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  I didn’t want to face the reality. I didn’t want to admit that the man I’d been secretly fantasizing about was impossible.

  “I’m going out of town unexpectedly tonight and I was wondering if you could do a favor for me. With it being so close to Christmas, Doc’s too full to accept Sheba for a single night.”

  We only had space to board ten pets, and the holidays had been booked for months. I dared to look back up at him. He leaned on the counter again, all dimples and tousled curls, doodling aimlessly with his finger on the counter. I blinked, wondering if I’d finally lost it for good. The poor man didn’t have a clue that my greedy body lusted for him.

  His finger stilled, drawing my attention from his graceful hand up his arm and shoulder and back to his face. He leaned toward me, skyrocketing my blood pressure again. I was dizzy from the highs and lows, mentally exhausted after talking with him a few minutes.

  He wasn’t asking me on a date. He certainly wasn’t offering to show me his box of toys or take me to his dungeon.

  The man wants me to babysit his dog.

  I tried to clarify. “Would Sheba be okay at my house?”

  “She’d do better in her own environment, if that’s not too inconvenient for you.”

  Crap. A night in his house. Granted, he wouldn’t be there, but his presence would have permeated every room. His scent. Would I be able to restrain my curiosity?

  He flashed that dimple again, as though he knew I would snoop and he hoped I found something that would pique my interest even more. “It’s only one night. I’d be back before dinner on Christmas Eve if you have plans with your family. I’d ask my neighbor to come check on her, but she doesn’t like to be alone. Plus she likes you, Ranay. She knows and trusts you.”

  The soft, rumbly way he said my name made me quivery with excitement. Worse, I could tell he knew it.

  “I like you too.”

  I stilled, sudden dread squeezing my throat. I dared a quick look into his eyes to gauge his intensity, but he was still playful and light. Was I still reading too much into this? Or was he merely luring me into his den with an innocent request to dog sit?

  “I hope you like us.”

  I opened my mouth but couldn’t respond. I’ve done a lot of things I’m not very proud of, but I’m a terrible liar. Luckily, Dr. Wentworth and Sheba saved me from having to answer. I’d crawl across broken glass if you told me to.

  “Your beautiful lady’s manicure was quick and easy today,” Dr. Wentworth said as she handed over the leash to Charlie. “That must have been one heck of a talk you gave her, Mac, because she didn’t give us one whimper. What’d you promise her?”

  He winked at me. “Just a visit from a friend.”

  “Oh, good,” Dr. Wentworth replied. “I’m so glad Sheba will have some company. Do you need directions, Ranay?”

  I nodded, unable to trust my voice.

  Dr. Wentworth launched into turn left here and then two rights, and didn’t I know where so-and-so lived twenty years ago. I was seriously regretting accepting.

  But in the midst of her chatter, he slipped a folded note to me, keeping his fingers on the paper as I laid my own on it. I was tempted to touch his hand, but I didn’t trust myself. Especially not in front of others.

  “Call me if you have any problems at all.”

  It wasn’t a command, not exactly, but my entire being vibrated with anticipation. I wanted his commands. I wanted his control. Pain. Punishment. It would all be pleasure to me. My chest seized, my lungs aching because I couldn’t breathe. Not with him standing here so close. I was careening down a mountain road in the pitch-black night. And I don’t have any emergency brakes.

  “I need to leave for the airport by eight.” He let me slip the paper free and lightened his voice enough that I was able to haul in a deep, shaking breath. “Any time after six is fine. Whatever’s easiest for you. I can come get you if you’re afraid you might get lost, but I thought you might rather have your own car at your disposal.”

  After waving at us both, he headed for his car with Sheba at his heels. I didn’t have to ring his bill up. He paid a flat amount monthly, an automatic deposit to his account with us. The perfect client.

  Dr. Wentworth insisted we close up early. She wouldn’t let me clean up the break room. “You need time to get home and pack so you can spend the night with Sheba. I’m sure he’ll need to show you all her routines. How much to feed her. Where she likes to walk.” But then she spoiled her reasonable arguments with a wink and a nudge that told me she wasn’t oblivious to my attraction to Mr. MacNiall. “If you get there early enough, you might even have time for dinner. Trust me, darling, he has a fabulous wine collection. Make sure you sample it before the holiday’s over.”

  Convinced I’d made a terrible mistake, I headed for my car, determined to arrive a few minutes before eight. I certainly wouldn’t hope for dinner. Or wine. Or the thousand other inappropriate things running through my mind that involved naked skin.

  Though I sure as hell wanted to know how Dr. Wentworth knew all about his fabulous wine collection.

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  ONE CUT DEEPER by Joely Sue Burkhart

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  Copyright ©2015 by Joely Sue Burkhart

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my beta readers, Molly Burkhart and Stephanie Christine, and my editor, Alissa Davis, for helping me make this book my best work possible.

  Also available from Joely Sue Burkhart

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  About the Author

  Joely Sue Burkhart has always loved heroes who hide behind a mask, the darker and more dangerous the better. Whether a cool, sophisticated billionaire, brutal bloodthirsty assassin, or simply a man tortured by his own needs, they all wear masks to protect themselves. Once they finally give you a peek into the passionate, twisted secrets they’re hiding, they always fall hard and fast. Dare to look beneath the mask with delicious BDSM in a wide variety of genres with Joely on her website, Twitter and her Facebook fan page. If you’d like to know when her next book is available, you can sign up for her newsletter.

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  ONE CUT DEEPER

  A Killer Need, book one

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  The first thrilling installment in Joely Sue Burkhart’s darkly erotic A Killer Need series tells the story of a couple bound together by their deepest, most wicked desires

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  DIDN’T I WARN YOU

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  AMBER BARDAN

  Not everything dangerous is bad.

  From the moment Angelina laid eyes on him, she fell into a fantasy.

  Mysterious, foreign, gorgeous, Haithem offered her what she needed most—a chance to feel
again.

  But he lives in a world of danger where everything comes at a price...and she was warned.

  The Bad for You series is coming.

  You’ve been warned.

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  ISBN-13: 9781459290365

  Two Cuts Darker

  Copyright © 2016 by Joely Sue Burkhart

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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