Page 66 of Dragonfly

“Just because I’m forty now, doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself,” he says smugly.

Yeah. And with a set-up like this, I understand how.

If I hadn’t just followed Damien down the stairs of his house myself, I’d have thought he’d somehow teleported me to the local gym. That’s what he has down here. A full-on commercial gym, with mirrors, equipment, and mats padding one side of the large space.

“How often do you come down here?”

“Before I was told to rest per doctor’s orders? Five days a week. Religiously. I’ve seen too many in the life get used to the cushy parts that come along with it. The good meals. The civilians who do anything to make your personal life easier so that you scratch their backs in return. They get lazy.”

“Hire staff?” I tease.

He shoots me a look out of the corner of one of his icy blue eyes. “Frankie needed a job. Annette’s his wife, and he looks after her. I look after them. Mary’s boy Jack was a good friend of mine who got blown away when were twenty-three. I remember eating dinners at her house. Now she feeds my family since she doesn’t have one of her own.”

Oh. “Damien, I didn’t mean?—”

“No. Don’t apologize. I know what you meant. And you’re right. They make my life easier because I can afford to have them do so. But they only get to work for me because I trust them. Because I trust them, I can use the time I’m not busy with the Family working on myself.”

He’s certainly done a good job of it.

His face shows his age. There’s experience in the depths of his eyes, plus fine lines bracketed them. That silver streak in his hair the beckons me to touch him… he’s obviously not as young as I am. But that sculpted body? He looks good for forty. Really good.

Damien had his stitches removed two weeks ago, give or take. He had a doctor appointment, and when he came home, he no longer had the black thread curving through the puckered scar standing out against his tanned skin.

I knew something was up when he told me to put on work-out clothes earlier this morning. I didn’t have much, just an old sports bra and a pair of too-big sleep shorts, but since he put on a muscle tank and baseball shorts of his own, I figured that would do.

And, okay. Maybe I ogled him in his exercise clothes more than I should’ve. Can you help me? Except for being naked or just wearing his boxer briefs, I’ve only ever seen him in a suit. Damien walking around with the jacket off was as casual as he’s been, even at home.

Until now.

As if I’m finding it harder and harder to keep myself from jumping him, now he wants to show off his toned arms and muscular legs?

Down, girl. With the exception of the night of his birthday dinner—when, once again, Damien got turned on when someone got knifed—he hasn’t made any move to be intimate with me again. Sure, we’re still sleeping in the same bed. And, yeah, somehow the cot became designated as Orion’s while Damien and I started to lie together in the big bed. But sex?

There hasn’t been any since then.

Fucking hell. Is he a tease? Because, right now, I think my husband just might be.

Either that, or he’s found a new way to punish me…

“Okay. You got me down here. You want to tell me why?”

“Of course. I thought it was time to start your self-defense lessons.”

I’m sorry… what? “What do you mean?” I look around, expecting him to have a personal trainer or something pop out, just another Springfield resident on the Dragonfly payroll. “Lessons? With who?”

“With me.” He gestures at himself, holding his figures over his palm. “Come on, Savannah. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Is he kidding?

One look at him and… no. Damien’s not kidding at all. He’s really inviting me to attack him.

Not with any weapons, obviously. But he’s lowered himself in a fighting stance, telling me to try to knock him down.

Holy shit. I might never get this chance again.

Trying to tap into the dwindling feelings of rage that kept me going for so long, I throw myself at him, shoulder-first.

Woosh. Suddenly, I’m flipping through the air before landing on my back on the mat with a slapping sound and a jolt that knocks most of my bones around.

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