“It sounds like you’ve thought a lotaboutthis.”
“It’s been a long few months, Adrian.” Sterling’s face fell, and for the first time, Adrian saw beyond his cheerfulness and into his hurt. “I’ve had a lot of time by myself to think of what’s best for ourchild.”
Not his child, or the child,orit.
Ourchild.
Adrian’s heart fluttered, and he crossed his arms tightly over his chest to try to combat his unwanted emotions. It wasn’t like heneededSterling. He was perfectly capable of functioning on his own. But now that he’d seen what he’d had, the thought of Sterling as a father felt a lot more real—and sticking around to see his eyes fill with pride just like they had in his pictures with Clarissa felt a hell of a lot moretempting.
When Adrian didn’t speak, Sterling shook his head. “So, what were you doing breaking into my office,anyway?”
“I needed to find someone’s phonenumber.”
“And you couldn’t have asked me?” Sterling raised aneyebrow.
Adrian scowled, but on the inside, he wasn’t anywhere near upset. “Youweregone.”
Sterling hummed. He rested his back against the doorway and pointed to one of the filing cabinets in the closet. “You can help yourself to the filing cabinet there. It has employee records. It’s locked, of course, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue for you. Is that something they teach you in business school, lockpicking?”
“No.” Adrian grumbled. He leaned back against the desk, hands braced loosely beside his thighs. “But I’d feel better if you unlocked it now that you’re here. I only broke in out ofnecessity.”
“Ah. A conscience.” Sterling moved from the door to the filing cabinets. He took a set of keys from his pockets and slotted one into the tiny lock on the door. As he worked, he continued to speak. “I’m sorry for how I treated you before. I don’t like to lose my temper, and I owe you anapology.”
“For what?” Adrian frowned. “I was the one who said terrible thingstoyou.”
“I hold myself to incredibly high standards.” The cabinet clicked, and Sterling slid open the drawer. “If I can’t be in control of myself, how can I hope to take control of the responsibility of another? Whether that means a submissive or a child, it doesn’t matter. Self-control is tantamount to leadership.” Sterling leafed through the folders. “Now, who is it that you’re attempting tospyon?”
“Lucian.” Sterling shot Adrian a flat look, and Adrian sighed. “I promise I’m not looking up his information to harass him or otherwise injure him. I… I just need to give him a call. I need to apologize… amongst otherthings.”
There was nothing. No argument, no surprised look, not even a hum of interest. Sterling thumbed through the folders and produced two papers. By the time he reached Adrian, he’d flipped the second paper over so its blank back covered the written contents of the first. All that was visible at the top of the page was Lucian’s full name, his email address, and his phonenumber.
Adrian looked up from the document to Sterling, startled by Sterling’s compliance. Sterling nodded to the paper. “Are you going to record thenumber?”
“I…” Adrian sucked in abreath. “Yeah.”
There was a pen cup on Sterling’s desk, as well as a post-it notepad. Adrian jotted down the number, then peeled the paper off the notepad and toyed with the adhesive strip on the back. Sterling put both papers on the desk, making sure they stayed concealed. In doing so, he reached overAdrian.
Adrian didn’t miss how close Sterling cametohim.
The air grew thick, and Adrian’s heart thudded against his ribs almost uncomfortably. He lifted his chin and found his eyes locked with Sterling’s. Pretty pools of blue, illuminated in the bright light from the windows, shoneforhim.
Adriancouldn’tmove.
Sterling had every reason in the world to be upset with him. If Adrian were in Sterling’s shoes, he’d never talk to him again. What Adrian said was inexcusable, anger or not, and it wasn’t the first time he’d done it. Sterling knew that he was bad, yet here he was, treating him with respect and helping him when heneededit.
Adrian didn’t know what he’d done to deserve such kindness, and he didn’t think he’d ever truly understand it. All his adult life, all he’d done was cause pain, but Sterling was willing to see past the beast he was on the outside to find the fragile soul shelteredwithin.
The massage. The kind words. The promise he would never be alone. All of it came to a head in Adrian’s mind, and he found himself weaker than everbefore.
Only Sterling had taken the time to get to know him. Only Sterling had thought to look for the thorn in Adrian’s paw before he dismissed him as irreparably savage. Only Sterling possessed the patience to coax him down from selfishtorture.
Adrian knew that he wasn’t a good Dom. The pain he’d inflicted hadn’t been for Sterling’s benefit—helping Sterling achieve subspace had been the last thing on Adrian’s mind. Yet still, even with tortured balls and a bruised ego, Sterling had shown him the way through kindness and respect rather than cruelty. In all things, Sterling was gentle, but gentleness didn’t equateweakness.
The weak one between them was Adrian. Sterling was stronger than he could ever hopetobe.
“You look thoughtful.” Sterling’s voice dipped, an intimate sound in the tight space between their bodies. “What’sgoingon?”
“I’m…” Adrian struggled to find the right words. Nothing he wanted to say was sincere enough. “I was thinking about lastnight.”
