This one was strong in nature, almost dominant. He couldn’t get an accurate read on her, but he didn’t sense the usual vein of soft, yielding submission within her. She was somewhat of an anomaly.
“It is not wise for her to be on her own right now.”
“The Mistress is capable of deciding that for herself.”
Yes, definitely combative. He felt her hostility vibrating through her, an almost ominous sense of danger emanating offthat tiny frame. What the hell had Violet said to the woman to make her want to disassemble him piece by piece?
“Do submissives not have as much of a duty of care toward their Dominants as their Doms do to them?” he asked softly. “If your Dom was hurting, upset, in need of love and reassurance, would you not do everything in your power to figure out the problem and fix it?”
Oh, that made her stop and think, he mused. A little frown appeared between her brows as her mouth twisted with indecision. She knew something, that much was clear.
“Did she swear you to secrecy,chérie?”
She nodded once. “Pinky swear.”
Evander’s wife made a serious sound in her throat. “Uh-oh. Can’t break a pinky swear foranything.”
Mack’s wife nodded solemnly in agreement. “Big no-no.”
Reaux groaned silently. “It doesn’t count as a broken promise if I guess, right?”
A silent conversation ensued between the three, avidly watched by the rest of the group. Small movements of their heads, subtle changes to their expressions, little flickers of their eyes… they were absolutelyfascinating.
Finally, Tabitha sniffed and angled her chin higher. “Guessing the secret wouldn’t violate the pinky swear. However, I cannot confirm or deny whether your guess is correct.”
Well, this got better and better, didn’t it? Resigned to spending the rest of his evening trying to ferret out Violet’s secret without fracturing her friendship with Tabitha, he got comfortable in his chair and studied the blonde’s face with critical eyes.
In all honesty, there really wasn’t anything else he’d been planning to do except fuck his woman, but that was off the table until he found where she was hiding. Besides, if he unearthed the secret, perhaps things would improve between them.
To do that, he needed to crack the vault in front of him just enough to pull out clues.
“Is it something I’ve done?” he asked, grabbing the bull by the horns.
One question was all it took to redefine her opinion of him, he noted. The way her head tilted, those eyes narrowing, it was pretty obvious her initial estimation had been worthless. Now she was reevaluating him as a potential adversary.
She nodded once.
Okay, something he’d done. That opened a lot of doors. “Recently?”
Another, slower nod.
“Before or after I came here?”
Tabitha held up two fingers to indicate the second option.
Hmm, intriguing. What had he done in the last week that would become a closely guarded secret between Violet and Tabitha? Aside from the scene that rocked his world, then the sex that razed it to the ground, he’d been an exceptionally good boy. Mainly because Violet kept herself from being in the same room as him, but still, he’d had every opportunity to pester her.
Drumming his fingertips on the table, he watched Tabitha’s face. She was patient, her features an implacable mask, as she waited for his next question.
Reaux glanced around at the expectant group of Violet’s friends. They were all ears, apparently as invested in this endeavor as he was, which was a problem. He didn’t know how much they knew about her personal life because it seemed like she’d become a very private person here, guarding herself from outside judgement.
“Come on, man, take a guess.” Levi poked him with an elbow. “Just think of how many ways you’ve fucked up with her and assess the consequences. It’s been what, a week, ten days? Unless you’re one of those guys who lives with his footpermanently in his mouth, there has to be a limit on the potential fallout.”
“Leave him be, Levi,” Merrick rumbled from down the table. “He’s thinking.”
“Do you love her?” Tabitha asked quietly, her words barely reaching across the short distance to Reaux’s ears. “Mistress Violet, do you love her the way Grit loves me or Merrick loves Tamsyn? Are you the one person in the entire world meant to be hers?”
“Yes.” He spoke before thinking and didn’t regret it. “I made a colossal mistake a couple years ago, a choice that was ripe with good intentions yet backfired catastrophically. It was my choice, my mistake, and I haven’t stopped loving her since the day she walked away. The whole reason I’m here now is to win her back so I can marry the infuriating woman.”
