Keeping my chin up, I casually padded out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs, my inner muscles still pulsing. In my room, I sank down on the bed and closed my eyes. Had I really just had sex with Dane?
Yes, I had. Raw, rough, epic sex.
I’d never come that hard in my life. Probably because I’d never once been fucked like that—with such want and need and aggression.
It was like four years’ worth of sexual tension exploded between us—because, yeah, it was clear that I’d been wrong; I wasn’t the only one who felt it. He’d done an amazing job of fooling me all this time. But then, he was a freaking expert at deception.
Not that I thought he might have some sort of “thing” for me. Nor was I under the mistaken impression that he’d want a repeat of tonight. I wasn’t so dumb that I didn’t understand one very important thing: I could have been anyone to him.
He hadn’t been desperate to have me. He’d been angry and needed an outlet for all that pent-up emotion. If I hadn’t pushed him tonight, if I’d just walked away when he reacted so badly to my saying I’d leave o-Verve, his control would never have snapped like that, and the sex would never have happened.
Yeah, it stung to know it had meant absolutely nothing to him. But I wasn’t going to whine about it. I was a big girl.
The ghostly sensations of his fingers biting into my thighs and his cock moving inside me lingered. And I couldn’t find it in myself to regret what had happened. It had been stupid for certain. But life was all about making memories, right? That was what Nancy always said.
Of course, the old woman also said that Charles Manson was just misunderstood.
I sat up straight, determined not to give myself a hard time about sleeping with Dane. After all, what was done was done. It had been a nice way to break my dry spell. This didn’t have to be a bad thing. It just needed to be a one-off.
Chapter Sixteen
Setting my empty coffee cup on the drainer the next morning, I heard footsteps approaching. Determined not to exhibit any awkwardness, I pasted my default smile on my face and turned. Damn. Suited-up and oozing authority, Dane looked impossibly gorgeous and totally in charge.
As casual and aloof as always, he arched a brow. “Ready to go?”
Apparently, he was on-board with the “pretending last night never happened” plan. Good. That made things easier.
I nodded and gathered my things. “Ready.”
In the car, I turned my gaze to the window and watched his lush landscaping go by as we descended the long driveway. The estate really was beautiful. A lonely place to be at times, but still beautiful.
“It can’t happen again, Vienna.”
I forced myself not to tense. Without looking away from the window, I said, “I know.” Because I’d never mastered the art of separating emotion from sex. Thanks to the developing crush, I was already close to crossing the emotional line with Dane. He just didn’t know it. If we made sleeping together a regular thing, I’d struggle to not go past that line.
At least he hadn’t branded last night a mistake. He wouldn’t have been wrong, but it still would have stung to hear him say it.
Eager to change the subject, I looked at him and said, “Hope and Travis came to see me yesterday while you were talking with the teams.”
His dark eyes narrowed slightly. “And you’re only telling me this now?”
“You were in a shitty mood yesterday. I figured it could wait.”
He raised the privacy screen and asked, “What did they say?”
“They told me about the trust fund—allegedly, Jen agreed with them that I should know. Hope and Travis tried convincing me that you only married me to gain access to it; they think I should leave you now so that you can’t use me any more than you already have.”
Dane’s jaw hardened. “You should have told me immediately.”
“Like I said, you were in a foul mood. I planned to tell you when we got back to your house, but I didn’t have much success at calming you, and then …” Then you fucked me in your kitchen.
“Hope should have known better. I warned Travis to leave you alone. Clearly being barred from his favorite casino hasn’t inspired him to change his ways.”
I frowned. “You had him barred from a casino?”
“After he fed you the last ‘Dane is evil’ speech, yes. He was trying to cause trouble between us; trying to make my life difficult—I was just demonstrating that I can return the favor. Travis used to play a weekly card game at the casino with a bunch of wealthy assholes who’ll gamble everything from money to animals. Now he can’t anymore, and he hates that. But he hasn’t yet backed down.”
“He can no doubt feel his share of your trust fund slipping away from him—he was never going to take that lying down.” I really would love to throttle the weasel for being so greedily determined to attain money and assets that weren’t rightfully his that he’d actually fuck with his brother’s life this way. “They were probably lying that Jen banded with them over this.”
“She thinks the same as they do when it comes to you and me, so there’s every chance she was involved.”
“At least Kent had nothing to do with it.”
We arrived at o-Verve a short while later. Inside the building, I’d no sooner fired up my computer than Hanna appeared at my desk. I smiled and pulled a card out of my purse. “Happy birthday. Your usual gift card is inside.”
She took it with a huge grin. “Thank you. Like my badge?”
I eyed the round, “It’s my birthday and I’ll curse if I want to” badge she’d pinned to her shirt. “It screams ‘class.’”
“I know.” Leaning forward, she whispered, “I’m guessing you fucked Dane’s brains out last night.”
I tensed. “What?”
“Well I saw him walk into the building a few minutes ago. He’s no longer snarling and glowering and generally scaring people.”
Oh, right. “Sex is a good outlet for stress.”
“Here, here. So, are you still coming out for drinks after work tomorrow?”
“Yes, of course.” A bunch of people from o-Verve went to a local bar every year on the Friday closest to her birthday.
“Ace! I’ll see you later.”
“Later.” Turning back to my computer, I got to work.
I’d worried that just maybe things between Dane and I would get a little weird as the day went on, but they didn’t. There was no awkwardness, no tension, no cracks in our work dynamics. It was honestly as if nothing had happened last night. But then, for Dane, it really had been nothing. Just emotionless, stress-relieving sex. I told myself that that didn’t bother me, but it was a damn lie.
The day seemed to go by superfast. Before long, I was slipping on my coat, ready to leave. It was only then that Dane announced he wouldn’t be coming home yet—he’d accepted an invitation to a last-minute dinner meeting.
It occurred to me that he’d attended a few of those recently. There had also been evenings where he’d returned to o-Verve alone and hadn’t come back home until late. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was trying to avoid me.