Page 26 of Power Games

"Ladies," Andrei called out, without lifting his eyes from the piano where he was playing a waltz for them to dance to, "if you don't get back to dancing, I swear I'll make you do barre exercises for a month when we're done with this."

Vanessa hurriedly faced forward and found her footing again. What a cruel threat. She liked ballet, but the barre stretches were evil.

They concentrated on their dancing for the rest of their lesson, but in the shower stall next to hers, an hour later, Kaia was still on her ass.

"I'll agree that you had a crush on the guy when you started dating him. A crush is a passing infatuation based on looks, pheromones, and other superficial reasons. But it's been months and you've been on, like, five dates."

"I've been on zero dates with Charles Grant!" she protested.

"Whatever. I know you've been out of the dating scene for a while, but do you know how many guys make it past date five? Especially when sex is off the table? Not many, Nessie."

"How many times am I going to have to repeat it? The dude is married. To his pregnant wife. I'm not poaching.”

It just wasn't her.

"If only saying it made it so. But you are. You like the dude, the dude likes you. I don't see one scenario where this story doesn't end in tears. Yours, or Isabella's."

She came out of the shower and got dressed in silence, refusing to say another word on the matter. She wasn't doing anything wrong. They were friends and that was all. Why the fuck did everyone have issues with male and female friendship, needing to read more into it?

Kaia didn't say anything else until they were walking out of the dance studio. Then, she had the decency to apologize, at least. "I'm sorry, okay? It's none of my business, and I won't add a word about it. Pinky swear."

"You're twenty-nine. I'm twenty-six. We do not pinky swear."

"Well, we can make an exception tonight. I'm not going to talk about your relationship with Charles Grant again."

She hugged her friend, knowing that she had her best interest at heart, at least. She was just worried about nothing.

"I love you, Kaia. But you can be a bitch."

"So can you. And I love you, Nessie. But I do reserve the right to say I told you so when it explodes in your face, because I'm a good friend, not a saint."

* * *

"We need to talk."

These four words had made many a husband panic, but Charles lifted his eyes from his report with utter indifference.

He'd gotten home early and headed right to his office to catch up on email, because Izzy had been resting in the lounge. He'd watch a movie after she went to bed.

"Yes?"

"It's about sex."

He lifted a brow, mildly surprised.

"I get that you want us to do things properly from now on. Stop the open relationship thing. But I'm five months pregnant, Charles. That means I'm horny. Very horny, all the time. If I can't fuck anyone else, you need to have sex with me."

He sighed, his stomach dropping at the prospect.

"Isabella, I can't have sex with you. You're pregnant."

"I talked to the doctor, Charles. It's just fine."

"With another man's baby," he elaborated. "We stopped having feelings for each other a long time ago. I'm certain your doctor will agree that many women use sex toys to take the edge off. I'll buy you a dildo if you don't own one."

She seemed entirely speechless. "You can't do that. You can't demand I stop seeing other people and refuse to satisfy my needs."

"Watch me." His eyes returned to his computer, and he ignored her as she yelled threats, accusations, and insults. At least until he saidhername.

---