He placed her on the toilet seat as he ran a bath.
“Wow, you could take a swim in that tub. It’s huge,” she said.
He laughed. “Glad you like it.”
“Like it, how do you ever want to leave it?”
“I have other obligations, baby.”
“I know. They’re the kind of obligations that mean you can fill that nice tub with lots of warm water.”
“And keep the unemployment line down. I help thousands, if not millions of lives every single day. I’m quite the catch, you know.”
“I know.”
He added in some bubbles, and when it was done he helped Avery into the water, following in behind her.
“My ass is nice and hot.”
“That was just using my hand. I’m wanting to use a lot more stuff on you,” he said, kissing her neck.
He couldn’t keep his hands off her.
“Promises.”
“You know our contract didn’t have a time limit.”
“I know.” She looked up at him. “Will you be taking on more subs at the club?”
“No. I’ve already called ahead and let them know that for the foreseeable future I won’t be taking on any more subs or anyone else. I won’t give demonstrations either, if you don’t want me to.”
“Demonstrations is where you have to use a submissive, right?”
“Yes. It helps.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
“I don’t think I’m ready to share you with that world. I like you all to myself.”
“There’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“You can ask me anything.”
My friend Ella, she keeps asking what is going on, and why I’ve just abandoned the club, and her.”
She had spent every single evening with him this week.
“What would you like to tell her?” he asked.
“The truth, even though I don’t know what the truth is.”
He stroked her cheek, staring into her eyes. “Tell her that we’re dating, and exploring our life together. We decided to do it without others watching, and we’d appreciate it if she kept our relationship private.”
“That’s what we have? A relationship?”
“You don’t think we have one?” he asked.
“I don’t know. We have a contract. An agreement. I didn’t know that went into an actual relationship.”
“What do you think to a relationship with me?” he asked.
“I don’t know. You’re not what I expected, not at all.”
“And what did you expect?”
“Someone who didn’t have all of this.”
He sighed. His wealth made her nervous.
“I told you not to worry about this.”
“You said you weren’t in the media anymore. What is someone wants to do a juicy story on the billionaire bachelor that disappeared?” she asked.
“It won’t happen.”
“What if it does?”
“Avery, I’ve come to see that people will write about anything they think is newsworthy. A lot of the crap you hear is gossip.”
“It’s not that. I don’t want to be seen as some kind of gold digger, Dominic. I’m not wealthy. I’m not even in the same league as you.”
He slammed his lips down on hers just to silence her. He hated hearing negativity, and right now she was throwing everything out there.
The kiss did the job, silencing her.
“I don’t care what anyone else says about us. We know the truth, and at the end of the day that is all that matters to us. You, me, and what we think of each other.”
“You’re right. I’m so stupid.”
“No, you’re not. We’re in a relationship, Avery. To me that means not living in secret, allowing me to pick you up, and maybe having a little date with Ella, and a boyfriend of her choice.” He shrugged. “I’m not going to hide from the world.”
“What about Darkest Dreams?” she asked.
“When we’re ready to go to the club. We’ll go.” He was doing everything slowly so he didn’t overwhelm her with what he wanted.
In the past week, Dominic saw a plan. He saw them together, and a possible future. What he hadn’t anticipated was Avery’s fear over their differences.
Reaching out, he picked up a bar of soap.
“I’ll text Ella when we’re out. Do you think it’ll be okay for me to go to coffee with her tomorrow morning?”
“I’m not your keeper, Avery. We’ll go together if you’d like.”
She nodded. “Actually, I’d love that.”
“You arrange the time and place, and I will join you.”
He rubbed the soap into his hands, getting them nice and slick.