“It was all very well orchestrated,”
I said, the words bittersweet on my tongue. “Having me talk to them,
and share a drink, and even dancing… But I’m not interested. Not in
either of them. And you can’t make me sleep with them.”
That last claim was no louder than a whisper, but Anando heard it; the
way his eyebrows rose made it quite clear.
“When did I ever force you to do something you didn’t want to?” he
asked, and now he sounded hurt.
I didn’t have to think before I answered. I dropped my eyes to my glass
and raised it to my mouth. I returned it to the coaster without doing
more than touch my lips to the wine. “Never.”
“I thought I had earned your trust.”
He had, in a dozen ways since the first night we had met. I was
beginning to feel silly. “You have.” I looked back at him, relieved
when he returned my slight smile. “I guess… I guess I was imagining
things. I’m sorry.”
He reached over and picked up my hand from the counter, pulling it up
to his lips for a brief kiss to my knuckles. He didn’t let go
afterwards, and linked our fingers together. Our joined hands rested on
the counter between us, a sign that my fears hadn’t ruined everything.
At least, not yet.
“Don’t be sorry, Virginia. You weren’t completely wrong.”
I could do nothing more than stare at him, too shocked to move or say a
word.
“I do think you’d enjoy having two men take care of you,” he continued.
“I was going to suggest it. But I’d never force you to do anything.”
I shook my head, not because I didn’t believe him—I did—but to
reiterate that I wasn’t interested. “I don’t know that guy. He’s nice,
but I’m not—”
“Attracted to him,” he finished for me. “Yes, I noticed. And as
delightful as you are, he wouldn’t be interested anyway. I had someone
else in mind. Brett only wanted to talk to you—to us, I guess—before he
gave his permission.”
With every new sentence he uttered, I was becoming a little more lost.
“Permission?” I repeated, both confused and fascinated. “What do you
mean?”
Anando must have heard something in my voice because he grinned and
took his time answering.
“Brett lives with two vampires. I don’t pretend to know what kind of
agreement the three of them have, but I know one thing. He has to
approve of any lover his male companion might want to take.”
Part of me was intrigued. I had seen the way Brett looked at Lisa, I
had heard him talk about her, and I was sure he loved her. Where did
that leave this ‘male companion’? What kind of relationship did they
share for them to have rules about taking other lovers?
My curiosity wasn’t enough, though.
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want it, with his permission or without.
I’m not interested in anyone—”
I cut myself short before I could add “except you.”
“Then I apologize, Virginia,” he said without missing a beat. “I must
have been mistaken. I thought I had noticed you looking at Leo that
way, and you didn’t seem all that repulsed when I hinted at him joining
us before. I won’t mention it again.”
At first, I didn’t understand why my heart was suddenly thundering
inside my chest, or why my mouth felt dry. Of their own accord, my eyes
looked for Leo, at the other end of the bar, and the meaning of
Anando’s words jumped at me. It wasn’t just any man Anando was trying
to bring into the bed we shared. It was a man I had had a few lustful
thoughts for, a man I imagined myself with all too easily.
... continued in Out
of the Box 6
Credits - Contact -
© Kallysten 2010
