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Sometime after he’d pulled Cale away, Diana gathered her clothes and split. Maybe she’d recognized their voices. If so, she had to be frightened out of her mind at being discovered. A woman like Diana Sinclair would not be okay with being known as a closet submissive. She probably chewed tacks for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
And she liked to get her freak on with anonymous men in a BDSM and voyeurism club.
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“You know how you said there are things you can’t share with me because they’re not your secrets to tell?”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. I was there with the two of you tonight. I didn’t even care about going tonight but I went because Cale and you cooked up some scheme.”
“Were we cooking up schemes last night too?”
She pushed at his chest, forcing him back so she’d have room to stand. That she wobbled on the way up didn’t seem to slow her down. “One night has nothing to do with the other. I didn’t ask to go there again. I also didn’t suggest we have a second threesome. One was enough.”
Though a large part of him rejoiced at the sentiment, Tony frowned. “You certainly didn’t seem to be in pain when you were straddling Cale in the lounge.”
“You’re absolutely right. Offer me no-strings sex with a hot guy and there’s a good likelihood I’ll go for it. Same way I’ll eat a three-scoop sundae with hot fudge and caramel and clutch my belly for two hours afterward. I never said I was a saint.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and directed her attention anywhere but at him. “Good reasons or not, it still hurts to know you’re keeping something from me. That protecting someone else is more important than…” She trailed off and shook her head.
“Appeasing you?”
“You think this is about curiosity?” She ground her teeth together. “This is about my lover asking me to leave so he can have a private conversation with his best friend several feet away from a gorgeous woman who’s practically naked.”
Tony rubbed the back of his neck. He’d never heard her sound so vulnerable before. She also obviously hadn’t looked closely enough at Diana to suspect who she was. Thank God for dim lighting and Marcia’s fixation on Cale’s cock. “You’re actually jealous? We were at a sex club. Christ, you’re the one who loves when anything goes.”
“Of course I’m jealous. She was gorgeous and you asked me to leave.” She shifted her face away but not before he glimpsed the tension drawing her features tight. “Anything goes might’ve worked a few years ago. Not anymore.”
“Why not?” he asked softly.
Rather than reply, she turned to leave.
“Marcia, wait,” he called when she headed down the hall.
Nothing.
He followed her into her bedroom and stopped dead at the desolate look she shot him. Shadows rimmed her eyes and she was way too pale. It was as if someone had switched off the light inside her. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk anymore tonight.”
If she’d yelled at him, thrown things, even pouted, he would’ve stayed to fight it out with her. They’d argued so many times and usually didn’t stop until the rafters shook. It had been a while, true, but they were still the same people.
Except they weren’t. The woman staring at him right now wasn’t the vivacious party girl who always came out swinging. This version looked as if she didn’t even have enough strength to remain standing.
Falling for her had changed him too. He hadn’t even figured out all the ways yet.
“If you’d like to be alone, I’ll go. It’s up to you.”
He didn’t expect her lips to quirk. “Selfless Tony, always putting his own needs aside for the greater good. It must be tiring hefting those wings all the time.”
“I care enough about you to give you room even if all I want to do is hold you,” he said, his tone even. “I keep hoping if I give you enough that eventually you’ll decide you want me more than the space you put between us.”
She swallowed jerkily, her eyes suddenly bright. “I already do.” She crossed the room to him and simply folded herself into his arms. “Stay with me, Tony.”
He stroked her back, surprised by the quiver in her muscles. By the fragility of her body as it wilted against his. She never gave him this part of her. He’d only ever seen the shiny, happy, strong Marcia. The one who didn’t take shit from anyone and wouldn’t back down for any reason.
God, he’d never once seen her cry.
Not that she was now either. But her thick blonde lashes lay heavily on her cheeks as if she couldn’t bear to keep her eyes open. Was she that upset with him about what had happened at the club? Did she honestly think she had anything to worry about when it came to him? Them?
“Just sleep with me,” she whispered. Her arms came up to encircle his neck. “Hold me. Please.”
Wordlessly, he scooped her up and carried her to bed. Without shedding their clothes, he settled beside her and turned out the light.
