A Million Different Ways to Lose You (Horn Duet 2)

In the interminable ride home, we were both silent, the air heavy with disbelief and disappointment. I spent the time trying to school my temper into something manageable. A wave of relief washed over me when he pulled the Bentley into the underground garage and parked. I tugged on the door handle twice and still it remained locked.

“Do you want him?” The words registered slowly. I turned to take him in. He couldn’t possible be serious? His unblinking gaze was fixed ahead, his nostrils flaring, his jaw pulsing with tension. All the usual signs of irrational anger were there.

“Do you hear yourself? Do you hear how insane you sound?”

“Answer my question.”

His voice was too cool for my liking. I wanted him to loose it so we could go straight to dealing with the insanity he was currently experiencing. “I’m going to say this slowly, so there’s no misunderstanding…go fuck yourself.”

His head whipped around. A deep frown was carved into those patrician good looks. I’d never spoken to him like that––but desperate times called for desperate measures. And after being humiliated in front of my boss, a colleague I respected enormously and a friend, he needed to understand that I wouldn’t tolerate this irrational jealousy ever again.

“Watch your mouth,” he murmured, the tone hair-raising.

This time when I pulled on the door handle, it thankfully sprang open. I stalked to the elevator, and without waiting for him, took it up to the penthouse. I knew I was going to pay for it upstairs, and yet at the moment I couldn’t have cared less; all that mattered was getting as far away from him as possible.

Once inside the apartment, I went straight to the windows overlooking the lake. The absolute stillness of the water was visible even in the dark––in direct contrast to the turbulence of emotions swirling inside the home we shared, a storm brewing closer to that of a category five hurricane.

Footsteps intruded in the silence, measured, unhurried. When they stopped not too far behind me, I wrapped my arms around myself, staving off the tremor that had taken a hold of me since the altercation at the clinic. No doubt the effect of the adrenaline running through my veins.

“I can’t believe you did that. I can’t believe you would humiliate me that way.”

“I can’t believe you would let him touch you,” he snapped out.

My eyes went straight to the ceiling, where I begged God to grant me the patience and the words to get through to him.

“I’m chaffing, and not in a good way. You need to loosen the choke collar, Sebastian. I’m not a pet you take out whenever you feel like it.”

I turned and leaned my back against the glass for support, my knees turning liquid under his intense scrutiny. He’d removed his jacket and tie. With his hands neatly tucked in the pockets of his slim, grey slacks and his air of superiority, he was every inch the lord of the manor I met not so long ago.

“I take care of what’s mine.”

Bewildered, I stood up straighter. I stared back for an undetermined amount of time trying to judge how far he’d gone off the rails. “I’m not a thing, an object, one of your assets to manage. I’m not something to be possessed!”

“I believe the words were honor and obey,” he taunted in a low, sinister voice.

I began laughing like a deranged lunatic, no humor in it. “You can’t be serious?”

He stalked toward me. I’d never seen him look quite so menacing before. I chose to stand my ground. When he reached me, he slowly lifted his hand, and ever so delicately stroked my throat with the pads of his fingers. A burning brand. My pulse jumped.

“I do possess you. As much as you own me. So you will do as I say––”

Cutting him off, I spat out, “The hell I will––”

“You will do as I say!” he shouted over me. Shoving his fingers through my hair, his grip on it tightened painfully. And then he swooped down, and kisses me. He kissed me hard. A kiss meant to punish, meant to dominate. I didn’t push him away. I only pulled him closer.

My mind begged me to stop him while my body insisted I meet his passion in equal measure. The friction caused by dissenting opinions sparked something inside of me, fueling the heat between us. He slanted his head and held me in place while he deepened the kiss. His hands were everywhere at once. His fingers dug into my butt cheeks and pulled my pelvis into the rock solid erection pushing against his gabardine slacks. I shoved a hand over the swollen head and he gasped into my mouth. I pushed past the wet stain spreading at the at the top of his zipper and squeezed his sac. I knew I was tempting the devil and I couldn’t have cared less.