Page 26 of Freefall

“I want you to ask me.”

His eyes darken—just a tiny bit, but enough to once again make my cheeks heat. “And what is it you want me to ask?”

I lift my chin as if that’s going to give me the upper hand here. Do I even want the upper hand? I’m not sure what I want anymore, except that I want him to know the truth unequivocally. “You tell me.”

“Harper, I don’t have time for games.” He conveniently glances down at the watch on his wrist that probably cost more than my car. My actual car—not the hunk of junk I’ve been driving around here. “So just⁠—”

“Ask me,” I interrupt him. “I want to hear you say the words.”

His mild irritation turns into full-blown anger as his eyes turn impossibly gray with the impending storm. He presses his lips together, and I know he’s close to giving me what I want. Just like I knew all those times if I begged the right way, said the right words, he’d give in. He’d let me have the ecstasy he was withholding.

That's the thing about control. When you hand it over to someone willingly, you can just as easily take it back, which means you have the real power.

His gray eyes narrow, and I take a moment to really look at him. He’s a far cry from that boy in the diner—the one who liked The Princess Bride for all the right reasons and thought of his mother when he saw daisies.

Except there was that flash of hurt in his eyes when he found out her name.

“Say it,” I whisper.

My heart slams into my ribcage, and the edges of my vision blur. I’ve pushed him before, but not without consequences. That was always our thing. Not like this, though.

Say it. This time the words ring out in my head.

He folds his hands. Unfolds them. Makes a fist. Stretches his fingers.

“Is she mine?” he finally grits out.

“Yes.” How can one word hold so much heartbreak and relief at the same time?

A flash of emotion crosses Nate’s face before his mask goes back up. Cold, stern, serious. “I want a paternity test.”

And just like that, Business Nate is back.

“Expect to hear from my lawyer by the end of the week.”

He stands up as if to say, “This meeting is officially over,” and walks to the door. I remain in my seat, unsure of how to come back from this. There’s so much I want to say. So much I want to tell him. So many questions I wish he would ask, but he doesn’t. He stands there, unwavering.

I stand up, absentmindedly twisting the bracelet on my wrist, and walk to the door. As I brush past Nate, I turn back to look at him. “I wasn’t—” with anyone else, I think to myself. Aside from the striking resemblance, there’s no way he’s not Daisy’s father. I never would have cheated on him, but even after…it was years before I slept with another man. When I finally did, it was a complete disaster.

I don’t say any of that. Instead, I steel my spine and summon my most confident tone. “You don’t need a test, Nate, but I won’t stop you if you want one. I also won’t keep her from you.”

Without another glance in his direction, I walk through the doorway, stopping only when I hear his voice again.

“You already did.”

With that, he slams the door so hard that the hinges rattle, and thirty heads pop up from where they had been buried behind their multitude of screens.

9

NATE

Red neon light spills down from the ceiling, casting an eerie glow over the leather booths in the main bar area as music pulses through the thick air. The moment I stepped through the iron door, I knew I’d made a mistake.

Dusk is an exclusive kink club right outside of Manhattan, and while I wouldn’t say I’m a regular, I have come here a dozen times in the last few years. When I need a fix. When I need to calm the storm raging in my head. When the one-night stands who let me tie them up and call me Sir in those fake-as-fuck whiny voices just don’t cut it.

That’s when I come here and let it all out. There are a few regular subs who I’ve scened with more than once, but only because it’s easier that way. They know what I like, and I know their limits. What goes on in the private rooms here is about so much more than just sex, and most of the time I don’t even fuck my scene partners. We both get off, but not always in the traditional way. Outside of this club, I never sleep with a woman more than once. There’s too much room for feelings to develop, and that’s the last thing I need.

Control, order, power, release.