Page 26 of The Dom

“What are you thinking now?” he asked, the interest in his eyes genuine. He wasn’t just making small talk because he felt like it was expected of him.

“A lot,” I admitted. He made a motion with his hand, wanting me to continue. “I was wondering if what this was between us would be considered non-traditional or not-vanilla, or if there was a better word for it. And that made me think that I needed to research…except you’d told me that you wanted to be the only one teaching me. That led me to punishments…” I let my voice trail off as I revealed the reason I’d blushed.

“I see,” he said thoughtfully. He finished off his bagel, brushed the crumbs from his fingers, and then reached for the cereal. “I don’t like calling sex ‘vanilla’ like that’s some sort of insult. I happen to like vanilla-flavored things.”

That wasn’t where I thought he’d take the conversation, but I was more than willing to follow him. “Do you think ‘non-traditional’ is better?”

He shrugged. “I generally use whatever terms are acceptable wherever I am or whoever I happen to be talking to, but I’ve never really thought about it other than the whole ‘vanilla’ thing. What do you think we should call it?”

I loved that he asked my opinion, but I had no idea.

Until I did.

“Maybe we can just say that it’s ours, and we don’t need a label. We’re together and what that means for that particular aspect of our relationship isn’t anyone’s business but ours.”

He reached over and lifted my hand to his mouth, brushing his lips across my knuckles in one of those tender gestures that didn’t seem to exist anywhere outside of historical romances.

“It’s ours. I like that.” He squeezed my fingers before setting my hand back down again.

The phone he’d set next to his plate buzzed, breaking the moment. He gave me an apologetic smile as he glanced down at the screen, but I wasn’t bothered by it. He was the CEO of a huge company, and this wasn’t some planned getaway where he’d promised to leave work at the office. I was the one throwing his schedule off by being here.

His mouth flattened, and all of the humor left his face. Not just the humor either. Creases appeared at the corners of his mouth, and a shadow passed over his eyes. Despite how serious he now looked, he didn’t tap his screen and instead flipped the phone over.

“A break from the real world sounds like a good plan for this morning.” His smile was strained, and it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m all for that,” I said, reaching out for him this time. “But if you want to talk about what’s going on, you can tell me anything. You told Finley I’m your girlfriend and being there whenever you need to talk is the sort of girlfriend / boyfriend thing I want us to have.”

For nearly a minute, I waited in silence, certain he’d thank me but turn our conversation away from whatever was on his mind. When he spoke, however, I could hear the undercurrent of relief in his words.

“I have two brothers, one older, one younger.”

Common enough information, but I didn’t say so.

“A little more than ten years ago, my younger brother, Joshua, and I had a falling out, and he ended up moving to L.A. We haven’t spoken since.”

My heart broke for him. I knew all too well what it was like to lose a member of the family, not by death, but by choice.

“Now, he’s back in New York, and he wants the family to get together.”

He pulled his hand free from mine and poured milk over his cereal. It wasn’t until he began to eat that I realized he wasn’t going to add anything else. I finished off my pear before saying anything, not wanting to seem like I was pushing him.

“You don’t talk about your family much.”

“That’s intentional.”

His tone was terse, but the attempt he made to smile told me my question wasn’t responsible for the tone.

“Has Stu said anything about you going to the Golden Words release party next week?”

The change of subject was intentional too, I had no doubt, but I wasn’t going to call him on it. While it may have felt like the two of us had been together for a while considering the emotional rollercoaster we’d been on from moment one, it hadn’t been long at all. Even shorter if we only counted the time from when we’d accepted that we were in a relationship. We’d eventually get to the point where sharing our pasts would be as natural as the physical part of our relationship was, but until then, I’d take each situation as it came.

“I’ve been working on the guest list, and I’m not on it, so I think it’s pretty safe to say Mr. Hancock isn’t considering it.”

“Good.” Nate grinned at my surprised expression, and I was relieved to see that his humor was creeping back. “If you’re not going as an employee, I can take you as my date, and there’s no conflict of interest.”

I wasn’t sure that was entirely true, but I wasn’t going to turn down being on Nate’s arm as something more than I had been before. Being with him was what made all the other shit worth it.

Seventeen

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