Page 71 of Role Play
Another smile twitched on his lips. What the hell was his deal? What was his end gamehere?
“But you still would like to continue outside of the studio,yes?”
I froze. Hell yeah, I wanted to continue. But after this morning… the way he stopped us as we were about to have sex, didhewant to continue? Was he looking for an out? Anxiety and insecurity battled in mychest.
He tilted his head, his eyes softening. “It’s not a trick question, Shorty. You can answer no if you’ve changed your mind. Withoutconsequence.”
“Haveyouchangedyourmind?” I asked, my voice more squeaky than Iintended.
“No,” he answered quickly. Almost withoutthinking.
“Oh.” Well… that was reassuring. And a little unexpected. He was all over the place. “Then… can I ask you why you pulled away from me thismorning?”
Emotion sparked in his eyes and he licked his lips before answering. “Because I haven’t shared my bed with a woman since my wife died five yearsago.”
Well…shit. That was the honesty I’d been craving. Had been secretly begging him for. And if there was ever a decent reason to pull away… well, that was a pretty goodone.
“Now, your turn,” he said. “Would you like us to continue our relationship outside of theoffice?”
“Yes. I want to continue our relationship. But… and I hate admitting this… when you pull away from me emotionally, it triggers my insecurities.” I didn’t add that those insecurities were brought on from my abandonment issues and my mother. “It’s hard for me when you do that withoutexplanation.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Understandable. I’ll try harder to communicate with you.” Then, turning, he grabbed some papers from his desk handing them tome.
“Silhouette Studios Consent Waiver,” I read the top bolded font. “I thought we tabled this for now.” I said, waving them around, my fist clenched, wrinkling the paper between my blanchingknuckles.
“We tabled it last night,” he said, his voice calm, but firm. “And now it needs to be brought up again. For your safety here in the work place. And my safety, we need to sign these. Even if after signing, we simply hold onto them or give a copy to a trusted friend who also works here. We don’t have to file them with HR if you don’t want to, but at least we would both have a copy in the event that something goes wrong. Not signing at all is a badcall.”
“And how do I know you won’t go to Mr. Blair behind my back again? How do I know you won’t file them without meknowing?”
Ash tilted his head at me. “Though we haven’t known each other long, I would hope you’d know I would never do that. I went to Rich today to find out more information about the situation so to honor your wishes and still protect both of us. I wasn’t trying to go behind yourback.”
He was right. It was the smart choice. The rational choice. But Uncle Richard’s words from the hall sat in my gut like bad Chinese, rumbling and roiling around in there as I digested them. Ash was broken. And Uncle Rich had made it painfully clear he didn’t want me anywhere near theman.
“Sign, Shorty,” he whispered, holding out the pen toward me. I felt like Eve being coaxed to take a bite of theapple.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket, snapping me out of it. With a quick glance, I saw it wasKelly.
Where the fuck are you? Lunch ended ten minutesago!
“Goddammit,” I muttered, shoving my phone back in my pocket. “Now I’m late. Because you shoved stupid submissive paperwork beneath my nose during work hours.” I snatched the pen out of his hand and threw it across the room. It hit a cherry wood bar table in the corner, but the sound of pen on wood wasn’t all that satisfying. I wish I had thrown something bigger. Heavier. Like… my shoe. Yeah, that would have felt good as it slammed into the wall with a gratifying thump. But then I would have been shoeless. ShoelessLuce.
Ash’s gaze darkened. Those blue eyes deepened like an ocean just before the storm and his mouth, which had been smirking playfully set into a hard line. “You’ll regret that,” he said. “Once we’re beyond thesewalls.”
“Like hell I will,” I said and stomped to the door. And I meant it—because whether it was the fact that I had stood my ground or the fact that I knew I’d enjoy his punishment for throwing the pen later. I didn’t regret it. Not for one damnsecond.
