I forced myself to say it. “You’re right. I should be more honest with you.” If I wanted her on her knees with her hands tied behind her back, her mouth gaping open and ready for my cock, I had to compromise. I knew she wasn’t the ideal sub the moment I looked at her. In fact, she was just the opposite. But that didn’t make me want her less. Like star-crossed lovers, we were from different worlds. But I wanted her so much it hurt.
“And?”
I wasn’t going to apologize. No way. “And that’s it.”
“That’s it?” She put one hand on her hip, her attitude rising.
“I drink alone. I won’t apologize for that. You should have left me alone when I asked you to. Your fault. Not mine.”
“Don’t be an ass, Calloway. I know you’re better than that.”
I stared her down because that was untrue. “Looks like you’re getting to know the real me.”
She shook her head in disappointment. “You can put on this act if you want, but I see right through it.”
No, she didn’t.
“You know I’m right, but you can’t admit it. You’re stubborn and a bitchface.”
Bitchface?
“But let me give you some advice, Calloway.” She stepped closer to me, crossing her arms over her chest. “A real man admits when he’s wrong. He acknowledges his flaws and doesn’t hide behind his pride. Drop the ego and man up.” She looked me up and down like she wasn’t impressed with what she saw then walked away.
This time, I let her have the last word—because she’d earned it.
After a few hours in solitude, I emerged from my office and went downstairs to find her. She was sitting on the couch with her folders scattered around her. She was working from home tonight with a glass of wine in hand. She was still in the same clothes she wore to work, her heels slipped off and resting on the ground.
I walked to the couch, my heavy footsteps announcing my approach.
She didn’t look up.
I sat beside her and stared into her lap. She had budget reports and different case studies scattered across the pages. Sticky notes with illegible script were posted everywhere. She thrived in disarray.
She continued to ignore me—and she did it well.
“Put your stuff away. I want to talk to you.”
“You don’t always get what you want just because you demand it.” She didn’t falter in her writing.
My dominant side was coming out even more lately. The second we’d started fucking, I couldn’t control myself. I wanted to command her to do many things. In some ways, I was already treating her like my submissive even though she wasn’t ready for the job. “I came down here to apologize. Please give me the opportunity to do it correctly.” It hurt my chest to talk like that, to ask for something instead of just taking it. She brought me out of my comfort zone and made me experience a world I despised—one where I wasn’t in charge.
“That’s better.” She closed the folder and tossed her things aside. Then she looked at me expectantly, her arms over her chest and her tits perky from her posture. A cleavage line formed right down the center, perfect for my cock to fit in.
But now wasn’t the time for that. “I shouldn’t have talked to you that way. I shouldn’t have gotten drunk like that. I’m sorry.” I forced myself not to grit my teeth. I didn’t want to be an asshole and drive her away, but I didn’t want to give up everything I believed in at the same time. Keeping Vanilla was a lot more complicated than I thought it would be.
“It’s okay.” She accepted my apology with sincerity, and she finally looked at me with those obsessive eyes I’d come to adore. “I just hope you’ll talk to me about these things instead of hitting the bottle. Whenever something is getting me down, I usually talk to Christopher about it. Makes me feel better.”
“I guess I could give it a try.”
“I meant what I said. We need to trust each other if this is going to work. So we need to be honest. I know that’s hard because you have your issues, and we both know I have mine. But we need to try.”
I was willing to do anything to keep her. That was something I knew with unwavering certainty. “Okay.”
Softness entered her eyes, and like nothing happened last night, she forgave me. She put it in the past and moved on with the snap of a finger. Her ability to forgive so easily astounded me. In fact, I was in awe of her. I would never forgive my father for what he did to both my mother and me. But since he was dead, he could never earn my forgiveness anyway. “So, do you want to talk about it?”