Page 42 of Dylan (Bad Boys After Dark)
“Almost engaged?” he said, trying to process this new information.
“Yes. We were in college. We’d dated for a year and we were going to get married after graduation. IthoughtI knew everything there was to know about him.” Her shoulders slumped, like the admission came with pain. “But it turned out that I didn’t know him at all. I found out sex clubs were his thing. And I didn’t find out because he took me to one. I found out after I walked in on him in bed with my best friend. I found out a lot of things after that. And I thanked God every day that we’d always used condoms because he was into some freaky shit.”
“Christ, babe. That must have been horrible.” He ground his teeth together, fighting the urge to ask who the asshole was so he could track him down and pound the shit out of him. “I would never take you to a sex club. I was kidding.”
She let out a relieved breath. “Thank God.” Drawing back, she searched his eyes, and he wondered what she needed, what she was searching for. “But I’m not against silk ties in the privacy of our bedrooms. I never did that with him, but…”
Her confession was so unexpected it threw him for a loop. He touched his forehead to hers and smiled. “You are the most complicated woman I’ve ever met. I promise, we’ll explorethatanother time. When I’m not fighting the urge to kill some asshole.”
He kissed her then, long and reassuringly thorough. She was so brave, such a mix of so many things, he was a little awestruck. He would imagine most women who had been through what she had would probably never want to have anything to do with silk ties. Or one-night stands. Or what she’d let him do the other night. He gazed into her eyes, seeing who she was more clearly. She’d taken what happened to her and owned it. She’d turned the tables. She’d become a woman who refused to be a victim, and that was a hell of a far cry from the type of woman he once thought he was attracted to. He’d been wrong. So very wrong it was almost pathetic, because he’d never been more attracted to a woman than he was to Tiffany.
“This place is not a sex club. And just for the record, I would never share you or put you in a situation where anyone else knew we were being intimate. What we do is between us. I don’t get off on other people watching, got it?”
“Got it,” she said confidently.
“I like you a lot, Summers. I’d never do anything to hurt you. Not in private, or public.” He framed her face with his hands and stared deeply into her eyes, wanting her to hear the truth in his words. “You can trust me.”
“I might regret it later, but I do trust you.”
“You won’t regret it. I’m a good guy.” He kissed her again. “I probably should have asked you this earlier. You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”
She laughed. “I’m not afraid of much of anything, except…”
He raised his brows in question.
“Well, you probably already figured it out.”
“Relationships?”
She nodded.
“Who isn’t?”
Her eyes filled with disbelief.
“Everyone’s got baggage and fears. You’re in good company.”
“You arenotafraid of relationships,” she insisted. “You jump in with two feet.”
“Everyoneis afraid of relationships. We just handle our fears differently.” He didn’t want to get into another deep discussion before the fun part of their date, so he took her hand and headed for the entrance. “Come on. Let’s make good use of our non-phone time.”
Chapter Fifteen
TIFFANY COULD NOT believe her eyes. Trampolines, human-sized hamster balls, rock walls, and a handful of other odd sports paraphernalia filled the enormous warehouse. There were a multitude of cables strewn across the unfinished ceilings and hanging down to various contraptions. Dylan led her across the concrete floor to a huge net stretched beneath trapeze bars. A door in the back of the warehouse opened and a tall brunette threw her arms up in the air and squealed.
“Dylan!” She ran—ran—across the concrete floor and launched herself into his arms.
Dylan laughed and spun her around. “Good to see you, Gigi.” He kissed her cheek, and when he set her down on her feet, she planted one hand on her hip and ran an assessing gaze up and down his body.
Jealousy clawed at Tiffany.
“Tiffany looks good on you.” Gigi turned her attention to Tiffany and gave her an equally warm hug, without the overzealous launch, and kissed her cheek with a loudmwah! “A hundred years I’ve known this guy, and never has he brought a woman in to play until now. You, my sweet blond goddess, must be someoneveryspecial.”
“Genevieve, you promised not to embarrass her.” Dylan mouthed,Sorry.
He needn’t have worried. The minute she said,Tiffany looks good on you, Gigi had jumped from enemy to comrade. It was obvious how close the two of them were. They reminded Tiffany of her relationship with her brothers. They teased each other every time they were together.
Gigi waved a dismissive hand and draped an arm over Tiffany’s shoulder. “We are going to have so much fun! Yoga pants are the bomb, aren’t they? Not only do they show off our incredible figures, but you can move in them like a snake in the grass.”
