Jayce’s gaze snaps back to me. “What do you mean, more?”
I hesitate for half a second before blurting it out. “He was texting me when I first got here, and then again once the photos of you came out. He kept saying things like we were meant to be together. That our families had already decided everything. That I was his first…stuff like that.”
Jayce’s jaw flexes.
“I blocked him,” I add quickly. “It just…freaked me out.”
“Good,” Jayce growls. “I’ll look into it myself. If he bothers you again, you tell me immediately. You should also think about getting a restraining order, especially for those times I’m not around.”
“Okay,” I agree, even as part of me feels sick at the thought of not having Jayce around. “I just hope he’s not at the heart disease gala later this month.”
“What gala?”
I shrug. “Oh, it’s a yearly fundraiser my family sponsors. Mom’s the chairwoman. It’s in New York.”
He looks thoughtful for a moment. “I’ll check my schedule. If I can go with you, I will. Run interference if Leon is there.”
Before I can say anything else, he wraps his arms around me again and hugs me. In the circle of his strong arms, I immediately relax. Jayce has my back. He’ll keep me safe.
After several moments, he leans back and smiles down at me. “Good. Now, how about I heat us up some food? You hungry?”
“Starving, actually,” I answer, only now realizing that I was so focused on work today that I skipped lunch. I’m surprised I still have an appetite after the Leon business.
Pressing another kiss to my lips, he lifts me off his lap and onto the couch next to him before he pushes to his feet. “All right, then.”
I watch him cross to the kitchen before I stand up as well and make my way over to the kitchen island, where I set up my laptop and sit down. While he heats up the food, I try to focus on work, but my mind wanders.
I can’t believe Leon came all this way. What is wrong with him? How entitled can a person possibly be? It’s totally creepy to think of him skulking around, waiting for me. Thank God Jayce was there when I needed him. I can’t believe how much I trust him to take care of me…how I kind of always have. Everything goes so quiet and calm when I’m around him, but is that naive of me? There are still so many things about him I don’t know. How can I trust someone I don’t really know? My mind conjures up those photos his brother released. The ones of him at that club.
A sex club.
Curiosity gets the better of me and I look up at him. For a moment, I watch him move around the kitchen. The way his muscles move beneath his white t-shirt is mesmerizing, and the dark jeans he’s wearing go above and beyond in showing off his assets. I bite my lip and clench my thighs together as my pussy pulses and my imagination starts to run away with itself.
I find myself wondering what Jayce is like in a sex club. How much more dominant and kinky he might be. The thought sends a warm shiver down my spine.
The truth is, a few months ago I never would have pictured myself thinking about things like this. If someone had suggested I might be curious about any of it, I probably would have laughed it off. It all would have sounded too intense, too unfamiliar, too far outside the neat, carefully controlled version of myself I’d always tried to maintain.
Jayce changed that, though. Not by pushing me or pressuring me, but by making me feel safe. Safe enough to be curious, to ask questions, to explore, and to admit when something sparks a little thrill in my chest instead of pretending it doesn’t. With him, nothing feels shameful or strange. He looks at me like every reaction I have is completely normal, completely accepted.
Somehow that acceptance has opened a door inside me I didn’t even realize was there.
Clearing my throat, I choose my words carefully. “You know, I never asked you, how did your brother even get those photos? What is that place, anyway? The club?”
There’s a long moment where he doesn’t say anything and I think I might have crossed a line, but then he meets my gaze.
When he speaks, his voice is even, his words deliberate.
“Do you want me to show you?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: THE CLUB
SUTTON
Jayce issilent as he drives, and my heart is pounding so hard I can’t catch my breath enough to say anything myself. My fingers are curled into the skirt of the short black bodycon dress Jayce asked me to wear. It’s elegant, but undeniably sexy with its low sweetheart neckline and curve hugging material. I also did my makeup with a dark cat-eye and deep red lip. It seemed appropriate for the occasion.
My hair is up in a neat, clean bun on top of my head…another request from Jayce.
“I like to see the teal,”he’d said.“And where we’re going, you don’t have to worry about hiding anything.”
