Nuri’s hands tightened on the covers. “You promised to drop all charges if I played this stupid game of yours!”
“And you’re already telling me that no matter what the results of this game are, you fully intend to go back on your word.”
Nuri wanted to argue with that and yet…He had a point and he hated it. He slumped back against the headboard, feeling defeated.
“Don’t look so sad, pet,” Silver coaxed, sounding like he meant it. “I promise I’ll take care of you. You’ve been unhappy? I’ll fix it. You’re worried for your siblings? I’ll protect them. All you have to do is keep your word. If you lose this game, swear you’ll never ask me to resign again.”
Nuri hesitated.
“Do it,” Silver insisted. “Swear it, and I’ll keep my word too. I’ll never again threaten to arrest your brother for what he did the other night. It’ll be like it never happened, no matter what you do from here on out.”
He bit his bottom lip, working it between his teeth as he considered. Only, just like when they’d made this bet in the first place, the truth was staring Nuri in the face. He didn’t have a choice here.
He had to agree.
“If I win though you have to let me go, like you promised,” he reminded.
Silver’s expression turned stony and unreadable. “I’ll let you quit, of course.”
He’d secretly hoped he could try again in a year if he was unsuccessful this time around. He figured by then Silver would have had more time to adjust to the idea of him quitting and might be more open to it. Nuri had never considered that Silver never wanted him to leave, but maybe he should have.
No, he definitely should have.
“We could still keep in touch you know,” he said, tentatively at first. “Even if I’m not your secretary, that doesn’t mean we’ll never see each other again.” They’d been fixtures in each other’s lives for so long, after all. “If that’s what you’re afraid of—”
“Unless you want me to shut you up with my cock, you’ll stop talking, Narek.”
Nuri clamped his mouth shut. They both knew if they went another round between the sheets, he wouldn’t even make it to the foyer to send Nate off.
“I’ll fuck you again once your brother is gone,” Silver promised darkly, his irritation toward him palpable. “I’ll take you until your voice is hoarse and you no longer have the ability to argue with me on this.”
“Majesty.”
“We don’t roll again for a week, and until then, you can try to deny me all you want, but you won’t be able to keep me out. I want back inside of you. Every day. If that means you’ll never walk comfortably again? Well, you only have yourself to blame really.”
He should have been more concerned over that mild threat, but Nuri was too stuck on the first part of that statement to bother dreading the other possibility.
“Once aday?” He sputtered, sure he’d misheard. “You want to—”
“Fuck you,” Silver confirmed, “daily. Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’ll have you submissive and lapping out of the palm of my hand,” Silver told him, “and then you’ll never think about leaving me again.”
The smarter part of him knew better than to ask, but Nuri found himself voicing his confusion anyway, unable to hold it in any longer. He’d been fooling himself these past couple of days, playing the idiot, pretending like he couldn’t hear the subtext for what it was. Mostly because, even now, he was certain it was all a ploy, a crafty manipulation tactic Silver was using against him. But…
“What do you really want?” Nuri’s voice was low, trembling.
“Don’t be frightened,” Silver eased his tone as though he meant it.
“I don’t understand,” he admitted. “You’ve had years to sleep with me if that’s what you were after.”
“Does it really matter that I didn’t take you before? I’ve taken you now.”
“That,” he pointed out. “That.”
“What of it?”
