Dane wasn’t sweet or cuddly or kind, and I suspected that that was why he’d been able to slip around my defenses. I hadn’t expected him to be a real threat to them, so I hadn’t been fully on my guard. I’d pretty much handed him the power to hurt me on a silver fucking platter, and it sucked large.
“I don’t know how good I’d be at convincing my family that all is ‘fine.’” It wasn’t just that I was so emotionally off-balance; it was that I was somewhat pettily pissed that I was the only one having this emotional crisis. If he’d been sent incriminating pictures of me, he’d have been angry that I might have broken my word, but he wouldn’t have felt any of the black jealousy that had slithered through me last night.
“Why is that?”
“Having people play games all the time is starting to get to me,” I fudged. “I think it would affect my … performance, shall we say?”
“Performance?” he echoed, a dark note in his tone.
I pushed my empty plate aside and shrugged one shoulder. “Isn’t that what we do? Perform?”
“Hmm.” He pinned me with that hunter stare, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. He edged off the stool and crossed to me, never once moving his eyes from mine. “Tell me.”
I felt my brows draw together. “What?”
“Tell me what’s on your mind. Don’t say nothing. You were fine until you received the flash drive—and once I can prove Heather was behind it, I will make her pay. Now you look like you’re carrying a heavy weight on your shoulders.”
There were times when I really despised how perceptive he was. Like seriously despised it.
“You said you believed my explanation of those photographs,” he went on. “Was that the truth?”
“Yes. I believe you.”
“Then what is it that’s bothering you?”
“Like I said, having people play games with us is getting to me. I’m tired of it.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
Dane put his face closer to mine. “I don’t believe you,” he whispered. “Something’s wrong, and it’s connected to that flash drive. We’re doing enough lying to the outside world, Vienna. We can’t bullshit each other as well; we need to be on the same page. Last night, you said you need me to be straight with you when it counts. I will be. You have my word on that. I told you everything you wanted to know. Now, I need you to be straight with me.”
Did he have to be so rational and fair? “I already told you last night.”
“You mentioned that the lying is getting to you. But I know that you’d rather be lying to your family than be asking them to partake in the deception, so that can’t be what’s weighing on you.” His gaze turned inward, as if he was deep in thought. Then those dark eyes snapped back to the present. “You don’t like how much the photos got to you,” he remembered.
“No, I don’t.”
He carefully shackled my left wrist and lifted my hand. He looked at the rings, his eyes glinting with something I couldn’t quite name. “You see these as props. They might not have the same meaning to us that they have to other married couples, but they’re not meaningless. In a sense, they represent the agreement we made that night in your old apartment. If I’d thought you’d betrayed my trust like you thought I’d betrayed yours, I’d have been just as pissed as you were—if not more.”
His eyes darkened as he tightened his grip on my wrist. “And if I’d thought you’d let another man fuck you, I wouldn’t have been anywhere near as calm as you were last night,” he said, his voice pitched low and deep. “I wouldn’t have been in the mood to talk and ask questions. All I’d have wanted to do is hunt the bastard down and beat the living shit out of him. He’d have been pissing blood for a fucking week. For as long as you wear these rings, you’re mine; no other man has the right to touch you. I’d never fucking allow it.”
I swallowed, downright blown away by the possession blazing in his eyes. “And the ring on your finger?”
“Says I’m off-limits just the same. There’s no gray area here—no other man touches you; no other woman touches me. So bear all this in mind if someday soon you think you’ve met the man who’ll make the perfect husband. I wouldn’t let you wriggle out of our deal. I wouldn’t let him have you. And I wouldn’t feel in the least bit remorseful about holding you to me. Does that make me a selfish asshole? Yes, without a doubt. But you already knew that about me.” He nipped the heel of my palm and then released my hand.