Page 77 of Unbind

‘I fuckingknewhe’d be into that,’ Darcy says, slapping the table. ‘You can tell just by looking at him, can’t you? He looks so stern.’

‘Anyway,’I say pointedly, ‘he saw me flouncing off and he came and grabbed me and dragged me off into a private room. He told me the woman he was spanking was someone he’d fucked previously, and that she’d asked him to do it.’

‘It was Rose,’ Gen says, wrinkling her nose like she’s not sure if this is information I want to hear. She’s holding her pizza slice more elegantly than I would have thought possible.

‘Oh.’ My stomach does a flip. ‘She’s really sexy.’ God, he fucked Rose. And spanked her. And she loved it. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t spanked me yet—maybe he likes doing it to little sex kittens who know what they want rather than uptight women who may well run a mile.

‘Don’t overthink it,’ Gen orders in her firmest voice. ‘Keep going.’

‘Well, we had a very, um,hottime in the room.’ I don’t know why I’m shy about this. These three have got up to all sorts of mischief I couldn’t dream of. ‘He kind of seduced me, and he was so smug and insufferable and I was more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life.’ Their rapt faces make me smile. ‘We didn’t have sex—he undressed me and went down on me and then he straddled me and came all over my chest.’

Gen grins in athat’s my girlkind of way and gives me avery small and discreet hand clap while Maddy and Darcy look like they might expire.

‘Why didn’t he fuck you?’ Darcy wants to know.

‘I may have… begged him to, in the moment, but he refused. Said he didn’t want me having any more regrets than I already would. He wouldn’t kiss me, either. He said it would be too lonely kissing a woman who hated him.’

Maddy clasps her hands over her chest. ‘Be still my heart!’

‘Let’s remember Adam isn’t exactly blameless here,’ Gen says. ‘He’s put Nat’s family through hell.’

‘Amen to that,’ Darcy says.

‘But I gather things have developed from there?’ Gen asks.

I swallow the mouthful of pizza I’ve snuck in. ‘You could say that. He came to my office the next day to check if I was okay and he found me upset about some work stuff. Money’s been a bit tight, and I had a massive invoice that was due for payment before the mill would release the fabric.

‘Anyway, he was amazing. He sat me down and made me tell him the problem, and then he got on the phone with the mill in France and renegotiated our terms then and there. He bought me sixty days’ credit, and he told me to go away and do the same with all our other suppliers.’

‘Well, that’s impressive,’ Gen says. ‘What a thoroughly decent thing to do. I’m so glad he could help you.’

‘Me too.’ I shrug. ‘It made me realise that, whatever shit’s gone down in the past, maybe the man he is today isn’t all bad. I kissed him after that, and it’s escalated since then. I’ve spent pretty much every night at his place, and he’s helped me so much with work stuff. He’s the kindest man I’ve ever met.’

This declaration is met with stunned silence.

‘Honestly, it’s true. He looks after me so well. He has his chef cook me amazing meals that won’t spike my blood sugar. And he comes and gets me every night after my shift. He doesn’t even send his driver, and I know it’s making him tired, but he shows up every time.’

Gen smiles, and I can see in her smile how thrilled she is for me. ‘The doormen may have mentioned that to me, too,’ she says with a wink. I should have known I couldn’t pull the wool over Gen’s eyes.

‘So… you’re dating?’ Maddy presses. ‘It’s serious?’

I sigh. ‘I don’t know. It seems to be serious, but we haven’t discussed the future at all. The elephant in the room is that I don’t see how we can go public to my family, like, ever. I need to talk to my mum about it.’

‘How have you come to terms with what he did to your brother?’ Darcy asks. ‘Have you just decided to forgive him and let bygones be bygones?’

I hesitate. I don’t want to betray Adam’s confidence, but I don’t think the headlines of his story are a secret. ‘He’s told me a lot about what happened then. It’s beyond horrific. Let’s just say he was a victim, too. He had an alcoholic mother, and his little sister had just died. He beat my brother up five days after the funeral. She had type 1 diabetes.’

Darcy and Maddy gasp. Gen merely presses her lips together sympathetically.

‘You knew?’ I asked her.

‘I made Anton tell me the full story,’ she admits. ‘I was so angry after that first time you recognised him. But I figured it was Adam’s story to share with you.’

I nod. ‘Like I said, he was a victim just as much as my brother. He was in a seriously bad place. That judge reallydid a number on him. But I’m not sure whether I can ever persuade Stephen to give him a chance.’

We’re all silent for a minute. Maddy sighs and picks up her pizza slice. ‘Well, that’s depressing. Poor guy.’

‘Tell me about it.’

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