I looked over at him as he laid peacefully asleep, the crest of his thick lashes casting long shadows across his cut glass cheekbones, the fall of his rich mahogany hair across his forehead. He was so achingly beautiful, so deeply perfect for me in every way. I just needed to remind him of that.
Moving into the other room, I made the call I needed to make in order to set my rash plan into action. Thirty minutes later, Sinclair still in bed with a note I had left explaining that I’d gone into Odile’s studio to paint for the day, I met Cage at Quotidian to have a tartine and enlist his help.
“Absolutely not.”
“But Cage--”
“Jamais. Pense-tu que je sois con?” he asked me incredulously.
“No, I don’t think you’re stupid.” I looked up at him from under my lashes, my eyes wide with sincerity. “I thought you were a friend, that you would want to help me with this.”
He scoffed, unmoved by my act. “You know better than to ask me this, I think, cherie. Sinclair would kill me without a second thought if I took you to such a place without him.”
“I love Sinclair but we need this,” I leaned in to whisper. “He won’t dominate me since Elena sent him that awful email. Last night, he wouldn’t even touch me!”
“Even without the kink, he is still more passionate with you than he has ever been with another woman. Maybe he doesn’t need it like you think he does.”
I gave him a look.
He opened his large palms wide and sighed. “I will not deny that he needs some level of control in the bedroom, d’accord? But he has lived the last four years of his life thinking it was inhumane to dominate his partner. Do you really think that is something you can bounce back from overnight?”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. Elena had been condemning him for years about his sexual preferences. That sort of thing left a mark on someone.
I tilted my chin in the air. It was something Elena did when she wanted to get her way and even though appropriating her behavior was the least of my transgressions against her, it still felt wrong.
“I’ll go without you,” I threatened.
Cage glared at me but humor sparkled in his thickly lashed eyes. “Ah, well that changes things, doesn’t it?”
“I think it does.”
He chuckled darkly and leaned back in his chair, the big, strong leather-clad rocker in a tiny chair in a feminine French restaurant. A thick fingertip traced his ridiculously full bottom lip as he contemplated me.
“Je suis d’accord, cherie. I will let you play but I will not take you to some club, oui? My friend, Madame Claire holds a monthly soiree for like-minded people. I will take you to this but I have to warn you again, even this is not for the faint of heart.”
“I’m not some shrinking violet,” I retorted.
He gave me a long, languorous perusal. “Non, not anymore but this change is recent. You may change your mind and then where will Sin be, ugh?”
“I would never leave him,” I said, and I had never meant anything more.
Cage waved a dismissive hand through the air as he knew that already. “He will kill me, you know this? If he finds out I took you out as my submissive.”
I frowned. “Your submissive?”
Cage nodded. “I will not take you to something like this unclaimed. As it is, you will garner too much attention as a newcomer and looking like you do. You’ll have to be mine for the night. Don’t worry, cherie, I will try not to enjoy it too much.” He winked.
I laughed nervously. “When is it?”
“So eager. We will go this Thursday. Can you get away from Sinclair?”
I bit my lip but nodded. Sinclair was supposed to be going to a business dinner with Paulson and a few other investors in the Dogwood project so it should be easy enough to slip away.
“Do you have anything to wear?”
“Excuse me?”
Cage sighed dramatically. “I cannot take you to something like this without the appropriate attire. We’ll have to go shopping.”
He stood up and placed a few euro notes on the table before pulling on his beautiful black leather coat.
“Come,” he encouraged, when I just sat there.
“Oh, right now?”
He grinned, extending his huge hand to help me up. “Yes, right now.”
He took me to Agent Provocateur and laughed at my expression of intimidated awe as we swept through elegant displays of delicately webbed lace and gorgeously constructed corsets. Cage stopped briefly at various racks, picking out things that caught his eye and transferring them into the hands of an eager, and beautiful, saleswoman who followed us around the store. He didn’t ask for my size but I knew enough about Cage Tracey to know that he would make an accurate guess.