“Oh, fuck bubbles.I didn’t travel more than a thousand miles not to plow ahead with careless disregard for life or limb.How many mad, dashing affairs have you had?Oh, wait.Don’t answer that.Dozens.So bloody many you need a statistician to help keep it straight.”
“You have a point?”
“No matter who you married, you wouldn’t have an affair.You wouldn’t put yourself in that position.”
In the main room, a woman entered, wearing ridiculously high heels.She had shapely calves, a nicely curved ass…
“You wouldn’t promise yourself to one woman then get another pregnant.”
He tore his gaze away to look at Julien.“Love doesn’t cheat.”
“There you are.”
“There…?What?”
“Love doesn’t have to be a messy thing.It can be uncomplicated.Pure.Sustaining.Something that keeps you going.Look at your grandfather and Miss Libby.They’ve birthed a dynasty and have looked out for each other for over half a century.Look to that.Look to them.You, Connor, are not capable of tearing apart families.It’s not in your moral fiber.”
He looked back at the woman in the slinky, tight dress and the long hair.He couldn’t quite make out the color, but… “Goddamnyou.”Anger propelled him to his feet.
Julien grabbed him.“It’s not her.”
Connor looked again.
“It’s not,” Julien insisted.
He looked more closely.Julien was right.It couldn’t possibly be Lara.The woman was much shorter, had a few more curves and her hair was significantly shorter.“How did you know?”
“For whatever reason, the woman says she loves you.”With his finger, he made a little circle.“I know.Crazy talk, right?I’m sure she’s still healing.She’s not the type to go and replace you right away.I do question her judgment, though.Who the hell would give her heart to someone who wouldn’t protect it?”
Those words ravaged him, as Julien had probably intended.
It was his obligation, as a Dom, to have handled it better.As a Dom?Fuck, as a human being.As a man.
The momentary blur of jealousy had taught him one thing.He could no longer deny the fact he loved Lara Bertrand.He just hoped his stupidity hadn’t cost him the first woman who’d been brave enough to love him.He couldn’t blame her if it had.He didn’t deserve her.
Chapter Fourteen
The commotion of multiple dogs barking shattered the silence.
“Suzy-Q,no!”
Lara turned down the television volume.In one of her less-than spectacular moments, she’d chosen anIndiana Jonesfilm to pass the evening.The theme music alone had been enough to send her back in time to Connor’s loft and the memory of snuggling on his couch.The sight of Indy with his bullwhip had made her squirm.
Unbelievably, she still missed Connor with the same kind of intensity, even though she repeatedly soothed herself with the reminder that time healed everything.Anyone who believed that had not experienced the power of a single tail on her bare skin, delivered by a Dom who was skilled with his whip and generous with his orgasms.
She was about to turn the volume back up when her doorbell rang.Wondering if Mrs.Fuhrman needed some help with her dogs, she slipped on a pair of flip-flops and answered the door.
Suzy-Q stood there, a giant bouquet of flowers hanging from the side of her mouth.
Confused, she reached to take them from the dog, and just as she did, Connor stepped onto the porch.
Her breath froze as she straightened.
He looked every bit as disarming as he always did, in a light-gray sweater and charcoal-colored slacks.
His jaw was shadowed and his eyes were smudged with fatigue.
Suzy-Q jumped, banging her head into Lara’s.Connor reached to steady her as she dropped the flowers.
