By His Desire by Kate Grey Read Free Book Online

else.”
    “Like what?”
    “Who’s your favorite artist?”
    He closed his eyes briefly. Fine. Okay. If this is what it would take to keep her with him, he could put up with it.
    He took a deep breath. “Edward Hopper.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes. Why do you sound so surprised?”
    “I don’t know. You have so many impressionists in your collection, and a lot of medieval art, too. I guess I expected your favorite artist to be more...traditional. Classic.”
    “Edward Hopper is classic.”
    “I guess you’re right. A modern classic. So why do you like him so much?”
    “I don’t know. I just always have.”
    “What’s your favorite painting by him?”
    “ Nighthawks ,” he said, glancing up at the reproduction framed on his wall.
    “I love that painting. Why is that your favorite?”
    He was starting to feel uncomfortable. Off-balance. If they hadn’t started a sexual relationship last night, maybe he wouldn’t feel this way. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had conversations like this before. It was like a first date conversation, and God knows he’d had plenty of those in his lifetime.
    But this wasn’t a first date. Sarah hadn’t wanted to go on a first date with him, which was why he’d bribed her into their current arrangement. And because it would only last a week, after which he didn’t expect to see her again, he’d figured he might as well indulge himself completely. Give into urges he didn’t usually express.
    Most of the women he dated weren’t into what he was, or else they were a lot more hard-core. He hardly ever found the right balance with a bed partner.
    He wasn’t into the BDSM scene. He’d visited a club once, and realized immediately that there was nothing there for him. He liked to dominate in bed but he wasn’t into pain—not that much pain, anyway—and what he saw at the club felt staged and artificial.
    He didn’t meet many women he clicked with sexually, so his dominant side didn’t come out too often. And on the rare occasions he did click with a woman that way, there had never been any other connection. They’d been short, hot affairs that ended amicably enough, and that was it.
    Without realizing it, over the years, he’d put sex and relationships into two different boxes in his mind. Now Sarah was muddying the waters.
    Suddenly he felt angry. She’d established her boundaries with him that night at dinner, and that was fine. But then he’d established his boundaries for her, and she was ignoring them.
    And threatening to leave.
    “I have a meeting in a few minutes. Have we talked enough?” he asked brusquely, without answering her last question.
    “Enough for what?”
    “Enough to satisfy you. Enough that you’ll be there tonight.”
    There was a short silence, which gave him plenty of time to realize exactly how much he cared about the answer.
    “Yes, I’ll be here.”
    “Fine. You’ll get your instructions at dinner.”
    He ended the call, and then immediately regretted his abruptness. There was nothing stopping Sarah from changing her mind.
    And no guarantee she’d be there when he got home.
    His assistant buzzed him to let him know that his two o’clock appointment had arrived. He thought about cancelling, but that would be unprofessional and he could use the distraction. So he took the meeting even though he felt tense and angry, hoping he’d be less knotted up by the end of it.
    He wasn’t.
    Once he was alone in his office again he started to pace back and forth. The more he paced, the angrier he got.
    After a while he sat down at his desk again, pulled out his stationary and a pen and started to write. He’d left a letter with Nancy that morning, to be given to Sarah at dinner like the night before.
    But now he had new instructions for her.
    If they scared her off, so be it. But if she stayed, there’d be no holding back tonight. He’d take exactly what he wanted from her.
    He called for a messenger to deliver the letter to Nancy and then did