Jason Christakos was waiting outside her next class when the bell rang and Keanne walked out of the room together with the other students. Seeing him so unexpectedly had her heart somersaulting.
Instead of his usual shirt and jeans, however, Jason wore a dark business suit with a crimson red necktie. He looked extremely sophisticated and elegant, but not even the suit could completely squash his air of sexuality. He was all male, raw strength and passion, and not even the most expensive business suit could make him anything less.
“Surprised?” he asked silkily, but there was an edge to his voice that had her blinking. Was he angry at her?
“I think you know the answer to that.”
He smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. “Then I hope you’ll be just as good at guessing why I’m here.” And if she did, then she was a lot smarter than he was because he did not fucking know why he was here. All he knew was that he had to fucking be here and see if Keanne had changed…towards him.
When he had said yes to Keanne that night at the opera, he had always known that one of the things he would ask of her was to seriously consider other men. Keanne was one of the most stubborn women he had ever met, and he knew that no amount of persuasion would have made her consider the possibility that she was not in love but merely infatuated with him.
No, to make Keanne change her mind, he had to find a way to make her come to the same conclusion for herself.
And that, of course, meant leaving her no choice but to date other men until she found someone perfect for her.
In his mind, the plan had been perfect. With Keanne falling in love with another man, he would not have to feel so guilty. He would no longer be hurting Keanne by continuing to love Lilac.
However, the plan was an epic fail.
Jason liked having all sorts of contingency plans, but one thing he had failed to count on was his own feelings. More specifically, he had not counted on what his feelings would be once his Keanne dated another man.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
As she tried to keep up with Jason’s long-legged pace, she could only take in her surroundings. The campus was vast, surprisingly so for a privately owned university. The school buildings had been quite lovely, too, designed to appear as if they had been edifices built centuries ago with their heavy stone structures.
Inside, the school was even lovelier, with no expense spared. Red carpets, chandeliers – it was like a palace, an institution meant for royalty.
There was so much to take in, but she could barely concentrate, not when her body was trembling in acute awareness at the fact that Jason Christakos was holding her hand.
Jason finally stopped and she almost bumped into his back. His gaze moved up to the name plate attached to the door, and following his gaze, Keanne’s eyebrows shot up. This was the private room of one of the board members.
“We’re not supposed to be here,” she hissed nervously.
“Relax. This is Derek’s office and I asked for his permission to use it.” He fished out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.
At his look, Keanne quickly stepped inside.
The door closed behind him and she whirled around, her throat clogging up at the sight of the hardened expression on Jason’s handsome face.
“Now,” he said very softly, “tell me about the man you think I can entrust you to.”
She took a step back. “Jason, are you mad?”
“Possibly.”
She shook her head, a tremor of fear and excitement going through her at his words. Did he understand what he was saying? “Why would you be mad? Weren’t you the one who wanted me to---”
“Do you remember your promise, ma petite?”
She stilled.
“You will do everything I want.”
“But---”
“No buts, little doe. You say you love me.”
“I do!” she cried out.
“Then you must understand this is the real me.” He smiled grimly at her look of comprehension. “You had an inkling about it earlier, didn’t you? You thought to convince yourself you were imagining things then?”
Slowly, she nodded.
“You weren’t imagining it. This is who I am. I need total control in the bedroom and over whoever I fuck. It’s the only way I can let go. Do you understand me?”
“Y-yes.”
“Now, about the man you have asked out…”
“What d-do you want to know?”
Instead of answering her right away, he closed the distance between them and wordlessly swept her into his arms. He took her into an inner room, which turned out to be an elegantly furnished bachelor’s bedroom.
He slowly set Keanne on her feet. “I’m going to undress you.”