I flexed my left hand and winced. “Not at the moment. Philippe shot a rocket at me and messed up my arm. He says he didn’t know I was there, but how likely is that?”
He pursed his lips slightly. “Your grandfather would be quite irritated if you were damaged. Your cousin does wish to inherit, doesn’t he? I imagine if you were killed after you were married to Dirk, your grandfather could do the unthinkable and give everything to your husband.”
I smiled at him. “Then it’s a pity the car was reinforced so well.”
“You don’t mind dying?”
“If it destroyed Philippe? Hardly.”
He pursed his lips again. “Daniela, or I should say, Mrs. Dagger, since it seems you married him for that name as you like knives so much, not the respectable name that goes with his mother’s dog, I have a deal for you. I’m not going to give you my shares, but I will use them as you direct until your cousin is defeated. It seems to be in everyone’s best interest. No one wants a rocket shot at them. The one thing I ask in return is the answer to a very personal question. I’d prefer as many details as you can remember, and absolutely strict honesty.”
I blinked at him while my heart pounded. “Truly? Aren’t you furious with me for using you and then throwing you away once you had an independent thought?” He raised a brow while I winced. I shouldn’t have used Horse’s exact phrase. “What is the question?”
“I want to know what your sexual tastes truly are. I apologize for the indelicacy of the question to a married woman, but I’m notoriously deviant.” His smile was sharper than before, but there was some honesty in it.
I cleared my throat and folded my hands in my lap. “You want to know my preference?”
He nodded.
“Oh.” I had notebooks filled with his preferences, but I hadn’t ever thought about mine. “I suppose I liked secretary sex after we went to a concert. Do you want details of what I remember best? I didn’t write anything down.”
He cocked his head. “I am not your preferred sexual partner. I want you to tell me what it’s like with someone who is more to your taste.”
I frowned at him. “I don’t know. I’ve only been with you. I mean, I somewhat kissed Philippe after he drowned me, but that was more vomiting up water than anything else, and of course kissing Dagger on top of the tower which started this whole mess of Philippe’s obsessed psychopathy which led to Dirk’s sister’s death, but other than that…” I shrugged.
He gripped his knife with an intensity that matched the burning in his eyes. “You’re saying that our time together was your first and last?”
I opened my mouth and closed it. “I took lessons, but they weren’t entirely hands-on. I didn’t want to touch more people than was necessary.”
“You hated touching me?”
“No. I didn’t hate you at all. I was surprisingly content with you, and while I started having issues with Thursdays, the rest was perfectly pleasant.”
“Issues with Thursdays?”
“I was heading towards a nervous breakdown before you betrayed me, I mean…” I sighed. “It felt like betrayal. I didn’t want to leave my comfortable haven and have to face my grandfather and failure.” I winced. “The last time I failed, he put Toni in the hospital.”
“Toni? One of your BDSM trainers?”
I shook my head, almost laughing at the thought of Toni in black leather. “She’s an artist, and a thief. I met her in the JuvieI escaped to when my grandfather insisted that I go to Harvard instead of the Music Academy.”
His eyes widened. “You went to Juvie? What is that exactly?”
“It’s short for Juvenile Detention Center. I put two tons of pink lemonade into the city’s water, and I was quite proud of only getting caught afterwards. I didn’t get to play cello there, but I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do. I don’t like torturing people.”
He nodded slightly. “Then BDSM is definitely not for you. You know, I could have made your time away from your grandfather more comfortable if you’d told me what you preferred.”
“You wouldn’t want me if you knew me.”
“No? I suppose we’ll never know, but I certainly wouldn’t have minded having a ground-level apartment and getting a dog. I wouldn’t even mind being stabbed every now and again if it’s something you really enjoyed. Does Dagger know you?”
I swallowed hard and gave him a wan smile. “Unfortunately. I was already in the middle of a nervous breakdown when we first met, so I wasn’t able to seduce him properly, or at all.”
“But he still married you.”
“Because he knew that would be the best way to take down my family.”
“Why haven’t you explored your personal tastes with him? You don’t mind him touching you even less than you don’t mind me touching you.”
