Chapter 5
THEODORE
I leave the office later than I planned, which means Desiree has had too much time to sit with what she did.
She didn’t miss my call.
She declined it.
Not once, but twice.
The drive home gives me time to finish moving business out of my head.
Geneva is handled for now. Lagos still has too much air in the numbers, but that’s Curtis’s problem until morning.
Tonight belongs to Desiree, and she made sure of that when she looked at my name on her screen and sent me straight to voicemail.
She wanted me to know she was pushing.
When I walk in, the house is lit low the way she likes it after a full day.
The flowers are on the island, still full, still arranged like she took her time with them even while pretending she was mad as hell at me.
The sushi is sealed, but my chopsticks are out.
Small dish for soy. Extra ginger on the side.
Mad as she wants to be, she still takes care of me.
I take off my jacket, drape it over the back of a barstool, wash my hands, and eat standing at the island.
I’m not avoiding her. She knows I’m home, and she expects me to come find her immediately.
Absolutely not.
She can stay upstairs holding her position until I say otherwise.
After I finish eating, I don’t go up right away. I walk through the house first, my mind already made up about how this is going to go.
The guest bathroom gives me what I need without taking me upstairs too soon.
Gold-trimmed glass. Gray stone. Thick towels.
Hot water strong enough to loosen the tension in my shoulders.
I strip out of my shirt, slacks, and belt while steam fills the room, then step in and let the water pound against my neck and back, deliberate about every minute I take from her.
When I’m done, I dry off, wrap a towel low on my waist, and leave my watch on the counter. I don’t rush. She heard the water stop. Now she can wonder what I’m doing with the time.
As I finally head upstairs and reach our bedroom, the door is wide open.
She’s on the balcony, her back to me and one hand on the rail.
The moonlight catches the curve of her hip, making the silk of her robe shimmer.
The pond stretches out beneath her like the house was built for this exact kind of trouble. She doesn’t turn around.
“I’m assuming you ate?” I ask.
“I did.”
“Good.”
“Good? That’s all?”
“Should it be more?”
She laughs once, but it has no humor in it. “I would think so being that you took your time.”
“You declined my call, Honey.”
“You made me wait.”
“And so you decided to make it worse.”
She turns then, her movement slow and provocative. I take in the open robe, her toffee-colored smooth skin, and every bit of attitude she put on for me.
“Maybe I did.”
I move closer, stopping just inside the balcony doors.
“Come inside.”
Her chin lifts. “No.”
That’s the word she wanted to hand me all night.
I don’t move yet. She wanted that word in my face, so I give her a chance to stand in it.
“Say it again.”
She smiles, a flash of white teeth in the dark. “No.”
I step onto the balcony and close the distance.
“Good,” I tell her.
Her expression changes, just slightly, exactly the way I intended.
“Stay that ass right there.”
Walking back into the bedroom, I pull open the drawer beside the chair and take out the black leash.
When I return to the balcony, she’s exactly where I left her, the corner of her bottom lip between her teeth.
I unwrap the towel from my waist and let it drop to the floor while I hold up the leash. “We’re going to try that again.”