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Chapter Six
Travis watched as she squeezed her hands together. Talking about herself made her uncomfortable. He recalled the visible anxiety he’d seen her dealing with before the wedding and at the club. Her lack of sleep probably made that worse.
She looked between the two of them and said, “To be important.” Her words were soft, embarrassed in the quiet room.
Hank sat back and his eyebrows rose. “You mean to be on the New York Times Best Sellers list? Or to sell a million copies of your latest book?”
She shook her head and frowned. “I don’t care about either of those things. Best seller lists and royalties are great. They make it possible for me to do what I love. What I’m talking about is being important to someone. Knowing that my presence or absence means something to someone.”
“You mean in a relationship?” Travis asked, thinking he understood. “You feel starved for acceptance from those closest to you, don’t you? Earlier, you said you are an underachiever in a family of social overachievers, meaning you feel you don’t fit in there. You talked about being close to Cord and Jackson but you rarely see them. And then there’s Grandma Kate, but you rarely see her. Your life is spent writing and online. You’re starving, Nika.”
Her eyes took on a faraway quality. “I don’t mean to sound pathetic. I need to be wanted for myself. Not for what I write, or how much money I make, or who I know. Just for who I am. I want to know I’m…enough to someone.”
Hank got up from the couch and gestured toward the stereo receiver in the entertainment system. “You mind if I turn on some music?”
“No, but I don’t know how any of that equipment works.” Travis thought that was interesting considering that she’d been there nearly a week. He had an inkling that she felt she shouldn’t touch it.
“That’s okay. I can figure it out.” Hank glanced at him with a smile and tuned the radio to a country station. Thomas Rhett’s “It Goes Like This” was playing as he adjusted the volume, so they could still talk, and returned to the couch.
They each took one of her hands and Hank lifted her knuckles to his lips. “I’m willing to answer all the questions you have, Nika, but I have one more for you.”
“I’m supposed to be interviewing you,” she whispered softly as Hank scooted closer to her. Her breathing became ragged as she moved back against the couch, her eyes riveted on his lips, and then she turned her gaze to Travis. She didn’t look hunted or scared to him. Her pupils were dilated and her cheeks were filled with beautiful color.
Travis whispered as he came closer, too. “Is this an interview? Really? Is information all you want? Or do you want more? I sense this goes beyond clinical curiosity for you.”
She whispered, “I need to know.”
Hank circled her wrist with his fingertips, gently entrapping her. Anticipation flared inside Travis at her gasp and the look of pure need in her eyes. Hank said, “Really know? Or do you just want me to recommend books for you to read, or get you in touch with a munch group, or do you want to hear about the subs I’ve known—”
She cut him off. “I don’t want to know about any of your subs—” It obviously bothered her to think of women willingly submitting to Hank. “I want to know…”
Hank tilted her chin so she couldn’t look away from him. “Do you want to be dominated, Nika? Is that why you were with Brent? You thought he was a Dom?”
Her shaky breath left her in a rush as Travis tilted his head and pressed his lips to the curve of her shoulder above the neckline of the red dress. “I knew very little about domination when I met him. I thought he…never mind.”
Hank murmured, “You thought he could give you what a Dom would? To take control? To take charge. Take care of you?”
“Yes.”
“He couldn’t do it, could he?”
“N–No.”
Travis whispered, “We can, though.”
She blinked and pulled back from Hank’s gentle grasp to look at Travis. “W–We?”
Craving for her licked up Travis’s spine. “You didn’t know, Nika?”
