Chapter Three #4
listen when a man tells me who he is. I don’t chase. He wasn’t what I was
looking for, and I didn’t want to end up as his emotional punching bag. I’m not
going to fall in love with a man who tells me he’s incapable of it. So in a lot
of ways, I appreciate him. Tarquin, on the other hand, is a lying liar who I
hope burns in hell. And I hope that one night Dom got some help.”
“You still think about him.” It wasn’t a question coming
from her mentor. “Yet you don’t talk about him in sessions.”
“Because I genuinely have let him go. I meant what I said.
He would have hurt me. He might not have meant to, but it was obvious he has no
idea what’s pushing him to be this way. We didn’t talk a lot about real things,
but I have the feeling that he’s likely divorced and it came out of nowhere and
he blames all of womenkind for his pain.” She sighed and sat back. “No, I’m not
pining for him. I suppose I’m trying to find a version of him that’s not as
damaged. The funny thing is now I actually would consider a club-only
relationship. After all the turmoil with Tarquin, I want a break from heavy
emotion. I want to have fun, and I want to investigate cases.”
“Then you need to have this talk with Damon,” Ariel
concluded. “You need to tell him what you want. As for your parents, you should
talk to them, too. Make them understand you need to be here. I know if one of
my girls was in another country, I would be waiting for them to come home. It
doesn’t mean they’re being overprotective. It means they miss you.”
She’d gone home for Christmas with Sophy. She’d stayed in
her old room and spent time with her parents and brothers and her new
sister-in-law. She’d gone to The Hideout and met with old friends. It had been
good to see everyone.
So why had she been so happy to come back to London?
“I love them, too, but I love the freedom I have here. Back
in Dallas I’m Alex and Eve’s daughter. I’m Cooper and Hunter’s sister. Here I
feel like I’m Vivian, and I can make stupid mistakes and get back off the
ground on my own. I love them, but I need to be here.”
“Then it’s a good thing that I’m about to offer you a
promotion,” a deep voice said. Damon Knight stood in the doorway, a soft
expression on his face she’d come to know meant he liked the person he was
looking at.
Ariel frowned Damon’s way. “What are you doing? Are you
eavesdropping?”
“Well, I am a spy,” he returned. “And you saw me and said
nothing. I took that as a cue that you wanted me to listen.”
Ariel didn’t bother to argue. “She should have had this talk
with you a long time ago. This felt like an opportunity.”
Ariel had been a spy, too. Or rather an excellent assassin.
There was a ruthless will under all her softness. She’d been telling Vivian to
talk to Damon for a long time. She could view this as a betrayal or understand
that Ariel cared about her and she was getting exactly what she wanted.
“Do I get to go full time?”
“Are you planning on getting your PhD?” Damon asked.
She wasn’t going to lie to the man. “I’ve talked a lot to
Archie about the program at Oxford. I want to take another year and then I’ll
start. I can do both.”
Damon held up a hand to stop her. “I believe you. I wanted
to make sure that giving you this job doesn’t hold up your academic goals. I
think you’re going to be an excellent profiler, Vivian, but you’re young and
pretty and you’re going to need those letters behind your name to get people to
take you seriously.”
So much relief flooded her system. She’d been worried about
leaving. Not merely London, but also Sophy. She worried if she wasn’t around,
Sophy wouldn’t go to Dominion anymore. Something had happened, something her
best friend wasn’t willing to talk about yet. She was putting on a happy face,
but Vivian knew her.
Sophy was another mystery she was dedicated to solving.
“Thank you, Damon,” she said, standing.
Damon frowned. “You’re going to hug me now, aren’t you?”
She wouldn’t if she truly believed Damon didn’t enjoy
physical affection, but he did enjoy pretending to not enjoy it. Damon was an
interesting man. He was the ultimate authority in his world. The Dom of Doms at The Garden. But there was also a soft, gooey center
to Damon Knight. He was kind, and he treated his employees like family. She
hugged him, and he patted her back.
“I’m happy to stay,” she said.
“I thought you were married, Mr. Knight.”
She stopped because she knew that voice. That dark, rich
voice that oozed dominance. She dreamed about that voice sometimes, and she
woke up all hot and bothered and reaching for her vibrator.
“Mal, don’t be ridiculous.” Oliver Knight was here, too. She
would know his voice anywhere. Posh and sophisticated. “My father is grossly in
love with my mother. That’s Vivi. She’s practically a daughter.”
Vivian stepped back, and her heart felt like it stopped for
a moment.
She should have requested a picture of her new client.
Who also happened to be her one-night stand.
He was here and she was supposed to fix him, something she’d
promised she wouldn’t attempt to do.
It looked like she had her work cut out for her.