Page 37 of Caged in Desire
“Angel, are you okay? Your heart rate spiked like crazy and…”
He quiets as he sees that Sloane is okay and eyeing him with a bemused expression. “I’m fine, as you can see. But thank you for keeping such a close eye on me.” She accepts a kiss on her forehead before giving one to the baby, and Ledger says hello and goodbye before going back out to what I assume is his mobile command unit set up outside.
“Sorry about that. He’s a lot, I know,” she says, sipping the replacement mocktail the server brought. “But I can’t say that we necessarily overreacted to that piece of information you just gave us. You’re telling me that in the month that you’ve lived together…”
“Nothing?” asks Margot. “Not that I really want to know much more than I already do about my brothers’ sex lives, but I can tryto think of you as my girlfriend I’m talking to and not my sister-in-law.”
I grimace, appreciating that she’s willing to talk to me about this but also regretting that I slipped up and admitted my husband would rather stay celibate than have sex with me. Oh well. It’s better to have girl talk than go to Sasha for advice. In for a penny…
Giving them a brief rundown, I breeze past the initial awkwardness and separate rooms, giving more details about our friendship and flirtations. The bath scene has Margot jokingly fanning herself with her hand, and Sloane’s jaw drops when I tell her about our suggestive gala evening that ended in tears after the sub encounter and discussion.
There’s a brief silence after I finish as we all sip our drinks and pick at the baklava we ordered for dessert. It feels good to have gotten some of my feelings out into the world since I didn’t really want to confide my sexual woes in any more detail to Mrs. Potts. But now that both of these pregnant women are staring back at me,obviously no celibate marriages there,I start to regret being so vulnerable. Before I can apologize for dumping on them and suggest we hit the romance bookstore next, Margot speaks.
“I think both of you want the other to makethemove,” she says.
When I give her a quizzical look, she laughs. “Think about it, Kat. You’re inexperienced, younger, and I can understand the urge to compare yourself to Henry’s past partners. Although it’s clear he’s placed you in a different category. So, of course, you want the validation of him being the one to make the move.Thesexmove.”
What she says makes sense, but I can’t help but ask. “Why won’t he? He has the upper hand in practically every way, and he knows I won’t turn him down. It’s embarrassing to admit, butI’ve begged him to take me to bed at this point. And I know he wants to. He’s been pretty vocal lately.”
Sloane pipes up, “I think you’re underestimating how confusing this is for him, too. His relationships have really only ever been one way, and you’ve already flipped a lot of his norms on their heads. He knows he has the upper hand, but I don’t think he wants to use it. If I know Henry at all by now, I think he wouldn’t want there to be any inkling of taking advantage of you.”
I blow out a deep breath and think about what they’ve said. It makes sense, but there’s one piece that doesn’t fit.
“That’s all well and good, ladies, except for the fact that Ihavemade it abundantly clear that I’m all in and completely on my knees for it of my own free will. If the bath didn’t do it, and me bursting into his room and straddling him didn’t do it…”
Margot jumps back in, eyes lighting up as she seems to have a realization. “With the bath, you purely shocked him, and the bed was an emotional night. He wouldn’t have done anything if you were upset. But you’re exactly right about two things. You’re going to make itabundantly clearthat you want him and…”
“And…?” I ask, eyebrow raised as Margot picks up her glass for a toast, urging Sloane to do the same.
I raise my own glass to toast what I hope is the coup d’état that will finally win my husband’s cock, and the victory clink rings out in the restaurant as Margot delivers her closing argument.
“You’re going to get on your knees for him.”
“I can’t possibly accept all of these, Margot,” I say as she addsanotherof her designs to my growing pile. We’re in her warehouse on the property she and Jack have next to Henry and me, and I feel confident I have one of every lingerie set to ever be sold by Le Reine.She built the lingerie brand herself, but stepped back into the role of creative director to spend more energy on life with Jack and less on the day-to-day operations.
“You can, and you will, darling. When your sister-in-law slash soon-to-be best friend designs lingerie, you’re guaranteed a spot on the free-corsets-for-life list. Now. I have an absolute showstopper—just enough to lift and tease yet also tantalize. What’s your absolute favorite color, if you could pick anything?” she asks, rifling through another rack of lace.
Although I know it’s unlikely she has anything exactly like it, I tell her. “It’s a kind of dusky periwinkle, not really too gray or blue but not too purple, either.”
Popping her head out of the rack, she comes over to sit next to me on the couch at the end of the space. Ledger kidnapped Sloane for some family time with LJ, so it’s just the two of us now. She pulls out her phone to show me a picture I’ve never seen before, of Henry and me at the gala. It looks like it’s before my run-in with the witches from his past. We’re sitting at the dinner table, and he’s already pulled my chair closer to his to cage me in with his arm across my back. It looks like he’s said something into my ear, and I’ve turned to look up at him. He’s so much taller than me, even sitting down. I look up at him adoringly, and he looks down at me like he wants to eat me. What a fun night, at least in the beginning…
“Kat!”
“Huh? Sorry…yeah. That is a picture of Henry and me?” I ask, wondering why Margot is showing me.
“I was asking if this is the color? I saw more pictures of the two of you and loved your dress. It made your eyes pop,” Margotreplies, eyeing me like she knows I was thinking nasty thoughts about her brother.
“Yes, that’s it,” I say, and like a whirlwind, she’s off. Her production facility in New York will be dyeing a number of garments for me, apparently, not just lingerie, in the color she’s calling Kat’s Kream.
“They’ll dye them tonight, dry tomorrow, and ship overnight to be here in two days. He won’t be able to resist you. You can mix the pieces in with some of the others we already bought. Keep him guessing!”
Smiling at her enthusiasm, I give her a big hug as I stand to leave. “You’ll never know how much I appreciate this, Margot. You and Sloane have both helped me so much. But can we please revisit the name you’ve given my favorite color? Please?”
Cackling, she waddles to her car as my driver opens my door. “When inspiration strikes, you don’t fight it, Kat! If you can come up with a better name, be my guest!”
Armed with roughly a thousand shopping bags full of tools with which to seduce my husband, and more on the way, I head home to take an everything shower and start phase one of my plan. Time to play dirty and finally get what I want.
Chapter nineteen
