Page 38 of Going Deep (Odyssey #3)

She couldn’t say exactly why, but the blank shock on his face pissed her off. “ Yes .”

“I thought…”

“You thought what?” she prompted when he didn’t continue.

He grimaced. “ I thought you’d decided not to. Because of me.”

Definitely pissing her off. “ You thought I ran back to Ohio because you dumped me?”

He didn’t reply, but the answer was plain on his face.

She let out a harsh laugh. “ Wow . That’s some ego.”

He shoved a hand through his hair. “ Look , this isn’t what I wanted to talk about.”

She tossed her purse onto the coffee table so hard it skidded off the other side and landed on the floor. “ Clock’s ticking.”

“Shit.” He closed his eyes, then drew a deep breath and opened them. “ I was wrong.”

She waited, but he didn’t say anything else. “ About what?”

“About all of it.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to need you to be more specific,” she said.

She sipped her latte while he paced, grateful for the caffeine. She was working on four hours of sleep, and if she could’ve stood the taste, she would’ve ordered a triple shot of espresso.

“I should’ve told you about the Center ,” he said finally, coming to a halt in front of her. “ About my family connection to it.”

She kept her eyes on his. “ Why didn’t you?”

“It’s complicated,” he hedged.

“I’m sure it is,” she drawled and flicked a gaze at the clock on the wall. “ Eight minutes.”

“Shit. Fine . People get weird when they find out I —my family—has that kind of money.”

“I bet,” she muttered, but she was listening. “ Weird , how?”

He shifted his shoulders in a restless shrug. “ They want me to do things for them. Pull strings, or pay for stuff.”

“They try to take advantage.”

He shrugged again. “ Yeah .”

She nodded slowly. “ Okay , I can see that. But you were pulling strings, getting me that job interview.”

Unease flickered over his face. “ I know. I wanted to. I just… didn’t want you to know it was me doing it.”

Now she was baffled. “ Why ?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted, looking as baffled as she felt. “ Look , it’s possible I might have some unresolved issues about this stuff.”

No shit, she thought. “ Okay .”

“I have to apologize for something else, too,” he said.

“Trying to buy me a job?” she finished drily.

“No.” He scowled. “ Why does everyone think I’m that big a jerk?”

“It’s not that big a leap, Michael ,” she said, then blinked. “ Wait . You weren’t buying me a job?”

“No. For fuck’s sake.” He scraped a hand through his hair. “ I asked Miriam to look at your resume, and bring you in for an interview, but I never told her to hire you no matter what.” His glare could’ve melted glass. “ What the hell do you take me for?”

She glared right back. “ Well , I don’t fucking know, Michael . You weren’t telling me anything, remember?”

“All right, that’s fair,” he allowed grudgingly.

“If you’re not apologizing for that, then what?”

The unease flickered back across his face. “ For stopping that last scene.”

She blinked. “ Why are you apologizing for that?”

“Because of why I stopped it.”

Michael pulled in a deep breath and bit the bullet. “ I stopped it because while I was binding your legs, and you were lying there getting goofy on the rope, I had this thought.”

She nodded, waiting. “ Okay .”

“I thought,” he went on, “how easy it would be to take you under.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “ Take me under?”

“Into subspace,” he explained. “ You were close, anyway, with the rope, and I’d been planning both a spanking and a flogging.”

There was a flicker of interest, of heat, in her pretty blue eyes before she smothered it. “ Okay .”

“And I knew if I had you under, in subspace, I could ask you about the job, and you’d tell me the truth. You wouldn’t be able to lie,” he continued, his belly tightening when her eyes narrowed, “not in that state. And I was tempted. I was really tempted.”

He blew out a breath. “ And that scared the hell out of me.”

Understanding was creeping into her eyes. “ So you, what, panicked?”

He nodded. “ You could say that, yeah.”

“And you stopped the scene.”

“Yes.”

“And then instead of asking me about the job, like a normal fucking person with kindergarten-level communication skills, you dumped me like a dickhead .”

He winced. “ Yes .”

She stared at him for so long, her blue eyes glittering and that soft, generous mouth set in a mutinous line, that he was on the verge of blurting out another apology—for what he had no idea. Then she sighed. “ Damn her.”

He blinked. Whatever he’d been expecting to hear, it hadn’t been that. “ Damn who?”

“Lola.”

He was confused. “ Okay . Why ?”

“Because,” Ginger said, clearly annoyed. “ She said I owed you an apology, and she was right. Damn her.”

“Oh.” He absorbed that. “ What are you apologizing for, exactly?”

She sighed again. “ For not telling you when I first found out about your family.”

He nodded solemnly. “ Why didn’t you?”

“Because.” She grimaced. “ That’s a shit fuck ton of money, Michael .”

“It is,” he agreed.

“I can’t even picture that much money.”

“It’s not mine,” he said helpfully.

“I felt weird about it,” she confessed. “ Dating someone with that much money. I mean, I scrounge in my car for enough change to buy a pop at the drive-through, and your family gives away half a billion dollars a year.”

He smiled, feeling more relaxed than he had in a week. “ Hey , I scrounge for change.”

“Sure, you do.” She smirked, then shrugged awkwardly. “ Anyway , I’m sorry.”

“I guess we both could’ve communicated better,” he offered.

Her smile was tentative, but it was genuine. “ I guess so.”

“Well, in the interest of doing better at that, I have one more thing I need to tell you.”

Her shoulders tensed. “ What’s that?”

“I’m in love with you.”

He didn’t know what it said about him that her bug-eyed, slacked jawed reaction made him want to laugh, but it did.

“Shut up,” she breathed. “ You are not.”

“Sorry,” he said, delighted with her. Besotted with her. Completely and totally in love with her. “ I am.”

“How can you love me?” she demanded. “ You hardly know anything about me.”

“I may not know a lot of the details,” he admitted, battling guilt. “ But I know you. You hog the covers, and sleep best when they’re over your head. You use too much syrup on your pancakes, and always spill some.”

Her cheeks went pink, charming him.

“You’re a loyal friend,” he continued softly. “ You’re a generous lover. Beautifully submissive when you trust, and beautifully capable of handling whatever needs handling.”

“Oh.”

“Do you believe me now?”

She took a breath, shuddered it out. “ I guess I do, because I’m in love with you, too.”

His heart, so quiet and sad for the last week, began to thump with joy. “ Yeah ?”

“I don’t know a lot of your details either, but yeah.” Another deep, shuddering breath. “ Yeah .”

“Thank God ,” he breathed and, reaching for her, hauled her up against him.

“Does this mean you forgive me?” she mumbled into his neck.

“Do you forgive me?” he countered, nuzzling the hair at her temple. It was damp with sweat and smelled like her shampoo. He could’ve stayed right there for days.

“I asked you first.”

He laughed. “ Yes , I forgive you.”

“Okay, me too.”

“We’ll do better, okay?” He eased back to look at her. “ Both of us.”

She nodded, blue eyes shining. “ Yeah , we will.”

He lowered his forehead to rest on hers. “ I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. Don’t kiss me!”

He froze, his mouth a breath from hers. “ Uh , why?”

“Because my brother-in-law is coming over to help take apart my bed in like—” she leaned around him to look at the clock. “ Ten minutes. And my little sisters are upstairs sleeping ”

“Well, shit.” Resigning himself to blue balls, he straightened. “ I don’t suppose I could take a cold shower, then.”

“Little sisters sleeping,” she reminded him. “ One bathroom.”

He sighed. “ Forget that, then. How complicated is this bed?”

“Pretty complicated. It’s also big and heavy. Jake —that’s my brother-in-law—is going to drive it to Chicago for me next weekend.”

“That’s nice of him.”

Ginger rolled her eyes. “ Not that nice. I’m paying him in Cubs tickets and crash space for him and a buddy.”

“What kind of bed is this?”

“Four poster tester,” she supplied. “ Why ?”

“I’ll take care of the Cubs ’ tickets,” he decided. “ You handle the crash space.”

“What? No ,” she protested.

“I have box seats,” he told her. “ It’s not a big deal.”

“I don’t want to take advantage,” she began, unease flickering in her eyes.

“You’re not,” he assured her. “ I’m going to get a lot of use out of this bed.”

Her lips twitched. “ Oh , are you?”

“We both are,” he assured her, and ignoring the impending arrival of one brother-in-law, kissed her.