Chapter 14: : Chapter 14

“Thank you for dinner,” Serenity says, seemingly addressing both Emma and me moments after I sign for the bill. The way her eyes move between the two of us makes realization crash through me, and all of a sudden, I feel like a complete idiot. Surely she doesn’t think there’s something going on between Emma and me? Doesn’t she realize that Emma is married—to a woman, no less? She’d never even be remotely interested in me, but I can see how it might seem that way.

Fuck. Is that why she nearly agreed to go on that damn date? I saw it in her eyes. She’s determined to move on from Theo, and she seems convinced seeing someone else is the way to do it.

“I’ll drive you home,” I tell her, stepping away from Emma to move closer to her. I rest my hand on her lower back, and she looks up at me with an adorably bewildered expression.

Theo tenses. “I thought maybe we could grab a drink before we head home?” he says, his tone awfully desperate.

Serenity looks like she’ll give in, and fuck, I don’t want her to. “Sera,” I murmur. She lifts her head, our eyes locking. “Let me take you home.”

I can’t help but grin when she nods, sweet victory rushing through me. I don’t know what she does to me, but whatever it is, it makes me feel more alive than I have in years. “You’ll be fine making your own way home, right?” I ask Emma impatiently, eager to just get Serenity out of here and away from Theo.

Emma throws me a confused look, and I smile tightly. “I… Yes,” she says hesitantly.

“Great. See you Monday, then,” I murmur before leading Serenity away, keeping my hand on the small of her back.

“What are you doing?” she asks the second we’re out of earshot.

“What does it look like I’m doing, Serenity? I’m taking you home.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“Archer. You’re being impossible. I told you I didn’t want anyone to know I’m related to Ezra, and you just… God, that looked so suspicious.”

I smirk at her as I hold the passenger door open for her. “Maybe, but not in the way you think. No one would relate the way I just behaved back to Ezra. They’d just think there’s something going on between us.”

Her eyes widen, and my heart begins to beat a little faster when she becomes all flustered. Serenity rushes to sit down and pulls the door closed before I can do it for her, and I bite back a smile as I walk around the car to join her, amused by her reaction.

“You’re surprisingly embarrassed for a woman who told me outright that she wants me,” I tell her as I get behind the wheel.

Her head snaps toward me, but I keep my eyes on the road, trying my best to hide my amusement. “I didn’t say that!”

“No?” I ask. “So you don’t want me to spread your pretty thighs and fuck you?”

She inhales sharply, and I can’t help but glance at her. She seemed serious about her list, but now I’m not so sure. “I do.”

Fuck. Just hearing her say it makes my cock harden. I’ve spent days pretending that damn list didn’t affect me when all I’ve been able to think about is the way she’d feel underneath me.

We both fall silent in the few minutes it takes me to drive home, the tension thick as I park in my garage. I turn to face her, an unfamiliar kind of desperation prompting my words. “I’ll do it.”

She raises a trembling hand to her hair, apprehension flickering in her eyes. “You’ll do what?”

I reach for her and grab her hand, marveling at how small it feels in mine. “If you’re truly serious about this, then let me be the one you put your faith in.”

She stares at me speechlessly, and I smile, my heart overflowing with something I can’t quite define. It feels heavy, desperate.

“Come on,” I murmur, lifting her hand to my lips to press a soft kiss to her knuckles. Her breath hitches, and the sound sends a little thrill down my spine. “Let’s go up and talk about what it is you want and what I want in return.”

Serenity nods, and I step out of the car. She’s silent as we walk into the elevator, her breathing a little uneven. Both of us tense when we reach the floor I share with Ezra, guilt threatening to make me change my mind. I push through it and lead her into my penthouse.

“Wine?” I ask, heading straight to my wine fridge.

“Please.”

She sits down at my kitchen counter, and I push a glass toward her before pouring myself one. “Tell me exactly what you want, Serenity. Do you just want to lose your virginity and sleep with someone once? What exactly did you envision when you created that list?”

She throws me a shy look and hides her face behind her glass for a moment. “I want to experience a bit more than that, with someone I trust. I don’t want to have to date and wait for the right person, and then worry that I’m just not…good at it. I want to lose my virginity on my own terms, and I want to find out what I enjoy, how to bring someone else pleasure.”

I nod, my cock fucking throbbing at the thought of having the honor of making her come. It’s been so long since I’ve wanted someone this badly, and I forgot how thrilling it is.

“So more than once,” I murmur as I reach for the notepad I keep in the kitchen. “Write down for me what you’d like to experience, Serenity. Tell me everything you’ve fantasized about, everything you want me to do to you.”

“Are you serious?”

I nod. “Dead serious. If we’re going to do this, I need to know what you hope to accomplish and what you absolutely don’t want. Do you want me to eat you out and make you beg for my cock? Do you want something more clinical? Would you like me to call you my dirty little slut, or do you prefer to be praised? If it’s something you’ve thought about, something you know deep down you want, tell me, and I’ll do my best to provide it. You love making lists, don’t you? So make me one.”

She holds my gaze, not at all thrown off by my words. “I have one.”

Serenity chuckles at my expression and reaches for the notebook she carries with her everywhere. “Tell me what you want in return before I show you my list.”

I lean forward, my elbows on the breakfast bar. “I want you to paint me something.”

Her eyes widen, a hint of panic flashing through them. Interesting. “W-what?”

“You loved painting more than anything when you were younger, and I never understood why you suddenly stopped. It wasn’t until recently that I was reminded of your work, when Ezra hung one of your old paintings in his office.”

She stares at me like she’s trying to figure me out, something akin to fear in her eyes, and my heart begins to beat a little faster.

“What do you want me to paint you?” she asks, her voice soft, vulnerability shining through.

I look down for a moment, a thrill running down my spine. “There’s a famous piece by The Muse that I’d like you to replicate for me. It’s a ballerina standing on a stage, doing a pirouette in the role of Odette from Swan Lake.”

Her breath hitches, and she wraps her arms around herself as she averts her face, her long lashes fluttering. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” she whispers, her voice breaking. “I…I didn’t think this through, and I don’t want to dishonor—”

“That’s not what we’re doing,” I interrupt. “And it’s one of the reasons why I agreed. I need this too, Serenity. I’d like to be with someone on my own terms, without guilt eating at me.” I run a hand through my hair and sigh. “I haven’t been with a woman since her, and I think this might just be what I need to move on.”

I watch her as she clutches her notebook, my gaze roaming over her wild curls and her sexy full lips. It’s odd, but somehow, guilt doesn’t eat at me when I imagine her in my bed, her hair spread all over my pillows. The same guilt that kept me from dating anyone else is absent when it comes to her.

“No one can know about us,” she whispers. “Ezra can never find out, and we’ll need proper rules. I don’t want this to turn into something it isn’t meant to be. We can’t…we can’t do anything that’d hurt those we both love.”

I nod in agreement. “How about we end our arrangement when you complete the painting? I think we’d both benefit from a time limit.”

Serenity nods, her eyes filled with trust as she opens her notebook to the right page and pushes it toward me. I glance over it, a thrill running down my spine when I realize her fantasies and needs perfectly align with mine.

“Do you understand that if we do this, you’ll be mine?” I ask, my tone harsher than I’d intended. “I don’t want anyone else touching you.”

“You’re asking for fidelity?” she asks.

I nod, and she raises a brow.

“Are you willing to give me the same in return?”

“You won’t have to worry about that, darling. I’m yours.”