Dancer in Lingerie (Lingerie 13)

“That is sweet,” she said. “I like him already.”

She shouldn’t draw a conclusion just yet. “A lot of men I meet are a bit turned off by my headstrong attitude. They’re either intimidated or annoyed by it.”

“I know how that is,” she said with a chuckle.

“But it doesn’t bother him at all. In fact, I think it’s the reason he likes me so much.”

She nodded. “Griffin told me only a truly powerful man can handle a powerful woman. Only a man so secure in who he is would be unaffected by her. So if he actually likes those qualities about you, that means he’s one hell of a man. At least in my experience…”

“So…those are all the things I like about him. Not to mention, the sex is incredible.” Now that it’d been almost a week since he’d been between my legs, I was starting to get grouchy. I wondered what he was doing at night and if he was thinking about me. Was he so busy he didn’t have time for me? Or was he with someone else? That didn’t seem likely because he would be transparent about it.

“It sounds like he’s the perfect man. So, what’s the problem? Why don’t you make it into something more?” Vanessa took a bite of her sandwich and quickly swallowed it down. “It sounds like your dad would like him, based on everything you just told me.”

This time, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“What?” she asked, visibly confused. “Unless there’s something you aren’t telling me…”

I knew Vanessa would keep my secret if I asked her to. Regardless of her relationship with her husband, she would keep my secret safe. Her loyalty to him had nothing to do with her loyalty to me. “There’s a lot I haven’t told you. But I need you to understand that this has to stay between us. You can’t even tell Griffin.”

She wiped her mouth with a napkin then sighed. “Oh shit. This is bad, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Really bad. Can you keep a secret?”

She rolled her eyes. “Girl, you know I can. That’s not what I’m worried about. Who is this guy you’re involved with?”

“You remember my incident in the alleyway?”

“Unfortunately,” she said coldly. “Instead of letting those guys get away, Bosco should have—” Like a lightbulb went off in her head, she darted her gaze to me, her eyes expanded to the size of baseballs. “Oh. My. God. It’s Bosco, isn’t it?”

I nodded, feeling the guilt rise in my stomach.

“Oh shit.” She threw her napkin down. “Griffin has nothing but bad things to say about that guy.”

“I’m aware.”

“Then what the hell are you doing?” she demanded. “Griffin made it sound like he’s a psycho dictator. He controls the entire city. The guy is untouchable. He’s basically the king of this entire area. Not only does he control the police, the government, and the cash, but he also controls all the murderers, thieves, and rapists. He’s like…the head honcho.”

“Yeah…” That described him pretty well.

“Then what are you doing, Carmen?”

I sighed and tucked my hair behind my ear. “I have no idea. It started off slow and then escalated into this… I’m not sure what to do.”

“How did this happen? He saved you, and then you took him home?”

“Not quite,” I said. “After he saved me, he said he wanted something in return.”

“Ahh…here we go.” She shook her head, as if this didn’t surprise her at all. “And he asked you to fuck him to show your gratitude. Been there…done that.”

“He asked for a kiss, actually. But it turned into a dry hump that made me come in the alleyway.” I wouldn’t share this embarrassing information with anyone else but her, knowing she wouldn’t judge me for it. “Then I went home, alone, and assumed I would never see him again. But then he showed up at my work, crashed a date I had, and it just kept getting worse. So we started hooking up, and that’s all it was supposed to be…meaningless sex. But then he said he wanted a chance to be something more…and here I am now. He has men tail me everywhere I go to keep me safe, he says I belong to him now, and before I knew what happened, I was basically in a monogamous relationship with this guy.” I was talking a million miles a minute, so I finally paused and caught my breath.

Vanessa stared at me, speechless. “Jesus.”

“Yeah…”

“Does he hurt you?”

“No,” I blurted. “Not at all. He’s protective…even kind. He’s just a little intense. Said he doesn’t want to share me with anyone, and he doesn’t want to be with anyone else either. So he pretty much decided that we’re exclusive.”

“And what does that mean?” she asked. “Are you serious, then? Is this actually something?”

“No. I told him I would never want any kind of future with him.”