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I set the phone on the nightstand, though I don’t look away from him. “We agreed to be exclusive.”
“We are exclusive.” He exhales, some of the fight leaving his shoulders, though not all of it. “Yeah, Dante and I still talk. You can see that clearly enough since you were apparently reading our texts. It’s not a big deal. He’s a friend.”
“A friend you’ve been hooking up with for two years.”
“Hooked up with. Past tense.” He retorts, defensive now, his arms crossing tighter over his chest. “I haven’t fucked that man in months, Tristan. We’re exclusive now. Why would I hook up with Dante when I’m with you?”
“I don’t know. Why does he still text you good morning like he has some claim on it?”
“Because he’s used to it. Because two years of something doesn’t just switch off because you’ve decided you want me now.” His jaw tightens, something colder creeping into his expression. “And for the record, I’m not Jake. I’m nothing like Jake. So don’t you dare stand there and project your ex-husband’s cheating bullshit onto me because some man sends me a harmless text.”
That lands exactly where he means it to, a blade right between my ribs. “Don’t bring Jake into this.”
“You’ve brought him into it already because you’re looking at me like I’m a pathetic cheat.”
“I’m not treating you like a cheater,” I say, anger filling my bones. “I’m trying to understand why you haven’t stopped entertaining a man who clearly still wants you.”
“Oh, that’s rich.” He laughs, short and humorless, stepping back like he needs the distance to say it properly. “How about you stop letting Jake lurk around you like a leech, then? He calls your office more than my father does. He shows up to things he has no reason attending. But sure, let’s talk about my friend.”
“That’s work, Maksim. I’m his family’s lawyer. It’s not a choice.”
“Apparently, neither is Dante texting me good morning, since I don’t control what he does either.”
“Is that what this is?” The words come out low, edged with something I don’t fully recognize in my own voice. “You keep him around because you like knowing he’s still there. An option, just in case.”
“No.” He says, his voice hard and immediate, but an angry flush creeping up his neck tells me the accusation landed where he doesn’t want to look. “But you don’t get to decide that for me, Tristan. Not when you can’t even cut off your own ex-husband after everything he did to you.”
“I already told you,” I say, jaw tight. “What Jake and I have is work. Nothing more.”
“Dante is just a friend too. Funny how the rules only apply to one of us.”
I cross the room before I’ve fully decided to. There’s barely a foot of space left between us now, close enough to see how quickly his breathing has quickened despite the calm he’s trying so hard to maintain. Something ugly and possessive claws its way up my chest, the very feeling I promised myself, after Jake, I would never let control me like this again. And here I am, breaking that promise for a man who hasn’t stopped goading me since the day I met him.
“You just know how to piss me off, don’t you?”
“Oh, I derive joy from it, actually.” His eyes gleam, pure defiance disguised as innocence. “You could just say you’re jealous, you know. It would save us both the trouble.”
My hand moves before I’ve given it permission, closing around his throat and pulling him in until there’s no space left between us. There’s no fear in his gaze. Maksim doesn’t do fear, not for anyone, not even me. But there’s something else there. Something that tells me he likes seeing me unravel like this, likes knowing he’s the one who did it.
“Listen carefully,” I say, voice dropped low and rough, barely recognizable even to myself. “I don’t share. Not your time. Not your attention. Not even the harmless version of it. You don’t get to keep men who used to fuck you on the side while you’re in my bed. You want exclusive? Then you cut them off. All of them. Including him.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Don’t test me, Maksim.”
His mouth curves recklessly. “Maybe I just don’t like being told what to do.”
“That’s a lie.” I lean in until my breath ghosts against his jaw, and I can feel him fighting not to react to it. “You like it just fine when I tell you exactly what you are. Exactly who you belong to.”
Something flickers behind his eyes. Heat, resistance, want, all tangled together the way they always are with him.
“You’re acting insane over a few texts,” he mutters, but his voice has already dropped, already betraying him.
“You signed up for this,” I growl, the words scraping out of me, “when you kept tempting me. When you kept disturbing every ounce of peace I had by making me want you every single day since the first night I fucked you two years ago.” His breath stutters and I press closer, letting him feel the full weight of my body against his. “You don’t get to act surprised now that you have this version of me.”
The tension between us shifts. It’s still intense with anger, still edged with jealousy, but thicker now, heavier and more charged.
“Tristan—”
