“You thought I thought you were dumb?” he asks, sounding appalled at my question.
“You gave me the stupidest stuff to do and hovered over me! What was I supposed to think?”
“That if I gave you bigger projects you’d be away from me more—out in the casino, out of my reach. I wanted you close to me. I spent more time coming up with things for you to do around here,” he motions around in a circle, indicating his office, “than I did actual work.”
My bitterness at that falls away instantly. Seems a lot of things with him happen that way, and I can't bring myself to question it. I question everything in my life and look at it from every angle. I’m just going to enjoy this.
“Well, why don't you bring me as close as possible right now?” I move from sitting sideways on his lap to straddling him. I don’t want him to protest, so I take his mouth in a forceful kiss, the way he kisses me. Suddenly, a knock sounds at the door.
“Kitten. Do you remember about me eating you to four? Because you’re knocking on that door.”
I crawl off his lap and plop down on the couch, pretending to pout, but he just laughs as he goes to the door. He opens it a crack and takes a tray from someone, and then closes it again.
Setting the tray on the table in front of the couch, he pops the champagne, fills a glass and hands it to me. I take a drink, and then place it back down on the table. He removes the lid from the steaming dish and sits back down on the couch next to me.
“Straddle me again.”
I don't hesitate. I crawl onto his lap. He slowly feeds my bite after bite, stopping to kiss me throughout, until the dish is empty. Everything has seemed so perfect that I just have to ask something that’s been playing on my mind. After all, he did say I could ask him anything.
“Did you have other submissives?” I know he said he’s never collared anyone, but jealousy is a nasty bitch. I’d grabbed on so quickly to how he is different with me. I want to keep a hold of it.
He hesitates for a second, making my heart drop. My face must show it, because he finally answers me. “Never. Not one.”
“You don’t have to say that to make me feel better,” I whisper, looking up at him through my lashes, not wanting to make eye contact.
He grabs my face to make me look at him. “I hesitated because I wasn't sure how I should answer. Yes, I’ve played before, but it’s been years, and never here. Also, never more than once with the same person. I didn't want to tell you because, well, I don’t want to hear about any partners you’ve had before me. That thought makes me want to dig a few more of those holes out in the desert. I didn't want you to feel that; there’s no reason for you to. There hasn't been anyone since I laid eyes on you, and there wasn’t for a long time before that.”
Shit. I feel myself tumbling over the edge of this man, and I’m just going to let myself go. I want to reassure him too. “There is no one but you,” I tell him, and he gives me one of his rare smiles. I don’t think he gets that he’s my first everything, unless you count one terrible kiss when I was seventeen. Which I don’t.
“What do you want to do, kitten? You can lie here on the sofa while I work, or I can take you up to the room. I did install an eBook app on your phone if you want to read.”
“Stay here.”
Lifting me off his lap, he sits me down on the sofa. He walks over to his desk, grabs my phone and brings it back to me.
“Be good, kitten.” He goes back to work while I drink my champagne and play on my phone, syncing it up and looking at the books that I had pre-ordered and that have come in. When he isn't paying attention, I snap a pic of him and make it my screensaver. He asks me occasional questions about work, but the next thing I know, I’m being lifted into his arms.
“You fell asleep. I’m taking you to our room.”
I notice my shoes are strewn on the floor. “You can’t carry me through the casino.”
“It’s fine. The elevator is outside the door, and I’ll carry you wherever I like whenever I like.”
“But everyone will see.”
“They already saw when we kissed that night at the bar, and when I dragged you back here after the auction.”
“Yeah, but they could think that was—”
“Don’t say anything. Trust me. They know. I’ve never acted this way before.”
My stomach warms at his words. There it is again. I’m different. He’s different for me, with me.
Soon, he has me naked in our bed, and he’s cuffing one wrist to one of the posts.
“You’re leaving?”
“I’ll only be gone for a little bit. Sleep, and when I get home, I’ll wake you up in a way you’ll never forget.”
“But what if I need to get up before you get back?” I pull at the cuff to show I have no escape.
“If I see you wake, I’ll be here in minutes.”
“See me wake?” I can hear the shock in my voice.
“I always have eyes on you.”