AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She doesn’t contest that, busy enjoying my hands working her muscles until my fingertips are numb. I glance around, spotting a coffee house across the road. Perfect. Pulling her up, I flash her a note. “I came prepared.”With money and words.“Coffee?”
She looks over her shoulder and sighs, then proceeds to toss her arms over my shoulders. I chuckle and lift her, forcing her to release me. “Come on.” Holding her hand, I walk us across the road to the coffee house and lead her to the counter. “Do you want something to eat?”
“No,” she says, adamant, ripping her eyes away from the pastries.
She’s a case. I take her nape and pull her close, kissing her sweaty forehead, before giving the server our order. “Go and get a seat.” Returning my attention to the counter, I ponder how best to approach The Manor anniversary this Friday, glancing over my shoulder every now and then, each time finding Ava lost in thought on the couch in the window. She said she’d think about it. Something tells me that’s what’s on her mind this morning, and I’m not sure I like her pensiveness.
“That’s fourteen pounds twenty, sir.”
“Thanks.” I hand over a twenty and take the tray. “Keep the change.” As I make my way to Ava, my concern increases. She’s staring blankly out of the window, constantly squinting, sometimes wincing. She is. She’s thinking about The Manor. Drawing conclusions, making assumptions.
“Dreaming?” I ask, setting the tray down, snapping her out of her thoughts. Her smile is tight as I cautiously unload our drinks, pushing a muffin toward her. She stares down at her cup as she stirs, absentmindedly fingering the muffin. I lower to my chair, my appetite dying with each second I watch her building some courage to speak.
“I’m not coming to the party,” she eventually says, refusing to look at me. It’s probably best, as I know she wouldn’t appreciate my impatient glance at the ceiling. “I love you,” she goes on, “but I can’t do that.”
She’s wrong. It’s not a case ofcan’t, morewon’t. How the hell do I solve this if she won’t meet me halfway? I know she’s expecting some dark, seedy joint. It’s kinky, filthy, yes, but it’s as tasteful as a sex club could be. Comfortable. Safe. The happenings of The Manor won’t feature in our relationship, but The Manor itself will. Is she going to refuse to ever step foot in the place again? Not only is that impossible if she’s going to fulfil the new designs, but it’s unrealistic if Ava and I are in a relationship.
I exhale, trying to wipe away my irritation, just managing to do that before she looks up at me nervously. “It’s not going to be how you think it will be, Ava.” Talk her through it. Be patient.
“How do you mean?” Her head tilts, curiosity rife on her pink face. This is good. Whatever she’s convinced herself The Manor is, she’s still inquisitive.
I ply my dry mouth with some coffee, ready to talk her through her worries, and, hopefully, settle them. “Has The Manor ever given you the impression of a seedy sex club?”
Her lips pout a little, and I smile on the inside. “No.”
“Ava, there won’t be people wandering around naked propositioning you,” I explain, grimacing when my teeth automatically clench. God help anyone who even tries. “You won’t be manhandled up the stairs to the communal room. There are rules.”
“Rules?” she asks. Her frown is endearing. I need to remember that Ava is way younger than the average member. My world would never have featured in her life before she met me, not that she’ll be a part of my world in that sense. I bet sex clubs have never even cost her a thought, let alone dating the owner of one.
“The only places people are permitted to remove their clothes is in the communal room or one of the private suites.” Her frown smooths out. “The ground floor, spa, and sports facilities are run like any other exclusive resort. I don’t run a brothel, Ava,” I go on. “My members pay a lot of money to enjoy everything The Manor provides, not just the privilege to pursue their sexual preferences with likeminded people.”
Her lip slips between her teeth, her mind spinning.Come on, baby. Ask me.“What’syoursexual preference?” she asks, pensive, quiet, and I can’t help but smirk. This isn’t just about The Manor and what goes on there. This is about me. Just as I can’t stand the thought of Ava amidst the sexual activities, she can’t bear to imagine me there. She’s nothing to worry about. I am off the menu. But we both know that’s not always been the case, and that is part of the problem for her. Is she showing signs of possessiveness?
Interesting. I break off a piece of cake and slip it past my lips, relishing in her sudden squirming. I have one preference these days. “You.”
She nods slowly, her lips twitching to smile. “Just me?”
“Just you, Ava.” She needs to stop looking at me like that. We’re not in a place where I can bend her over and fuck her until she believes nothing else.
“Good,” she says happily, chomping into her muffin, her appetite obviously found. I shift in my chair, blood surging south. I don’t think there’s anything in this world that could turn me on more than Ava being possessive over me. But as I watch her, fighting to control my urge to jump her, thank her, tell her she can be as possessive as she likes, because I definitely will be, I realize she’s not actually said she’ll come.
“You’ll come?” I ask, making sure I pose it as a question, watching her chew slowly. “Please?”
She huffs quietly, her eyes taking on a sparkle of life. “Only because I love you.”
Those words make me grin like an idiot. They also fuel my raging hard-on. “Say it again.”
“What?” she questions, smiling. “That I’ll come?”
“Oh, you’ll come all right.” And scream until she loses her voice.Fuck, yes.Then, no work for Ava today. “No, tell me you love me again.”
“I do. I love you.”
“I know you do.” And her love is life. “I love hearing you say it.” Getting up, urgency replacing my satisfaction, I haul her up into my arms. My work here is done. But my work back at Lusso is yet to begin.Ifwe make it to Lusso. “If you had kept running,” I whisper, pushing her wet hair from her face, scanning her sparkling eyes, “we would be at home by now, and I would be lost inside you.”
I kiss her hard and with purpose, a silent message of what to expect once I get her home. Fuck, it’s going to be a long ride. I groan under my breath and dip, hoisting her up onto my shoulder and pacing urgently out of the café, and she yelps then laughs. A man up ahead watches, alarmed, as I carry her out, holding the door open for me. Good man.
I search for a cab and thank every god that ever existed when one rounds the corner up the street. I raise my arm, feeling Ava’s palms wedged into my lower back, and open the door when it pulls up to the curb, lowering her in and nodding at the cabbie when he looks back, his eyebrows high. “St. Katherine Docks, please, mate.” I drop to the seat next to her, keeping my eyes forward. It’s the safest way. “And make it snappy.” I give him a tight, telling smile, clearing my throat as I reach down and adjust myself.
