Thankfully, she went with it.
But I had to be more careful from now on. If I came on too strong, I could push her away entirely. And I couldn’t afford to lose this woman. She did incredible things to me. Just a simple look was enough to get me hard. No woman ever had this hold on me. No woman had ever made me abstinent for four weeks.
It was a record.
I moved through the crowd of dancers on the floor and passed the bar before I headed to my office in the back. On the way, I saw Jackson grinding up against some woman in a gas mask. I hoped he wouldn’t see me.
Of course, he did. “I was wondering when you would show your face in here again.”
I walked inside and ignored him, unbuttoning the front of my suit coat before I sat down in my leather chair. “I was wondering when you would come up for air from that friend of yours out there.”
He fell onto the couch facing my desk, wearing a navy blue suit with a vest underneath. Black and blue. They were the two colors we usually wore. We looked so much alike people couldn’t tell us apart sometimes. But I always wore black, and he always wore blue. That usually helped people. “How’s she doing?”
I assumed he was talking about Isabella. “We had words. She pissed me off. End of story.”
“What about the beginning? And the middle?”
“Nothing substantial.” Isabella pissed me off. She became emotionally attached, and now she was haunting me with her baggage. I never deviated from our agreement. She did. But somehow, I was to blame for it. “She’s upset with me, and she’ll be upset for a long time.”
“It’s because of Rome, isn’t it?”
I didn’t like it when he said her name. Far too possessive. I wanted to be the only man to ever say her name, but of course, that was ridiculous until she became my sub. Then, I could give her a whole new name altogether. “Isabella blames her for ending our relationship. I explained that wasn’t the case. I would have left anyway. She doesn’t see it that way.”
“Women are jealous. No way around it.”
“If she expects me to feel bad for her, I won’t.” She could threaten to jump off a building, and I still wouldn’t do a goddamn thing. I’d been a prisoner once before, and I wouldn’t go down that road again. It was one of the reasons I lived a life of dominance. No one could cage a beast like me.
“What now?”
I shrugged. “I tried to find her a new Dom, but she didn’t want one. She’s on her own now.”
“I wonder if she’ll come back in here.”
“Hope not.” I hoped I never saw her again. If Isabella had been mature about our breakup, we could have remained good friends. I still would have respected her and cared for her. But this childish behavior made me question the entirety of our relationship. Like a smoke screen, it made me wonder what we truly had.
“So, how’s it going with Rome?” He leaned back and crossed his legs.
I didn’t discuss personal shit with my brother, but I knew he wouldn’t stop questioning me until he got his answers. “It’s alright. She doesn’t want to have sex for four weeks.”
“What?” His jaw dropped. “Is this a cruel joke?”
I wish. “No.”
“And you agreed?”
Because I was a madman. “Yeah.”
He continued to stare at me with a shocked expression. “Is this woman ever going to be your submissive? Or is she just a regular woman?”
“She will. I just need some time with her. If she wants to take it slow, I will.”
“But why? Why wait? Find someone else.”
I didn’t want anyone else. “We fool around, so that’s fine.”
“But why does she want to wait? What’s that about?”
I still didn’t have the answer to that. “Not sure. She didn’t elaborate.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, his blue eyes focused as he tried to find the answer on his own.
He should leave the thinking to me.
He snapped his fingers like he found the answer. “She’s a virgin. She’s gotta be.”
I nearly laughed because it was ridiculous. “Trust me, she’s not.”
“How would you know unless you’ve fucked her?”
“Believe me, she’s very experienced. She gave me the best head I’ve ever had. And she talks dirty like no one else.”
“But what if she is.”
I didn’t mess with virgins. I popped a few cherries when I was a teenager, but never since. There was always emotional attachment, and the women expected it to be some grand adventure they would look back on with fondness. She’d think it was the beginning of a long relationship, possibly with her husband. No way in hell I would mess with that. “She’s not.”