Page 104 of By A Thread

I brought my hands to my face and shoved them through my hair. “You are driving me in-fucking-sane, Ally. I just want to talk, but I need to get out of these pants.”

“Why do I have to go with you?”

“Because the second I turn my back on you, you’re going to make a run for it. And it’s cold, and I’m tired, and I don’t want to have to chase you down the block in the middle of the night.”

“Fine. Lead the way, boss,” she said. She was trying to be snide and sarcastic, but it was the exhaustion and resignation that came through.

I poured two glasses of water and handed her one. “Come on.”

My bedroom was on the third floor. Brownie raced past us on the stairs only to zoom back down twice to make sure we were still coming as we plodded along.

I noticed Ally peering over the railing at the second floor. “That’s the main living space,” I told her. “TV, fireplace, library.”

We arrived on the third floor, and I led the way into my bedroom at the back of the house.

There was a king-sized four-poster bed in the center of the room facing a fireplace I’d never used. The bed certainly hadn’t seen any creative entertainment in the last year.

“Sit,” I said, gesturing to the bed. Brownie jumped up and arranged himself on the pillows.

It got a smile out of both of us.

Ally perched gingerly on the edge of the mattress, her gaze taking in the room. Something on the nightstand caught her attention, and she leaned over to pick it up. She held up the copy ofPride and Prejudiceaccusingly.

I shrugged. “It’s for decoration.”

“There’s a receipt for a green tea dated last week being used as a bookmark,” she challenged.

“I’m not the one who owes answers tonight.” I ducked into the dressing room and grabbed two pairs of sweats and two t-shirts.

“Here,” I said, handing her one set.

Her eyes went wide. “I’m not staying here, Dom.”

We’d see about that. “Fine. But wouldn’t you be more comfortable yelling at me in these rather than a thong and pasties?”

“You have a point.”

She took the clothes. I pointed toward the door. “Bathroom’s through there. You can shower if you want.”

She glanced down at the glitter halo she’d shed on my bed, then longingly toward the bathroom. “You don’t mind?”

“As long as you wait around long enough after I shower to have this out.”

“You won’t come in while I’m in there?” she asked softly.

Something twisted in my gut. I hated that she felt like she had to ask me. “I won’t come in,” I said quietly.

“Okay.” She nodded.

“There’s a lock on the door,” I told her.

She nodded again and got up. When she closed the bathroom door, I waited to hear the snick of the lock, but it never came.

At least she didn’t think I was that big of a monster.

I sighed and headed back into the dressing room. I stripped out of my vest and shirt and shucked off the ruined underwear, the pants with the half-frozen jizz explosion in the crotch.

The water in my shower turned on, and I tried not to imagine what was happening in there. But being a gentleman didn’t come naturally to me. And instead of thinking about anything but the naked woman in my shower, I was thinking about how she’d looked as she’d ridden me to climax in the club. Her eyes hooded, lips parted. The stupid, primitive part of me wanted to see just how hard I’d come inside her, raw and bare. Pumping away until…