Page 40 of Caged in Desire
Ledger speaks up next, and I’m surprised by his serious tone.
“Her reaction has absolutely nothing to do with her age, Henry. Come on. Any woman would have reacted the same way. I mean, at least tell me you ran after her when she went to make you jealous. How did she do it? Dancing with other men? A little flirt with the bartender? Sloane dancing for even one second with one guy at Rendezvous was enough to make me lose it after we had a similar fight.”
“What are you talking about?”
“After Kat got jealous, the natural response is to try to make you jealous, you know, a taste of your own medicine. What did she do after the women left?” he asks.
I pause, thinking back to that night. “She stayed quiet during the ceremony, then told me she wasn’t feeling well as we started dancing, so I brought her home. She went straight to her room. I assumed she was sick until she came to mine and told me how she felt.”
Two sets of eyes stare at me, blinking like owls in the night.
“What?” I ask.
Jack shares a look with Ledger before scratching his stubble and answering. “Well, it’s just that it seems like a kinda reasonable response, you know? You guys were in public, and she got faced with your experience, which is always different from talking about it. She held it together as long as she could, asked to go home, then came to you to talk about it.”
Ledger rolls his eyes to the sky. “Dude. Sloane tried to get revenge when this happened to us. She went to grind on some asshole on the dance floor! I had to drag her out, then grovel on my knees. It sounds like Kat’s maturity is not a real problem.”
Well, fuck. That makesmethe problem. I shouldn’t be surprised since I don’t exactly have experience navigating meaningful relationships, but I’m thirty-seven years old. I should have been able to react to Kat’s feelings in a more reasonable way.
“Let’s say you guys are right. My wife is perfectly mature, and I’m not in danger of taking advantage of her. Now what? I’ve rejected her too many times. Now she’s just teasing me to torture me?” I ask.
“I don’t think that’s it, bro. I think she still wants you. But she wants you to want her more. It takes two to tango. I think it’s time to give as good as you’re getting,” Ledger says.
I raise an eyebrow.
Jack explains, “It’s time to get back to the pursuit, Henry. Before you fucked it up. But not just seduction. Sexually, mentally, physically, emotionally. All of it, man. And you cannot reject her again. You need to be ready to finally kiss her. And for God’s sake, fuck her.”
“Don’t say fuck and a pronoun referencing my wife in the same sentence, Carter!” I stand and make to grab him, but he’s a hair faster, running back to the deck and the women.
“It’s Sinclair now!” he yells over his shoulder, and I shake my head as I pull my shirt back over my head.
“I have faith in you, Henry. You’ve already let her past so many of your walls, and I don’t think she’s let you down yet,” Ledger says, pausing as we make our way back to the house. “I do think Jack was right about one thing, though, brother.”
“What’s that?”
“I think you give off big daddy energy. And with the age gap, come on. It’s right there. You’d be a fool not to at least give it a try. Here, let’s try. Hi, Daddy,” he says, in what I assume is meant to be a seductive voice but sounds like a drowning, high-pitched rat.
He gets a step on me before I can goose him, and we race back to the house. Seeing my wife laugh with Margot, Sloane, and Jack as Ledger hides from me behind a chair fills my heart. I can see now the game she’s playing, with her tight periwinkle sweater and sweatpants, a sliver of her abdomen teasing me.
If that’s what she wants, she’s gonna have to earn it.
Game on, Kitten.
Chapter twenty
“Yes, Father, I know. No, everything is going well.”
“And you’re making Mr. Sinclair happy?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Good. Don’t disappoint me, Katarina.”
Click.
Sighing, I fall face down on the bed and toss my phone toward the pillows. This week has been exhausting. I’ve been implementing all of Sloane’s and Margot’s suggestions, to no avail. Well, to almost no avail. I’ve at least been successful in flustering my husband, but nothing further.
The only silver lining has been how close I’ve gotten with my sisters-in-law. Meeting his family at our wedding was one thing. Everything that weekend was all painted smiles and practiced words. But since Thanksgiving, I’ve felt like I actually have a family. Really, for the first time in my life. Not that Sasha isn’t incredible, but one brotherly figure doesn’t necessarily replace the real thing.
