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A moment later she realized the soft clink of dishes and silver had stopped in the kitchen. She sensed Jack’s presence and lifted her gaze to catch his reflection over hershoulder.
He was looking at her face in the glass, their locked gaze no less intense for the fact that it was reflected in thewindow.
She sensed movement on her part would be unwelcome. Sensed that Jack was the ringleader of his own show, that her role was somehowpredesignated.
But instead of being constricting, the knowledge was liberating. After months of making all the decisions, of carrying the weight of her new life on her shoulders, now all she had to do waswait.
She could hardly breathe as the moment lengthened between them. She sensed him step away from her body, his distance impossible to discern in thereflection.
“Turn around,” hecommanded.
She turned away from thewindow.
He was standing three feet away, staring at her. “Take off yourclothes.”
She was almost ashamed of how quickly she reached back to unzip the dress, not because she wanted him so badly but because she was following ordersagain.
Don’t be a martyr, Nina. You want someone to tell you what to do. Fuck, you wouldn’t know what to do if you had to make all the decisionsyourself.
More of Peter’s words, thrown in her face in the heat of an argument over the level of control he exorcised over their lives. The comment had carried a dangerous note of truth, and Nina had often thought about it since the divorce, proud that she’d proven himwrong.
So why then was she unzipping her dress, letting it fall to the floor until she was naked in front of the window — in front of Jack — except for her black thong and matching lacebra?
Why did it feel so good to follow Jack’sorders?
“All of it,” hesaid.
There was no kindness in his voice, and his eyes were flinty and cold. It was almost a relief. She hadn’t been with any man, even Peter, for a very long time, and she hadn’t been with anyone but Peter sincecollege.
She didn’t know if she could navigate emotional intimacy and physical intimacy, if she could negotiate two equally unfamiliar courses at the sametime.
This she could do. Follow Jack’s orders. Give herself over to hisdemands.
She bent to take off herheels.
“Leavethem.”
She straightened, unhooked her bra, and dropped it to the floor. Then she slipped off her underwear, careful to work them around the Louboutins still on herfeet.
It was warm in the apartment, but her nipples were hard, her body smoldering with anticipation as he slowly scanned her body. She resisted the urge to fidget, forced herself not to wonder what he thought about her full breasts, smaller but still not as perky as they’d been in heryouth.
She panicked when he lowered his gaze to her waist and let it glide over her hips. She’d never had a child, but she still had faint stretch marks from various periods of weight gain, and while months at the gym had left her fit, she would never beslender.
She pushed away her fear. This was who she was. She didn’t want to hideanymore.
He continued to the mound between her legs, hesitating there long enough that she began to second-guess her decision to leave hair — however well-trimmed —there.
He didn’t say anything, just continued over her thighs andcalves.
“Turn around,” he said without looking at herface.
She could almost feel the heat of his inspection when she did as he asked, could almost feel his stare moving down the expanse of her back and waist, over the swell of her hips and ass, back down to herfeet.
She looked at the city spread out below. It was strangely exciting to be so on display in front of the window even though she knew the odds of anyone seeing her were slim. The glass was undoubtedly tinted for privacy, and they were so high above the park someone would have to have a telescope in a neighboring building to have a shot in hell at getting any kind of peepshow.
Still, there it was, the lights shimmering in the night proof that millions of people were on the other side of thewindow.
She closed her eyes and let her mind go blank as she waited for Jack’s next move. She was suspended high above the city, almost floating in midair, naked as the day she was born except for herheels.
