He smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I suppose you’re right.”
“But I also think,” she began, tilting her chin up so she could look at him, “that maybe you don’t have to be so afraid.”
“He doesn’t?—”
“Maybe not. But what if he does?”
Davarox shook his head, looking away so he could gather himself before hope rooted itself in his chest. “It would ruin everything.”
Her palm slid against his cheek, bringing his gaze back. “I think that is insulting to the friendship ingrained in your blood. But I also understand, okay? And I want you to know that no matter what, you need to put Laz and your friendship over everything. Including me.”
The growl was deep, unintentional but not at all surprising to him as his tail wound itself around her middle. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Dav.” Leave it to this human to not flinch at his possessiveness but instead rebuke it with a chiding tone. “Before me, your friendship was platonic. If there’s a future for us, it’s going to be intimate and emotional in ways it wasn’t before. I don’t want you hiding this or resenting me or feeling like you’re only living half of the life you want. It’s not fair to us… or to you.”
He brushed a hand over her cheek. “I know. I just… need a little time to figure it out. After the fundraiser. And your pitch to the Horn.”
The look she gave him could have cut glass.
“I’m not putting it off like that,” he said with a sigh. “I just… need those things out of the way, okay? So we can sit down without the additional stress or let that get in the way.”
Rose twisted in his lap to face him. “Can I ask something?”
Dav gestured around them, then to himself, as if to saymight as well, I’m already fucked.
She flicked his nose. “What were your plans here today if you weren’t fucking someone?”
He clicked his tongue. “Right to the point.” Rose shrugged. “Watching.”
He could see that word make its way through her mind, spinning around as she processed it without response.
“I sit in the corner and observe others who like the idea of being watched. Or ordered around. I get drunk enough to make it seem like I’m actually into it, but since we’ve been together, I’ve never touched nor letanother touch me.”
Rose hummed, and while her brow was still crinkled, there was no judgement on her features. “Did you… ordoyou enjoy it?”
“Sometimes. In the moment. Not… not lately.”
“But there were aspects?”
He nodded.
“Like the other night?” she prompted. “When, umm…”
“When I slapped your ass and you were very much into it?”
Her cheeks turned a dark pink. “Yeah. That.”
Dav studied her, remembering the way she’d moaned in his bed. The things that had crossed his mind and the way he’d wanted to know every little thing she might want to try.
“This sort of place… it doesn’t make you nervous?”
Because she wasn’t ashamed or disgusted, with herself or with him. That wasn’t the reason her cheeks were flushed and her eyes darkened.
She wascurious.
And that healed something in him. Something he didn’t even realize was a wound he’d been carrying.
“No,” Rosalind said softly. “Only that… maybe I don’t know everything.”
