again. Then again. A few more times, simply for the pleasure of watching her sexy little gasps, before prompting, “So what finally led you here? Coaxed you across from good little peacemaker to sexy little subbie?”
    The edges of her lips inched up. “Sexy? Errr…really?”
    Dan groaned. “Little girl, you have no idea.”
    After smiling wider, she confessed, “It was a friend. A colleague. At work.” To his curiosity, a blush suffused everything between her face and breasts. “Okay, he’s not really at work anymore, but he was. He got badly hurt, so he’s been on leave.”
    “Hurt?” He echoed the word because only then did it crack his thick skull that she might be talking about—
    Holy fuck .
    “Yeah. Burned. On his face. Not a lot of it, but the damage was deep enough to leave deep scars, and he’s been a tad aggro about it. He saved a woman’s life, though.”
    “Holy shit.” Thank fuck he didn’t have to squelch it. Didn’t know if he could. She was talking about him.
    “No kidding. He’s a hero but