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She’s pouting her lips with a hurt look in her eyes. She knows what pulls at my heartstrings.
“Remember the part in the contract about communication?” I ask firmly. “If you don’t speak up and tell me what’s wrong, I will punish you.”
She hesitates and I see the gears turning in her head. Then she shakes it and flops onto the pillows. “I’m just wondering…if I’m the only one.”
There’s a little crease between her brows. Oh, she’s jealous. I dip my head to conceal my smile and she scowls. Maybe I should punish her for that, but I don’t care to right now. I click my fingers and hold my hand out and she takes it reluctantly and allows me to lift her to her feet.
I brush her hair back. “You’re lucky you were a good girl last night. Otherwise I’d take your panties down and spank you.”
Heat creeps over her face. “I’m not trying to be bad. It’s just…Clint used to go into the city like this. And sometimes he’d smell like someone else when he got back.”
I don’t tell her that I already know about Clint Garrison’s infidelity—it’s part of the reason he was in so much debt. Cheating is an expensive hobby. I saw his bank statements when I pulled some strings to look over his will post death. I noticed she went to the gynecologist's office more than normal. Most likely obsessively getting herself tested.
But I’m not supposed to know any of that. She won’t forgive how deeply I’ve intruded into her personal life in the last year if she finds out.
“Come here,” I say.
She obeys, and her eyes are on the floor as she approaches. I lift her chin with the side of my curled finger.
“Eyes on me,” I command. Her gaze flicks up. “There is no one but you. When I get home tonight, I expect you to be in bed, naked and waiting.”
She pouts, I see the push of her lower lip, and her forehead creases in a scowl. I bite back my displeasure. If I had more time, I’d take my belt off and make her count until she’s whimpering an apology. But I’m late as it is, so I just turn and leave her sitting on the bed. Her pretty face scrunched.
I’m still thinking about her words as I leave Sovereign Mountain. I don’t like her jealousy—it feels too much like defiance.
And I don’t enjoy defiance for defiance’s own sake. It’s always been a trigger for me. I need the structures of BDSM because, to me, it’s a holistic practice of trust. Defiance without consent feels like a violation of that.
I know her submission intimately and I feel that she stepped out of its bounds. Maybe just to test her limits for the first time.
Is that what she wants? To feel my resistance?
My shoulders are tight the entire drive into the city. And I can’t get that angry, little scowl out of my head.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
KEIRA
For the first time since meeting him, I’m pissed off.
I understood when I signed the contract that this was an impersonal arrangement. He gets gratification and I get protection and deferment of debt. He doesn’t owe me the truth about where he’s going or what he’s doing.
I get that.
But after everything we’ve done together, I can’t help feeling possessive. So I allow myself the luxury of pouting in bed for a while after he leaves.
The afternoon stretches on. I get bored of sulking and take a nap. When I wake, the house is empty and it’s evening.
He’ll be home soon.
My stomach flips, but I ignore it. Instead, I climb out of bed and pad naked down the hall to the game room at the far side of the hall. It’s always been shut, but I’ve investigated it once. I know it has a set of double doors that lead out to the balcony where the hot tub sits.
I slip into the chilly space, my toes curling on the thin carpet. There’s a gas fireplace on the right side, and I hurry over andflick it on. The fire roars up and I bask in it for a moment. Stomach fluttering.
He told me to be naked and waiting for him in his bed.
But a little part of me is feeling rebellious. I pull open the door and cold air hits my naked body. Taking my breath away. The stars hang overhead, the milky way a glistening trail across the sky. Shivering, I tug the cover off the hot tub and hit the button on the side. It takes less than a minute for it to start churning.
Experimentally, I poke my finger in. It’s lukewarm, but heating up rapidly. I climb over the side and sink into the delicious water, letting it cover my shoulders. It smells clean and faintly like chlorine.
