The Agreement (Unrestrained 1)

"Yes," he said, his face just a few inches from mine, his expression intense. "I know what I want."

"Well, so do I. And it's not you."

What a liar…

I pulled my arm out of his hand and turned to the door, and just then, my father entered. He saw me and smiled.

"There you two are." He rubbed his hands together. "Has she shown you her photographs of Africa yet?"

Drake cleared his throat. "No, she hasn't."

"Come on, Kate. Show Drake your photos. I know he's interested. He's been there many times with Doctors Without Borders. You two have a lot in common." He took my hand and then he laid a hand on Drake's shoulder, pulling us both towards my wall of fame.

Ohhh. It's then I got it.

Crap.

My dad was matchmaking…

He pushed the two of us

over in front of a wall filled with my pictures from Africa.

Then Peter entered the room. "Judge? There's a call for you."

My father raised his eyebrows. "Duty calls. I have to take that, but you two stay here. Kate, show him your photographs. I'll be back when my call is finished."

He left us alone. Drake turned to face me but I refused to look at him. I stood and gazed at the wall, my hands clasped around my glass in front of me.

"You're not really going to make me tell you about my trip to Africa are you?"

"I most certainly am," Drake said, his voice soft. "I'm truly interested. I've been to Africa many times. Besides, I want to see into you, Kate. Right inside. Please, tell me." He waved at the wall and watched me expectantly.

"Nothing's going to happen between us," I said. "The meeting was a mistake so you might as well forget it. There's no reason for you to see 'right inside' me. We're opposites. You vote Republican. I'm a Democrat."

"None of that matters, Kate, when we fuck. All that matters is that we both need what each other has to offer."

I inhaled sharply, shocked at how blunt he was being. "We're not going to… fuck," I said, forcing the words out.

"Whatever you say," he said, smiling. "I still want you to tell me about these photos. Your father is really proud."

I turned away and frowned. He had huge nerve. Of course, he was a Dominant. He was used to getting his way. I didn't want to talk about the photographs.

"There are a lot of painful memories in them."

"Just the happy ones, then."

I took in a deep breath and pointed to a large picture of Nigel and me in the center. Drake leaned closer.

"That's us, the day we arrived in Niger. Our driver took it. Nigel had been there before but I had no idea what to expect and I was so excited."

Drake peered at the picture. Nigel was dressed in khakis, wearing an outback hat with tiny corks dangling from strings on the brim. He grinned at the camera. I stood beside him, my face beaming. I had a huge hat on with a floppy brim and dark sunglasses. We stood on a dirt road and the sun blazed in a heartless sky.

I told him about several others – bright-faced children smiling up at the camera. Aid workers in UN uniforms, stacking sacks of food, others pouring milk into cups or handing out packets of food and bottles of water. Tents and make-shift shacks made out of cardboard and corrugated metal, held together by rope.

I stopped talking when we came to a series of more graphic photos. Inside a medical tent were several babies being weighed. Some of them looked healthy, others were emaciated, their eyes huge in tiny faces. Women waved papers over their babies to keep the flies away. Tiny corpses wrapped up in dirty blankets.

A photo of the open desert, the hard dirt and the sky almost the same beige color, a few bits of scrub brush dotted across the landscape. In the distance, Chinua and Alika and their baby Maya alone against the stark emptiness. Just seeing it brought my emotions to the surface, my throat constricting.