Desired by Stacey Kennedy

absolutely terrified over a shattered glass. He wondered if maybe her family had a role in this. Perhaps a shattered glass in her home had been a call for punishment from her grandfather. “Tell me about your grandparents.”
    She seemed relieved by the change in subject and leaned back into her seat, exhaling slowly. “They were my mother’s parents and were really lovely. Pops was a lawyer and worked for years longer than he should have. Nana was sweet, and did a lot of charity work in Savannah.”
    Only warm affection touched her gaze, telling Kyler her grandparents were not the cause of her fear. More and more, he considered the darkness that lived inside her. He only wished Aidan was in Vegas so he could talk to him about it. If anyone had insight into Ella, it was Aidan. He’d normally call or text him, but since Aidan was honeymooning, that seemed inappropriate, at least at this point, anyway.
    Kyler smiled, running his hand along the table, finally reaching her hand. This time she didn’t flinch away, though he noticed the slight tremors rattling her, which told him he wasn’t off in his assumption of abuse. “They sound like wonderful people.”
    She gave a soft grin. “They were.”
    “What of your parents?” he asked, digging deeper.
    “It’s hard to remember them, because I was young when they died.” She took a very long sip of her wine. When she lowered the glass, her hand shook before she tightened it around the wineglass. “But my mother loved scrapbooking, so she did leave me with a lot of pictures. Those stir some great memories.”
    Family is not the problem
.
    Kyler pondered this new development. His Dom instincts begged her to let him in. He wanted a deeper look, which could be developed between a Dom and a submissive. Ella didn’t trust Kyler with that dark part in her soul. He knew he had to earn the right to hear her troubles. His cop’s instincts wanted to find whoever had hurt her and damage them in return.
    With the challenge she’d given herself exposed, perhaps Kyler had found a way to get herinto Club Sin. He knew what he wanted, and that was Ella under his mastery. There was something special about her—something he couldn’t ignore. No Dom could see that pain and walk away. It was a Dom’s way to see her better and healthy, and see her scars bandaged back up again; that was what a Dom lived for.
    What Kyler lived for.
    The passion between them hadn’t faded. When he’d picked her up at her condominium before their date, the desire had sparked in her gaze.
Christ
, he’d experienced it, too, becoming rock hard as he drew in her lilac scent.
    She was dressed in a short, black dress with buttons down the chest, and he’d never seen anyone look so beautiful. Her light hair was down, and in soft waves with a thick braid pulling her bangs off to one side. And her expressive eyes, reflecting green tonight, drew his need to possess her.
    Squeezing her fingers, he enjoyed how the trembling eased under his touch. She held his stare, her pupils dilating.
Yeah, we’ve got something special here
. “I’ll be back in a minute, all right?”
    She gave a genuine smile. “I’ll be waiting.”
    Of course you will
.
    He rose and then pushed his chair under the table, never breaking eye contact. While he knew there was pain inside her, she also recovered well, and he respected that. Ella was a strong woman. She’d been through a lot, and though he may not know to what extent, he was definitely going to find out.
    Responsive. Submissive. Emotional. Strong
.
    She was the right combination of everything he’d looked for in a woman. He couldn’t pretend any longer to hide how happy he was that she’d come into his life. Sawyer was right; he had no patience. Perhaps he should give Ella more time to get to know him and to discuss all this with Aidan, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to protect her, cherish her, and find out all her secrets.
    Tearing his gaze off Ella, he strode through