“Do you work for my dad?”
“No. I told you before I didn’t.”
She presses her lips together into a thin line. “I’m double-checking. Don’t I have the right to do that?”
“Yes, absolutely yes.” She can do anything she wants. “You’re in charge.”
“Why were you looking at your film?”
“Because you said your handyman made you nervous. I wanted to see if he was in there doing shit he wasn’t supposed to do.”
“And?”
“He just came in after your roommate left and sniffed a coffee mug.”
“That’s weird.”
I nod vigorously. “Very.” Anything to make me look less like a nut.
“What else?” She cranes her neck for a better view of the screens.
“I stopped there because you arrived.”
“Hmmm,” she hums. Her eyes look less angry and I’m tempted to relax but I know that’s a mistake. My instincts are proven true with her next question.
“You just have a bag full of spy cameras that you can install whenever you feel like?”
My whole body is tense, but I force out an answer. “Yes.”
“Why?”
I take off my glasses and throw them on the desk. I’m going to lose her if I don’t come clean. I’ll probably lose her if I tell the truth, but I knew that going in. The thing is, I’ve claimed her. She promised that she would be mine forever. I get to my feet and walk over to her. She doesn’t back up but I can sense she doesn’t like this, me using my height and body to intimidate her. I drop to my knees and take her hand. “You promised me when I took your virginity, when I gave you mine, that you were mine forever and you can’t take it back, no matter what I did in my past. I won’t let you.”
Her hand lands on top of my head. “I feel dumb for even saying these words, but do you have a particular set of skills?”
Chapter Sixteen
Quinn
I don’t want to take it back. I want to be Daman’s forever but I need the truth.
“I have many skills.” His other hand rubs up my bare thigh, distracting me. I’d only come out here with his shirt on. I’d gotten lonely in the bathtub and was going to try to lure him to come back and join me. I know how he gets when I wear his shirts. It turns him on as much as me being naked. He says everything about me does that for him.
I would have gone with naked but it is still daylight out and someone might see me through a window or something. But then Daman might cut their eyes out. That thought popping into my head should be a little telling in itself. He is very much the territorial type when it comes to me.
“Daman.” I grab his hand with my other one, stopping him. He closes his eyes, looking almost pained that I’d done so. I smack his chest. “Hey! Don’t make me feel bad. You’re the one in trouble here,” I remind him. “You know everything about me.” I lift my eyebrow at him, still waiting for him to give me an explanation of why he set up cameras in my place. “And you’ve yet to explain a single thing to me.”
“You’re going to leave me.” His voice is low. His eyes are downcast. He is breaking my heart. I should be losing my shit right now on him. He has freaking cameras in my apartment. Yet here I am feeling bad for him. This must be that whole love makes you do crazy things part of a relationship. Because I’m not losing my mind, nor am I storming out of here like I thought I would be. Instead I’m standing half naked, waiting for answers.
I bring my hands to his face, making him look up at me. “Just tell me the truth. That’s what I want.” I have a feeling that there’s not many things he could say that would have me walking out the door away from him, but I can’t make that decision until he tells me what’s going on.
“And you won’t leave me?” His eyes fill with hope. This big man on his knees in front of me is scared that I’m going to walk out of his life. He’s acting as though me leaving would be a death sentence to him. I lick my lips because I’m going to say something to ease his mind. I know I shouldn’t, but deep down inside of me, I can’t believe that my Daman could have done something so wrong that I’d want to leave him.
I know I haven’t known him long, but since the moment he walked into my life it’s felt like the only thing he’s done is try to make me happy and keep me safe. We click together so easily. I truly believe this man would do anything for me. I see it in everything he does.