And where Dominic had been uncertain about his plans – actually, he’d had no plans – suddenly his roadmap to the future was clear. He lifted his head marginally, smiled at her, feeling as though truth and goodness and all the virtues of the world were within his grasp. ‘You make me insanely happy, baby, but bite me that hard again,’ he said with a grin, licking the blood off his bottom lip, ‘and you’ll get the spanking of your life.’
‘Then it might be worth it,’ she whispered, stretching upwards; his bite having been more restrained, only teeth marks reddened her lip.
Shoving her back down, he circled her wrists with his fingers. ‘You’ll have another chance later,’ he said lightly, dropping a kiss on the bridge of her nose. ‘Right now, I have a semi-serious proposition. So don’t say no right away.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of saying no to you after that dynamite orgasm.’ She smiled faintly. ‘Does this have anything to do with my next orgasm? Please say yes.’
He smiled back. ‘Yes. But give me a minute first. I hate these things.’ Withdrawing from her body, he sat on the edge of the chaise, yanked off the condom and tossed it in the jungle of plants. ‘Don’t lecture me,’ he warned her. ‘My staff doesn’t give a shit.’
‘I wouldn’t think of it,’ she murmured.
Her reply was so amenable, his gaze narrowed. ‘Is that sarcasm? Forget it,’ he quickly said. ‘I don’t care so long as you’re not getting up to leave.’
Her green-eyed gaze was balmy with content. ‘I don’t feel like leaving just yet.’
‘Perfect. Because I have something to make the sex better.’
‘You have my full attention, Mr Knight,’ she purred.
He laughed. ‘I thought I might.’ But he drew in a quick breath before he went on because her temper was unpredictable, and while he could always talk her around, particularly to sex, it would save time if she agreed with him. ‘Here’s my proposal and don’t shoot me down until you hear me out.’
She grinned. ‘It must be super kinky.’
He gave her a flinty look.
She mimed a locking motion across her mouth.
‘Now, first, I’m perfectly willing to use condoms for as long as you want, but with the multiple orgasms you prefer, along with, shall we say, the marathon fucking sessions you like, condoms would be a real pain in the ass. So’ – another quick breath – ‘if you’re interested, I have an alternative. Since your period is just ending – don’t give me that look – I read the interview brief on you in Hong Kong and remembered because it mattered to me at the time. Am I right about your period?’
‘Jeez. Is that kind of invasive detail legally allowed?’
‘I never asked. So am I right or not?’
She made a face, then nodded.
He smiled. ‘Since when did you get shy?’
She ran her fingers through her copper curls in a quick restive gesture, then stared at him. ‘That’s kinda personal.’
‘Unlike fucking.’
‘Hey, keep it up and—’
‘You couldn’t do it, babe. Honestly. You need it more than I do.’
‘Maybe I could.’
‘And maybe I could find religion, but I wouldn’t bet on it. So, can I get back to my plan? It’ll make you real happy – guaranteed.’
She wrinkled her nose in a little bunny twitch.
‘I’ll take that as a yes. One more thing and don’t be squeamish. It’s just a simple question. Is this the fifth day of your period?’
Her brows flew up. ‘How the hell did you know that?’
‘I told you I read the brief. I have a good memory: once I see something, it’s here.’ He tapped his head. ‘Anyway, the timing couldn’t be better for a contraceptive shot. The shot would be effective immediately. And if you recall, birth control pills were a problem for us in Hong Kong.’
She glowered. ‘Don’t try and sidetrack the conversation. How would you know about effective immediately?’
‘General information. Don’t get pissed. I read about it.’
‘Why?’ Her glare was undiminished, her jealousy unreasonable but stubbornly persistent.
‘Because it happened to be on The Times health page I was reading,’ he said, keeping his voice super calm. ‘And birth control impacts me. OK?’
‘Yeah, I’ve heard that.’
‘Come on, babe, I’d like to say I was a virgin when I met you, but I can’t. If it matters, I haven’t been with a woman since Hong Kong. And that’s major for me.’
‘I suppose,’ she grumbled.
‘You better suppose,’ he grumbled back. ‘It’s in the category of moving mountains with my history.’ He briefly shut his eyes as though reconfiguring his past against the present, then looked at her and smiled. ‘This is a whole new wonderland, babe.’
‘Thank you,’ she softly said.
‘No problem,’ he said as softly. ‘It was worth it.’ He leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her mouth. ‘So what do you say?’
‘OK.’
He sat back. ‘Just like that – OK?’
‘Yup.’
‘That blindsided me,’ he said with a grin. ‘No argument?’
‘Actually, I’m a little allergic to latex and a lot allergic to the lubed ones, and, honestly, I like to feel you.’
Taking issue with any condom use on her part, he wanted to grill and cross-examine her on the history of her latex allergies. But understanding that argument was counterproductive, he stifled his resentments and reached for his sports jacket instead. ‘Let me call my doctor,’ he said, pulling his cell phone from his coat pocket.
‘You can get a doctor this time of night?’
‘I can get a doctor any time. He works for me.’
She scowled. ‘I hope you’re not going to tell me he gives these shots to all the women you entertain here.’
‘I don’t bring women here. It’s my home.’
She gave him a dirty look. ‘You brought them to the Garden House.’
‘I don’t consider that my home,’ he very carefully replied, his voice gentle, his expression completely blank. ‘If my mother hadn’t been at the house when we got there, we would have stayed on The Peak. And before you jump to conclusions, I don’t bring women to my home on The Peak either. You were the first.’
‘Maybe this doctor gives these shots for you somewhere else,’ she said, ignoring his momentous admission because she was jealous of every woman he’d ever looked at and her jealousy was an irresistible force.
‘I’ve never asked him do this for me before. Please, Katherine. I don’t want to talk about the past. It’s over. And if you’ll agree to an exclusivity pact, there’s no one but you.’
‘What if I don’t agree?’
He exhaled softly. ‘What do you want me to say?’
‘How about the truth?’
‘Then I’ll be fucking someone else. Satisfied?’
It was amazing how much it hurt to hear him say that. To think of him with another woman. To consider life without him now that he’d returned to her.
‘Hey,’ he whispered, taking her hand in his, gently squeezing it. ‘I don’t want anyone but you. But it’s not as though I’m eighty, OK? So let’s get together on this. I only want you. No one else. It’s been a hellish month; let’s not fight about how much I want you. There’s no measure large enough or high enough or deep enough. I’m on the verge of begging you, baby, and that’s fucking scary.’ His smile was inexpressibly tender. ‘So give me a break. Say yes before I embarrass myself completely. We’ll hammer out the details later about where and when, how often’ – he grinned – ‘and what you want for toys.’
She smiled. ‘I think I missed the begging part. You sound pretty assured.’
‘I am about the toys.’
‘You always were arrogant.’
‘And you always resist me.’
She gave him a look from under her lashes.
He grinned. ‘Well, sometimes you do.’
She sighed softly, not sure whether she was giving in to him or whether life without him was insupportable. ‘So, do I need an attorney?’
In a flash, he lifted her onto his lap, wrapped his arms around her and dazzled her with a smile. ‘I’m so freaking happy,’ he whispered, kissing her gently. ‘And if you want an attorney, we’ll get you one. I don’t really care so long as I know you’re mine.’
‘Hey!’ She poked him in the chest.
‘Let me reword that,’ he said with a grin. ‘So long as you know I’m yours. Is that better? Should we send out announcements?’
‘Very funny.’
He gave her a small considering look. ‘Actually, I wouldn’t mind. It would get other … er … people off my back. My PR people could publicize our relationship, formalize it as it were. What do you say?’
‘I don’t like publicity.’
He frowned. ‘You don’t want people to know we’re together?’
‘Dominic, please, this is all very sweet, but you can’t sustain it – not for long anyway. Then I’d have to parlay all the stupid questions, my privacy would be shot to hell and, bottom line, I’d be crying in public instead of in private. If I agree not to see anyone else, I won’t. Personally, I don’t think you can do it, but we can try because you make me happy too.’ She kissed him lightly. ‘In every imaginable way.’
He knew when to take a break from negotiations. ‘You’ll find out I can do it,’ he said softly. ‘You’re my world, baby.’ He lifted one brow. ‘So?’ He held up his phone. ‘Do I have your OK to call the doctor?’
CHAPTER 8
Dominic and Kate waited for the doctor in Dominic’s bedroom, the large space dominated by a four-poster bed contemporary with the nineteenth-century building. Constructed of teakwood to withstand the tropical heat and humidity, the wood had mellowed over the centuries to a warm ochre, the aged finish burnished to a silken gloss. Folding doors, closed now, led out to a veranda; air conditioning kept the heat at bay, along with an overhead fan gently revolving on the high-raftered ceiling. The bed, chairs and sofa were all covered in a pale, natural linen, simply tailored and unembellished. The floor was polished teak, the two dressers and desk as well. It was a masculine room.
Dominic had found them robes, Kate dwarfed by one of his that was several sizes too large. They were seated side by side on his enormous bed, where they’d just demolished an assortment of sandwiches, cookies and milk that Dominic had ordered for Kate, along with beer and Malay street food he favoured, none of which he coaxed her to try because he was being super polite rather than controlling. All of which he ate down to the last cucumber stick.
‘Christ, it feels good to be hungry again,’ he said with a sigh of contentment, lifting the snack tray away. ‘I’ve barely eaten since Hong Kong.’ Offering Kate the last cookie, he gestured at the empty plates. ‘Should I order more?’
‘Probably not with’ – an arch of her brows – ‘your doctor on his way.’
He understood the message loud and clear. ‘Ask him when he gets here. Yash will tell you you’re the only one. He doesn’t ordinarily do this for me.’
‘Oh, God …’ She sighed. ‘I wish I wasn’t so …’
‘Jealous. Don’t feel alone. I didn’t even know what the word meant until I met you.’ His gaze was unwavering, a barely-there smile on his lips. ‘I’m charting new territory with you, babe. No question.’
‘Everything about you, this, “us” is new for me too. I feel alternately confused, jealous, insanely horny. Like some infatuated teenager with no sense of proportion.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, coolly. ‘You didn’t actually date anyone in high school, did you?’
A mocking glance. ‘And you didn’t either?’
‘Course not.’
She laughed. ‘Just so long as we never stray from this fantasy world, everything will be fine.’
‘Indeed.’
His smile was a thing of beauty – killer, drop dead gorgeous, tender, with just enough king of the jungle to make her pulse rate spike. ‘You said, indeed, before dinner in Amsterdam in the same hot, sexy way. I almost threw myself at you and promised you anything.’
‘Personally, I wanted to drag you upstairs that night and fuck you until I couldn’t move.’
She grinned. ‘Where did we go wrong when we were both on the same speeding freight train?’
He shrugged, the grey silk of his robe shimmering in the lamplight. ‘It just took you a while. You were skittish.’
‘Is that what I was?’
He crooked an eyebrow. ‘Or you were fighting me off. Take your pick.’
‘Your reputation was daunting.’
‘That’s all over.’
His voice was husky and low, touchingly earnest. She looked up, held his gaze. ‘So everything’s good now?’ she whispered.
He bent and kissed her cheek. ‘My word on it, babe,’ he said gently. ‘Nothing’s going wrong this time. Not one goddamn thing. So give me a smile and half that cookie. We’ll order more once Yash leaves.’
He was deliberately recasting the conversation. She wasn’t surprised. He avoided emotional drama. Breaking the peanut butter cookie in two, she held it out and smiled. ‘I’ll follow orders just this once.’
He grinned. ‘Hey, once is better than nothing; I’ll take what I can get.’ He plucked the cookie from her fingers, then lifted her glass of milk from the tray and offered it to her. ‘I’ll see that you have chocolate milk tomorrow.’
‘I’m good. White milk is perfect with cookies.’ She dipped her cookie in the milk.
‘Right now, everything’s perfect,’ he said, lightly brushing her cheek with his knuckles. ‘And it’s gonna stay that way. We deserve it after a month of misery.’ He slid the half-cookie into his mouth.
‘I’ve already forgotten all that. This is heaven. Seriously.’
‘No kidding,’ he murmured, chewing. But even as he spoke, he was struck with a small, niggling unease. Katherine was his benchmark for all that was good in his life. Yet their meeting had been such a random act of fate, like winning the lottery, that he worried the old adage – the only sure thing about luck was that it will change – might be true.
‘Hey. Earth to Dominic.’
He swallowed, then grinned. ‘Sorry, dozing off,’ he lied. ‘I haven’t slept much lately.’
‘After the doctor’s gone, sleep,’ she offered, handing the glass back. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’
I’m not going anywhere. Her sweet assurance was like rain after a ten-year drought, or food to a starving man, or deliverance from a life of despair. ‘Thanks, I might.’ He spoke with a perceptible reserve, patterns of a lifetime difficult to change, his new-found sense of hope too fragile to risk.
The knock on the door was a relief. Not accustomed to dealing with personal feelings, his brain was reaching overload tonight. He set the glass aside. ‘That’s Yash.’ Dominic slid off the bed.
‘You’re staying, right?’ Mild trepidation underscored her words. ‘I’m not doing this without you.’
Dominic shot her a look over his shoulder. ‘As if I’d leave you alone with another man.’
‘Oh, good. I like that you’re jealous too so I’m not the only one.’
He swung around, looked grim for a moment before he remembered his manners and wiped away his scowl. ‘Jealous doesn’t even begin to describe my intolerance of you with other men,’ he said quietly. ‘Fair warning, babe, you’re mine. Clear?’ He held her gaze. Waited.
‘I suppose.’ A small, frugal compliance.
He shook his head, the movement so slight as to be infinitesimal. ‘Wrong answer. Come on, babe, humour me.’
‘Oh, very well. Yes, then. But not always, Dominic. Not every time.’
‘We’ll see.’
‘Dominic!’
‘Sorry.’
‘No, you’re not.’
‘Give me credit for trying at least,’ he grumbled. ‘It feels like I’m manoeuvring through a fuckin
g minefield – with every word, every thought potentially explosive. Oh, shit, I didn’t mean it. That was rude.’ He dipped his head in a small conciliatory gesture, shifted his stance. ‘Look, I’ll get the hang of it. It’ll just take a while. Could we discuss jealousy and boundaries later? Please, baby? Yash is waiting.’
He was incredibly appealing, restless, that small worried crease between his brows. She smiled. ‘Sure.’
He exhaled. ‘Thanks.’ Turning, he strode to the door, opened it. ‘Evening, Yash. Come on in. Meet my girl.’
My girl. Such warm, fuzzy, beautiful words. Kate felt like some fourteen-year- old with her first crush. Although first crush was way too tame a phrase for Dominic. It was more like coming-apart-at-the-seams, flipping out, run amuck crazy in love.
A moment later the men were at the bedside. Dominic made introductions, then turned to their visitor and grinned. ‘Isn’t she adorable?’ Yash concealed his shock. Dominic as stud he knew, but enamoured? It boggled the mind.
‘Absolutely,’ he replied smoothly, turning to the beautiful redhead with a smile. ‘A pleasure to meet you, Miss Hart.’ She’d blushed at Dominic’s compliment – which really was adorable. She was also small and delicate in Dominic’s oversized robe – part of her novelty no doubt. Dominic had always been drawn to tall, sleek, glamorous women.
‘Call me Kate – please.’ Returning his smile, she contemplated the handsome young man casually dressed in jeans and a white polo shirt, his ethnicity an amalgam of Singapore’s multicultural Chinese, Malay and Indian population. ‘And I apologize. Dominic shouldn’t have called you out so late at night.’
Another moment of shock. Dominic chastised by a woman? Surely a first.
‘I told her it wasn’t a problem. Tell her it isn’t, Yash’ – Dominic grinned – ‘or I’ll have to listen to her bitch at me.’
Bitch. Really? She must be incredibly good in bed. Yash had never seen Dominic acquiesce to a woman. ‘It’s not a problem,’ he replied politely. ‘Dominic and I have known each other for years.’ Often in circumstances that could only be characterized as licentious.