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"I knew you shouldn't have gone on the safari alone when I found out he was going, but I didn’t want to stop you. I knew how much it meant to you."
"I'm sorry," I said and tried to smile past my tears. "Claire knows about you."
Drake frowned. "What do you mean?"
"She said something about your peculiarities. Drake, she knows you're into kink," I said, my voice lowered to a whisper.
He exhaled loudly and leaned back, running his hands through his hair. "I don't need this right now. Goddammit" he said, his voice almost a shout. He turned his face away from me as if he was too angry to look me in the eyes.
I stood and started walking, because I was getting too upset to sit there, afraid that he blamed me for everything. Afraid that Claire knowing about Drake's 'peculiarities' was a threat to him.
He followed me, keeping a few feet behind. I walked aimlessly through the halls, having no idea how to leave the building. He seemed content to let me wander without stopping me, saying nothing, but kept close to me, as if he was giving me space and time to calm down.
"You're going in circles," he said finally when I found myself back at the bank of elevators where he first caught up with me. I stopped and stood with my eyes closed, trying to breathe in deeply. "Kate, let me get my things and we'll go home."
I didn’t say anything. Finally, he heaved a great sigh and reached out his hand to me. I stared at it, not taking it.
"Let me lead you to safety," he said, a touch of humor in his voice. "This place is like the labyrinth in Greece. You could get lost and wander forever. I swear I've seen the Minotaur here once or twice late at night…"
I looked at him. He was smiling, his blue eyes crinkling in the corners.
"Don't do that," I said, dragging my eyes away from him, frowning to keep from smiling.
"Do what, Ms. Bennet?"
"Don't try to make me smile."
He stepped closer and ran his hand down my arm. "I don’t want you to be upset," he said, his voice soft. "I don’t want you to misinterpret what you saw. I want you to listen to me and to believe me when I say not to worry. I'm doing everything in my power not to misinterpret what happened with you and Sefton."
"When I saw you with her, both of you in scrubs, I thought you belong with her. She's tall and beautiful and a surgeon… And Claire said—"
"Forget what Claire said. I don't belong with Sam," he said and pulled me closer, holding my face in his hands. He forced me to look in his eyes, and he had this look on his face. So strong. So… knowing. Like he knew me so well that he knew what I was thinking and feeling.
"I know you don't want Sefton. You were ready to stay home because he'd be there, but I encouraged you. This is all my fault." Then he stroked my cheek. "Kate, I belong with you. I am with you. You have to understand that. Accept that you have nothing to fear from Sam. Or anyone. Do you believe me?"
"I do," I said finally, forcing myself to shut off my emotions.
"No, you don't," he said and took me in his arms, pulling me against his body. "If you did, you'd be putting your arms around me and kissing me."
I wanted to believe Sam was nothing to him, like Sefton was nothing to me, but I wouldn’t be able to get the image of her touching him out of my mind's eye.
Finally, he let go of me and took my hand, despite my not taking his. He led me down the hallways and back up to where his office was located.
"Here," he said and closed the door. He pulled me over to a small couch, against a wall by a window that looked out over the courtyard. "Sit with me for a moment."
He sat on the couch, his arms spread out on the back – like he had that first night in my apartment. Seeing him like that aroused something in me that I couldn’t name – a sense of surrender that I fought despite my desire to comply. I stood in front of him, wanting to give in and sit on his lap like I knew he wanted me to, but for some reason, I held back and stood mute, looking around the small office.
"Katherine," he said, his voice low, commanding. I dragged my eyes to his face. He leaned back, his eyes expectant, no humor in his expression any longer. "Sit with me."
"I've been sitting all morning."
"Poor excuse," he said, his voice sounding tired. Like he was fighting to be patient with me. "Sit on my lap."
"Why?" I said, still resistant. "So you can overcome me with your seductive Master D ways?"
"Yes," he said, a grin starting on one corner of his mouth.
I looked straight at him. God, he was so damn gorgeous. His legs were spread wide, his arms out on the back of the couch, his head leaning back, his black hair a bit wild, falling on his forehead and down his neck. His eyes were bleary from lack of sleep. Underneath those blue scrubs, which made his eyes even more strikingly blue, his eyelashes more strikingly thick and black and long, was his deliciously firm and sculpted body.
