“I like it, too,” I manage. “But I still think you should untie me.”
“Why? What do you intend to do once you’re free?”
“I’ll roll you onto your back, then straddle you. Then I’ll lean forward and kiss my way up your chest. I’ll brush my lips over your ear. And then, my darling husband, I’ll whisper that I know what’s bothering you.”
To his credit, Damien doesn’t even flinch. My husband has worked too long in the world of high power and high finance to show a reaction he wants to keep hidden. But I know him better than anyone, and I see the hint of a shadow in his eyes. “You want to talk about it?” I ask gently.
“I love you,” he says, making me laugh.
“You say that like a curse.”
“Never.” He kisses me hard to prove the point, then unfastens the belt. “But even after all this time, sometimes it still surprises me how well you see me. No one else ever has.”
I lower my arms, then do as I said, easing him onto his back as I climb on top of him. “Then let me tell you,” I say. “It didn’t even really start with the kidnapping, though that’s what set everything in motion.”
He says nothing, but I feel the tension in his body and know that I’m right.
“It really started in Paris,” I say.
His forehead creases. “In Paris?”
“With Antonio.” I’d been attacked near our hotel. Antonio Sanchez had been coming to talk to Damien, and it was just fate that he’d been close enough to step in and rescue me. “Now he’s part of Stark Security,” I add. “So are you, of course. The most important part since you founded it. But Antonio and all the others are on the ground doing the dirty work. And I know the way you think.”
“Do you?” His voice is flat, and I can’t tell what he’s thinking right then, which sort of ruins my point. But I press on anyway.
“He’s doing that kind of thing every day now. And you just asked Dallas to join up, too. Did he agree?”
“I think he’s tempted.”
I nod slowly. “And are you tempted?”
He lifts his hands to my shoulders and lightly runs his palms down my bare arms. “Would it bother you if I was?”
“I—” I hesitate because I don’t want to be the little wife who ties him down. But he needs to know the truth. I kept my fears from him once before and promised I never would again. So I draw a breath and start again. “You could do it. You’ve got the skills.”
That’s true. A former professional athlete, Damien is in excellent shape. His marksmanship is solid, too. He’d always been a good shot, but once he became more visible to the public, he started going to a range regularly. After the kidnapping, regularly was upgraded to frequently, and I usually join him, too.
“I hear a but,” he says.
“I’d be scared,” I admit. “I’m terrified of losing you.”
“Oh, baby.”
“I’m sorry.” Tears prick my eyes, and I know I’m being selfish. He wants to get more involved, and here I am pulling him back. More, I wish I hadn’t even started this conversation. Because I’m certain that his attitude will change when he hears my news. For a while, at least.
The truth is that Damien is a man of action, but he’s climbed the mountains he’s made so many times that it feels rote. How can I possibly discourage him when he has something to prove?
I don’t know. But I have to try. Because it’s cold terror I feel when I think of him like that, doing the stuff that the Stark Security agents in the field do.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” he says. “That’s not really who I am. I might be a warrior, but it’s more of the corporate variety, I’m afraid.”
“Damien…” I feel my heart squeeze and wish I’d said nothing.
“Baby, it’s okay. And I can still protect you and the girls, even if it’s in my own unique way.”
“Of course you can,” I begin, surprised when he reaches for the bedside table. He has to shift to reach the drawer’s handle, and I slide off of him so that he can tug it open. A moment later, he rolls back to face me, a small box in his hand.
“What is it?”
“Open it.”
I do, finding a lovely platinum-set watch. “It’s beautiful. But—”
I start to ask why I need a watch when I rely on my phone these days, but he interrupts me. “It’s a tracker. And not clunky and unattractive like those plastic gizmos. This one is art.”
“It is,” I agree. “It’s lovely.”
“I have one for the girls, too. Theirs have plastic bands and animals on the watch face. Mine’s more like yours.” He raises his arm, and I realize I hadn’t even noticed the new watch.
I put mine on then lift my wrist for a better look. “How does it work?”
“A phone app. I can find your location, and I can read your pulse.”
“Proof of life,” I say, then swallow.
“Or a reflection of fear.” He opens his phone, taps something, and almost instantaneously, I feel an electronic ting against my skin. “It’s not meant to communicate, though I suppose I could ping Morse Code. But by tapping you know that I’m tracking you. That I’m coming for you.”
“This is amazing.”
“It’s Noah’s design,” he adds, referring to one of Dallas’s former associates who now heads up Stark Applied Technology.
“Can I signal back to you? Turning the crown or something?”
“Pressing the crown, actually. Like an SOS. But not yet. That’s the next step. You’re wearing the first beta release. I already put the app on your phone. You’re all set up to check on me or send me a love tap.”
“I like the sound of that,” I say, then lean over to press a kiss on his cheek. “I love it,” I say. “And I love you.”
I consider giving him my present now, but I want to stick to my plan and wait. I want to be in the hotel bar, his arm around me. Just a casual evening. Just a casual present of my own.
Now, though…
I take his hand and twine my fingers through his. “I know you’re frustrated that you can’t make everything right in the world. But I’ve told you before, when you feel that way, you come to me. Control me, Mr. Stark.”
I see the heat—and the love—flair in his eyes. “Tell me why.”
It’s a command, and I feel the force of it reverberate all through me, settling sweetly between my thighs. “Because I’ll always give you whatever you need,” I promise. “I’ll always submit to whatever you want. And you know the third reason, too.”
His brow rises. “Do I?”
I take his hand, then nod as I slide it between my legs. I’m already wet, my body thrumming with desire. “It’s because I like it, too.”
Chapter Five
The boutique hotel I found for our night on the town is called All Play & No Work, and it’s tucked into a sweet Columbus Circle location atop a ground floor retail space and two floors of offices. The building’s fourth floor serves as the lobby of the hotel, complete with an open reception area and a dark, atmospheric bar tucked away behind an ornate set of oak doors.