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The hotel where they were staying was private and so exclusive there were no signs to indicate it even was a hotel. Before him, Minnow never would have known such a place existed. The rooms he’d taken were lavish, and Minnow lived in constant fear of touching anything. Hotel staff doted on them.
While Rodrigo was busy in meetings, she sat on the balcony overlooking pretty gardens, reading, and eating the kind of pastry she used to fantasize about when she’d been on her own and rubbing pennies together to try to make rent for her moldy apartment. Her old life was like a bad dream she’d had once – alone, hungry. It was hard to believe that for years she’d had no one to call for help.
Although Rodrigo didn’t know his way around the city, he wasn’t shy about getting them thoroughly lost. With boyish enthusiasm, he dragged her from shop to shop, holding her hand, buying her dresses and shoes, baubles and trinkets, and making such a fuss over her she was almost embarrassed.
Every time she felt guilty about going on this trip without Severin, Rodrigo seemed to feel it, and he’d swat her ass and glower in that shiver-inducing way he had.
In late afternoon, on their fifth day in Belgium, they sat on a park bench people-watching and eating rijsttaart. She was relaxed and having more fun than she had in ages.
“It’s too bad you couldn’t bring Severin instead of me. I’m sure this would be more fun for you.”
Rodrigo shrugged. “When I fantasized about having a life with him, I knew he’d never be involved in this part of things. That wasn’t a big deal to me, but I didn’t realize how much more fun it would be traveling with someone like you. Can you imagine Sev enjoying any of this with us? He’d be miserable, and he knew you’d like it. I think that’s why he pushed so hard for you to come with me.”
“That and he was worried about me being alone at your place.”
“He knows that for you, my place doesn’t feel like home yet.” He kissed her nose. “That can only be fixed by time and familiarity. You also don’t make places your own, I’ve noticed. Just because we lived in our houses without you first doesn’t mean you can’t redecorate and claim space.”
She shrugged. “I don’t care about things like that. If you’d seen my last apartment...” she smiled, thinking of how she’d lived with the faulty electricity and the water that had never been more than tepid.
“You had no money when you met us, and now you’re the submissive. You have some power in this relationship even though it may not seem like it sometimes. You can make yourself at home.”
“Four dogs,” she pointed out. “It’s not like I’m being shy about making changes when I’m passionate about them.”
He pulled her close and shared a kiss with her that was sticky sweet with the pie they’d shared.
They’d gotten close over time, sharing confidences and frustrations. Rodrigo had always made her a little weak in the knees, but away from Severin’s dominance, his own became more pronounced. It was different from Severin’s – being his was like being a cultured man’s lapdog rather than a rough man’s bitch. They held different appeals, like the men, themselves, did.
“How did men as different as you and Severin ever become friends in the first place?”
“I’ve told you this before,” he teased, playfully tugging a piece of her hair. “I was hired to manage his finances.”
“But that didn’t make you friends.”
“He gets under your skin. I shouldn’t have to explain it to you, of all people.” The flash of embarrassment she caught in his expression just made her more curious.
“Tell me,” she wheedled. “You already know how things went down between him and me. It’s only fair that I know your secrets too.”
He groaned and tipped his head back to look up at the sky. “It’s too humiliating.”
“More humiliating than him playing little dominance games with me in front of poor Sutton? I swear that woman must have thought I had no self-respect.”
“Don’t sell her short. As much as Sutton was vanilla, she knew what was going on with you, just like she knew what was going on with me.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“So what was going on with you? Because so help me, I really had no idea. I mean, I caught that there was some sexual tension between the two of you, but I wrote it off as a shared love of keeping me under your boot heels. Imagine my disappointment when I realized I was just a beard for the real action.”
He swatted her thigh hard enough that it stung. A woman walking past glanced over at them sharply, but relaxed when she caught Minnow’s grin.
“You’re not a beard.”
“Well, I know that now, but in the alleyway that first night I had doubts.”
“Yeah.” Rodrigo laughed self-consciously and shook his head. “I don’t think any of us saw that coming.”
She waited, giving him time to organize his thoughts.
