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Ms. Fraiser gasps. I stand up straighter. Baby Chekhov does a victory cartwheel and—I’m pretty sure—flips her the double bird.
“Y-you never said?—”
“Daphne, come in.” Pasha extends his hand to me and doesn’t move until I give him mine. When I do, he pulls me close, kisses me soundly, and gives my ass a playful little squeeze. “Ms. Frasier, clear my next two hours. I’ll let you know if I’m out for the day.”
“B-but?—”
I’m ushered into his office before she can say anything more. The door shuts with a resounding click, and he locks it with a vengeance.
“So.” Pasha leads me over to a comfortable chair by his desk. “What brings you here?”
I know he stood up for me. I know he made it exceptionally clear where I stand in his eyes, and where she stands as well.
But the way she looked at him… the way she talked about him… it won’t sit easy with me. Deep down, in my bones, I know something is off.
So I turn to face him, still standing. I don’t want to sit down on this. “Did you sleep with her?”
Pasha stills. Looks at me.
Then he rubs a hand over his jaw and nods. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
I want to throw up. “Oh.”
“Before I met you.”
I can swallow it back down. “Oh.”
He leans against his desk and sighs. “We were never in a relationship. I need you to know that. She wanted one, but she didn’t exactly make that clear until it was too late.”
“‘Too late’?”
“I don’t date,” he explains. “Ever. I live the kind of life where getting attached to someone can be dangerous. For them as well as me. Paris—my assistant, here—was a convenient stress relief. I thought she understood that.”
I can’t help it—I half-scoff, half-snort. “Wow.”
“I’m trying to be honest?—”
“No, no, it’s not that,” I assure him. I look up at him, into his handsome face and mesmerizing eyes, and feel the smile turn into something else. “It’s just… Do you ever look in a mirror? Record yourself talking? I don’t think you do. Because if you thought anyone could just have casual sex with you and not want every part of you in their life… well, I’d say you’re the dumbest smartass I’ve ever met.”
He cocks a brow at me. “Is that so?”
“It is definitely so.” I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear as I feel my face flush again. I don’t want to overstep, but thinking about him doing her over his desk has my possessive side rearing its ugly head in a way it absolutely can’t afford to do. “Anyway, it’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Pasha pushes himself away from the desk and tugs me into his arms. When I don’t look up at him right away, he tips my chin up with a finger to force it. “Everything about me is your business. Everything about you is mine. We’re together. A unit.”
I want those words to fix what’s happening inside of me. They help, they definitely help… but there’s still some of that acidic feeling simmering low in my core.
He presses his brow to mine. “You didn’t like my answer. Tell me how to fix it.”
I shake my head. “You can’t go back in time and undo the… the doing. I just have to deal with it. But I think I’m learning that I…” My voice lowers into a near-whisper as I admit the part of me that’s recently become more and more terrifying. “I don’t like sharing.”
His answer is immediate. “So don’t.” Pasha leans back just enough to spread his arms. “Stake your claim.”
I’m not that kind of woman.
But right when I’m about to tell him that, I catch a glimpse of myself in one of his decorative mirrors.
He’s thoroughly claimed me. My entire body is covered and filled with reminders that I am his. Only his.
