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CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Lukas
It took all my self-control to remain calm as I drove Kit back to the hotel. I knew I was being rude to her and making the atmosphere uncomfortable. She was picking up on it, I could tell. At this point, I was also pretty sure she must have taken the balls out without telling me.
There was no way she had kept them in the whole game. I hadn’t planned for her to do so, and I knew that they would be hurting anyone who had tried. It was irritating that she hadn’t mentioned it, however.
As we reached the hotel, I tried to at least appear more of a gentleman and took her arm to lead her inside. She almost stumbled up the first step, making me wonder how much alcohol she had drunk. It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed she might have had more than was professional.
Still, Sarai and Richard were just behind us and I knew they might want to spend more time together before we went inside. I didn’t know how much more social I could be. The fun was gone from the weekend. This had been designed for me to show off Kit and also enjoy time with friends.
I didn’t think either of those had gone very well. There had been too many leeches, and Kit had spent most of today away from me.
“I think I need to rest for a few hours. Shall we meet for a late dinner on the terrace?” Sarai asked as soon as we were inside the lobby of the country club.
“I’d love that,” Kit replied, beating me to the agreement. “That was exhausting. Wonderful, but exhausting.”
It sounded like Kit had added the last part to make sure Sarai didn’t worry about her or what she thought of everything, and didn’t sound genuine at all. Had she hated the day as much as I had?
Although I tried to smile and agree, I was also tired of pretending and wasn’t sure I did a good job of it. In the end, I was only human, and we had networked far more than I expected to.
Kit let me take her up to the room but headed to the bathroom the second we were behind closed doors. I frowned but went to pour myself a drink and kicked my shoes off. The atmosphere felt like we were brewing for a fight, and I wasn’t sure I minded. I almost needed one to get everything off my chest.
I had finished most of the drink before Kit reappeared, taking what felt like forever in there. When she came out, I was fairly sure she had been crying, her eyes slightly puffy and red.
“I’ve put the balls on the side in the bathroom. I hope that’s okay.” She didn’t look at me as she spoke, but she slipped into the chair nearby and seemed to deflate. I could tell she had been honest about at least one thing. She was exhausted.
“Why didn’t you give them back to me while we were there like I asked you to?” I tried to ask the question gently. To be controlled as her dom, but there was more bite to my words, and her head snapped up to glare at me.
“Why didn’t you let me hold your hand for long when I didn’t feel comfortable?” She did sound angry, each word extra pronounced in her clipped British accent.
I frowned, not appreciating a question in answer to a question. If this was the way the conversation was going to go, I wasn’t sure I wanted any part of it. I got up, downed the rest of my drink, and put the glass down.
“All through today, I did what I felt was best. If you don’t like how I behaved, you don’t have to be my submissive.” The words came out in a rush, and I was almost daring her to accept the offer of release. If she wanted to be gone from my life, she could easily walk out now. If she’d already been given a better offer, she could take it.
She gulped and looked down, however. I wasn’t going to get such an easy and obvious way out of this relationship.
“I thought I was doing as you wanted,” she said after a while, enough of the anger gone from her I felt both guilt and even more anger of my own. Was she trying to suck up so I didn’t discard her?
I considered her statement for several seconds, trying to think through everything she had done, but there was one sticking point and she’d given me the perfect opportunity to challenge it. “Did you think I wanted you to flirt with Peter?”
“Flirt with Peter?” Her brow furrowed.
“Yes. I saw you. By the restroom at the beginning of the last quarter. You were talking business with him and flirting. I came to make sure you were all right and found you sucking up to some other guy to get his business as well.”
She shook her head but wouldn’t look at me.
“I wasn’t flirting with him. He was creepy. A jerk. I’m definitely not doing business with him.”
“There’s no point lying to me. I’ve had this sort of conversation before. I know what I saw.” I exhaled as I finishedspeaking, most of the anger leaving me. As much as I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, she wasn’t fighting this anymore. She was just sitting there.
The seconds ticked by, dragging out into minutes. Not sure what else to do, I poured another drink. I’d expected a bigger fight, or begging or something. Not silence.
“Thisis what you think of me after this weekend?” she asked when she finally spoke again. Her face was still turned away from me.
I tried to get a read on her, but there was none. It was as if she’d become stone.
“Trust me, I wanted this weekend to work. I thought we had something. But now, I think there’s been a misunderstanding in our situation. I thought this was something it isn’t to you.”
