If they ask more from me, they risk my exposure and thereby their own. Alessio doesn’t suspect me now, but he’s not stupid nor in love with me. If they continue to press me, I will break, and the house of cards will topple.
“I’m curious,” he says. “Have you written anything about our trip to Paris?”
“Not much, no.”
Alessio frowns. “Why not?”
“You take up most of my headspace.”
Alessio looks at me in the mirror. Our eyes lock, and I hold back what I want to tell him and hope he understands what it is I’m saying.
I’m totally obsessed with how he treats me. I want him, yet I can’t have him, but he ought to know I think the world of him. “You’re hot and funny. A man who takes care of everything and everyone, and you’re a great uncle. Your work ethic is inspiring.”
“True. All true. The flip side is that I have a need to control everything and everyone I allow into my space. I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“And in time, I think you could work on that.”
“You’re saying there’s hope for us?” he asks casually, but he swallows hard. An awkward silence tells me Alessio is being vulnerable. He’s asking if I like him enough to want to pursue this fire between us.
In a perfect world, I would land on this like a bee on a flower. Where am I going to find a billionaire who wants to take care of me as if I’m his most precious possession? Hm? Yeah, crickets.
But this isn’t that world. I’m forced to lie to him, but I can’t get the lies past my lips. I feel like if I open my mouth and lie now, I’ll betray some kind of principles of the heart I didn’t even know I had. Hearts don’t have principles, but nevertheless, mine feels like it does.
I nod. Helplessly, I nod.
“Good to know,” he says. “If we’re being honest, Lake, what you see is what you get. I’m a grown man, and I’d rather die alone than become someone’s trained puppy. Including yours. Do you understand me?”
I nod again.
“Wait here. Don’t move.” Alessio leaves the bathroom for the bedroom, and I hear him in the closet. The screwdriver and the piece of plastic I retrieved from the grip are still in my pants. Which are in the closet. It’s not like Alessio will search my pants or anything, but I’m nervous as fuck when he takes his time coming back.
Finally, he shows me what he got from his suitcase.
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIS IS MADNESS
Lake
Alessio holds up a piece of leather clothing. At first, I think it’s a corset, but when Alessio picks me up, then sits me down on the bathroom counter, I frown, thinking I’m wrong.
He taps his belly. “Put your feet here.”
I rest my soles on his belly and curl my toes over his hard muscles as they shift under my feet while Alessio laces the leather piece over my legs from the ankle to the knee.
“It’s not a corset?” I ask.
He looks up. “Do you like corsets?”
“I’ve never worn one.”
“Maybe next time,” he says. “This is a leg binder.” Alessio secures the leather piece that now traps my legs.
“Too tight?”
