Page 21 of Becoming the Owners
“You’ve lost your mind.” Because for some reason, he thought I was the perfect man for him.
“That’s not a bad thing.” His stupid grin widened. “It’s helping me relate to your insanity.”
Pretending to be surprised, he gave me a badly done shocked face. “Oops, did it again.”
Brat.
Doing my best not to react, I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “So you just have a thing for me because I have a great ass and I helped a guy once?”
The idiot nodded. “Yep, it’s a match made in heaven, pretty bird. Promise.”
He was definitely a serial killer.
“But don’t forget the BDSM and how sexy you are when you dance and glare at people.” He gestured between us. “See, we have a lot in common.”
Rolling my eyes, I reached for the water as he snickered. “I think you’re jumping the gun on at least one of those, Brass Man.”
“It’s the glaring, isn’t it?” He was having entirely too much fun with the conversation and barely managed to hold back a giggle. “You just can’t figure out why I like a stern, sexy man.”
He couldn’t seem to help himself, the stupid shit popping out without him even thinking about what he was saying. God, I hoped he wasn’t thinking through everything before it popped out. “We need to work on your ability to think before you speak.”
He found that entirely too funny.
When he finally finished snickering like a kid, he was wearing a verypleased with himselfgrin. “Takes one to know one, pretty bird.”
Brat.
“But if you happened to be talking about the BDSM, which I don’t know why you’re still so skeptical about that, I would be happy to show you what I mean as long as you’re comfortable with it—and as long as you agree that I’ve been a gentleman on our wonderfully traditional date so far.” Something about his expression shifted and felt more dangerous.
He was still smiling and looked delighted with how things were turning out, but he wasn’t so cheeky any longer. There were definitely different sides to the sexy but insane man. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to explore the other aspects of his personality.
“I would have to agree this has been a very pleasant, traditional date.” I wasn’t going to give him wonderful, but it’d been good so far.
His nearly wolfish grin flashed into something silly for a moment before it was gone. “So skeptical.”
“So smart.” Glaring at him, probably because I felt off-center and confused if I had to be honest, I waited to see what he’d do.
“I would have to agree, and being someone who’s smart, you’d have to agree that I should ask some questions before we inch closer into the BDSM side of things, correct?” Now he was the one waiting to see what I’d do.
Fucker.
“Yes.” It made sense and it’d give me a chance to see what he was thinking.
“The most important thing I need to know is if there is anything that will upset you or scare you.” His expression was almost flat and the most serious I’d ever seen from him. “For me, I need you to never lock me inside a room. Period. You can close the door or lock the apartment, but I will end a scene if you lock me in a room.”
Damn it.
Refusing to react, I nodded. “I understand.”
The fucker made it impossible for me to refuse to answer or just to brush it off, without looking like I wasn’t taking things seriously.
“I don’t do dark rooms. Not like blindfolds, I just don’t want you coming up to me in complete darkness. No jumping out from behind a door in a dark room. Nothing like that.” Swallowing, I did my best to look as relaxed as possible so I didn’t ruin the night. “If the power goes out, I need you to just keep talking and move slowly to find flashlights and stuff like that, no fun and games.”
Too many people were idiots and thought the dark was entertaining.
“I understand that limit, and I’ll make sure the next time you come over that I have some kind of nightlights or plug-ins that come on when the power goes out.” Before I could say anything, he kept going. “It’ll be a good reason to stop putting off buying all the shit I should have for storms and power outages.”
Rolling my eyes, I ignored the relief running through me. “You’re the idiot who doesn’t know where his flashlight and batteries are, aren’t you?”
