New York Billionaires Series

“It’s good,” he says. “Your mother taught you to cook, too? Between all the tantric sex and cow-petting?”

“Tantric yoga,” I correct him, and he gives me a crooked smile. “But yes, she did. For a while we lived in a commune with a big kitchen garden and there was always fresh produce.”

He shakes his head. “A commune.”

“It was great, for a time. There were always other kids to play with.”

“Do you think your mom is the reason you agreed to marry me?”

I look up at him in surprise, and steady blue eyes gaze back at me. I consider the question. “I do, actually. Not directly. But she was never afraid to think big or differently. She always said that the most important thing was a person’s integrity. That going to bed at night wasn’t difficult as long as you had that. She also told me the sky was the limit.” I look down at my food, thinking about her. About the things I haven’t told her. “She’s adventure itself. And if I start this company, if I pursue my own dream, I will have had an adventure in my life. An attempt at one, anyway.”

Victor’s silence is complete. I don’t look at him, embarrassed at my own outpouring of words.

“Are you afraid to tell her about our marriage?”

“Yes, a bit.”

“If you explain it to her in those terms, I don’t think you have anything to be afraid of,” he says. “You’ve been true to yourself throughout this whole thing. And if it’s an adventure you want, well…”

I smile, looking up at him. “Marrying my boss is definitely an adventure.”

“Happy to oblige,” he says.

I bite my lip, considering my words. “Actually, speaking of integrity and mixing business-and-pleasure… I don’t just want to be here for you when you want sex.”

His eyes burn with sudden focus. “All right,” he says. “What do you want? If you’re asking for a relationship, Cecilia, I-”

“Oh, I’m not. Not at all. Don’t worry. I know our marriage is a business deal and I respect that. What I’m saying is that I want a friendship too. I want this , what we’re doing, to be equal. We’re equals.”

“I’m aware,” he says. “I’ve never seen you as someone who just caters to me.”

I snort. “Right.”

“Fine. I no longer see you as that.”

“Good, that’s honest.”

“I’m always honest with you.”

I nod. “I’ll do the same with you.”

But the words don’t soften the expression on his face. His eyes narrow instead. “What brought this conversation on? Was it something I said or did?”

“Not per se. Just… I’m not going to come with you to a conference just to be in the hotel room when you come back from work, just to satisfy you.”

His voice turns dark. “Don’t I satisfy you in return? Last night, you came not once, not twice, but-”

“Yes, you do. A lot.” My cheeks are on fire. It’s one thing to do it, another to talk about it casually over dinner. “I have no complaints in that department.”

“No complaints,” he mutters. “After she just promised me honesty.”

“Fine. The sex is amazing. Better than I’ve ever had. If I had known it would be this good between us, I would have jumped you a lot sooner.”

A smile breaks across Victor’s face. It’s pleased and masculine and it transforms his stern features entirely, as if a spotlight has just illuminated them. “Best you’ve had, huh?”

I rub my neck. “I didn’t think this conversation would go in this direction.”

“First she makes me dinner, then she compliments me in bed. Fuck, Myers. This place has gotten a lot better since you moved in.”

It’s not on par with what I’d told him, but… the words make my chest tighten. “Oh.”

“Don’t tell me you’re in those tights again?”

I stick a leg out beneath the table. “Whoops.”RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

He groans, eyes dancing. “You’re killing me.”

“But do you see what I mean? I don’t want to feel like I’m just a convenient booty call, just because I also happen to live here. I want this to be completely separate from our contract and our agreement.”

“It is completely separate,” he says. “This has nothing to do with your compensation, with mentoring, with my grandfather’s house. Was that what you’re worried about?”

“A little bit, yes.”

“Don’t be. They’re not related.” He pushes his empty plate away and reaches up to undo the top buttons of his shirt. I catch a hint of dark blond chest hair and have to look away. “I was going to suggest dessert, but I’ve changed my mind. Taken your words into consideration.”

“Do you have work to do?”

“I always have work to do,” I say. “I’m starting my own company.”

“That you are. All right. Let’s work in the living room for an hour, and then you choose a movie for us.”

“Choose a movie?”

His voice turns gruff. “Yes. Isn’t that a suitable friendship thing to do? And then I can finally fuck you on the couch. I still haven’t forgiven my body for being too sick for it last time.”

“Yes,” I say. “That does sound like a suitably friendship thing to do. You might regret giving me free rein of movie choice, though.”

My eyes feel like glue. Heavy and weighed down with tiredness, and my bed is like a cloud of cotton. The room is still dark, and the alarm clock by my bed reads two-fourteen a. m.

No reason for me to be awake.

I turn over and snuggle into the pillow, relaxing back into sleep. I’m nearly there when I’m jolted awake by a sound. The same one that must have broken through my sleep earlier.

It sounds like someone yelling.

I throw the covers back and grab my phone from the nightstand. Is someone in the apartment?

I pad across my bedroom floor and press my ear to the door, but all is silent. Not a peep. The scream had been close by, too. I crack the door open. Everything is dark.