Page 41 of The Don’s Virgin Obsession

“Maybe,” I said, smirking slightly. “But if I’m being honest… my mother always centered men. So do most of my friends. I watched that my whole life. It made me not even want to bother. I don’t like how that ends.”

He nodded, taking that in. “That’s fair.”

He paused for a second. “So you don’t get urges? You don’t handle that?”

I snickered, shaking my head. “I handle my business when I need to.”

“I can respect it,” he said. “I won’t cross boundaries. Your presence is good enough.”

I smiled at that. “Thank you.”

We kept talking, finishing our food without any weird energy. It was easy. Comfortable. No pressure behind it.

When we stood up, he grabbed his jacket and looked at me with a small smile.

“You still think we ain’t a good match?” he asked.

I walked him toward the door, thinking about it for a second before answering.

“We mesh well outside of those fancy restaurants,” I said. “Call me.”

He smiled, pulling me into a quick hug. “I will.”

He left just like that. No dragging it out. No extra.

Once he was gone, I stood there for a second, looking at the table, then over at the flowers sitting on my desk next to the ones Vaughn gave me.

I walked over and touched one of the roses, not thinking too deep, just noticing the difference.

His were simple.

Vaughn’s were… not.

I picked up my phone, about to text Laila, but stopped.

For a second, Vaughn crossed my mind.

The way he moved.

The way he watched me.

I shook it off and set my phone back down.

I wasn’t about to overthink anything that didn’t need to be thought about.

I grabbed the champagne and headed toward the back, already moving on to the next thing I had to do.

V Saint

“Everything around me was solid… I just needed my head to match it.”

Ipulled up on CK early morning at our warehouse for business. He was already inside, handling something when I walked in, phone to his ear, pacing like he had been there for a minute. He looked up, finished what he was saying, and then came over.

“What’s good, bro,” he said, dapping me up.

“What we got going on?” I replied as he handed me the clipboard.

He started running it down while I moved through the floor, looking over everything without making it obvious I was checking it. Materials stacked like they were supposed to be, orders already separated, nothing out of place. That’s how I liked it.