Servicing the Target (Masters of the Shadowlands #10)(93)
Author: Cherise Sinclair

The woman had probably flung herself into his arms. Charming. Anne glanced at her chair—the empty one to Ben’s right—and Ben moved to hold it for her.

Deal with this, Sheena. Anne edged her chair to the right toward Deanna.

After sitting, Ben scooted close enough to brush his leg against Anne’s. She’d expected his move. Her slave had very assertive behavior, yet she could hardly reprimand him for claiming gestures she enjoyed.

Even better, he now was far enough away from Sheena-the-slut that her irritating, touchy-feely maneuvers would be blazingly obvious.

Leon noted the distance between Sheena and her prey, and the corners of his mouth tipped up. “So, Anne, Ben tells us you’re a bounty hunter. What’s that like?”

“I’m afraid what I do isn’t as exciting as what’s shown on television. Technically, in Florida, the job is called fugitive recovery, because an agent isn’t independent, but employed by a bail bond company. Mostly I do paperwork, computer searching, knocking on doors, and diplomacy. Occasionally, we see some action.”

“Action. I can’t imagine why a woman would want to put herself in danger.” Although Sheena’s eyelashes held enough mascara to resemble hairy tarantula legs, she still managed to look up at Ben through them. “Men are so much stronger.”

“They are?” Anne ran her hand over Ben’s biceps and gasped. “Oh, my. How strong you are! Who knew?”

Ben, Leon, and Camille broke out laughing. Unfortunately, Deanna’s glare was a match for Sheena’s. Naughty Anne. Not good to piss off relatives.

Time to defuse the situation. “Actually, Sheena, I like the action and the satisfaction of tossing the bad guys back in jail.” As Ben put his arm over the back of her chair, Anne turned to her right, put on her company smile, and asked Deanna, “What do you do for a living?”

“I-I’m between jobs at the moment,” Deanna said.

The arm behind Anne tensed. “Seriously? You lost the sales position at the clothing store?” Ben growled. “Then why are you here instead of searching for another?”

“Ben.” Deanna snapped. A second later, she managed a pitiful-me expression, complete with teary eyes. “I should have stayed home. It’s just, I was s-so upset. I only wanted to get away.”

Anne turned to check out Ben’s response.

His expression was soft. “Now, Dee-dee, it’ll be all right,” he said gently.

Anne barely refrained from rolling her eyes. As a Domme, she’d seen far more skillful performances, but Deanna’s wasn’t bad. She definitely had her big brother fooled.

To top it off, Deanna added the tried-and-true lip quiver. “No, it won’t be all right. I can’t pay my rent and”—she half-sobbed—“Sheena was wonderful and lent me money for food, but I can’t ask her for more.”

“Of course not,” Ben said.

Anne had to smother a growl. During their time together, Ben had already received a couple of phone calls from this sister, hitting him up for money.

But…to pull this crap in front of other people and put Ben on the spot? That was purely manipulative. He obviously had no clue he was being played. Not surprising. Family could do that to a person.

Anne bit her lip. It wasn’t her money, wasn’t her family. As Sam would say, she didn’t have a dog in this fight.

Yet…she did. When Ben had given her his submission, he’d become hers to protect, even from his own family if needed. So be it.

“Asking for and giving money between family members is tricky, isn’t it?” Anne said brightly to the table at large. “Last week, my friend Linda cried after she said no to her grown son. She was heartbroken to have to refuse him, especially when a little money would help. But she says her parental goal is for her son to be independent, and if she constantly rescues him, he won’t exert the effort—or learn enough diplomacy—to keep a job.”

Ben looked down at Anne, his brows together. “Did Sam agree?”

The gray-haired sadist had certainly had an opinion. “He thinks enabling a person like that is as detrimental as abuse.” Anne half-smiled. “He told Linda to envision the future. If she died in a car wreck tomorrow, would her adult son survive without her?”

Ben was silent.

Anne carefully didn’t look at Deanna, but the waves of fury coming from that direction were almost palpable. “Leon, have you run into such situations in your family?”

“Mais, yeah. Cajuns have big families. An’ whoever has money gets hit on by them that don’t.” He eyed Ben. “You ever watched a mama dog when she decides the pups are old enough? They try to suckle, an’ she just walks away. Sometimes she’ll have to nip the ones that won’t take a hint, otherwise some puppies’d be happy to suck the tit forever, yeah?”