Just One Night, Part 2: Exposed (14 page)

W
HEN I PULL UP
to my driveway I see his car parked in front of my house. It’s impossible to miss, really. What surprises me is that he’s leaning against the outside of my door. His arms are crossed and his salt-and-pepper hair gleams with the slight dew of the night. I park my car and go to him.

“You didn’t let yourself in this time.”

He smiles ruefully. “I’m trying to find a happy medium between being protective and being intrusive. I thought not breaking into your home would be a good start.”

“You’re learning.” I put my key in the lock, open the door, and allow him to follow me into the living room. “Still,” I say once we’re inside and he’s lowered himself onto my sofa, “you could have called.”

“I could have,” he agrees. “I didn’t.”

I turn to him. I don’t understand this man. Sometimes I’m not entirely sure if I
like
him. But my God, do I want him.

“What are you here for?” I ask.

“You’re not leaving me,” he says simply.

“You think you get to make that call?”

“I do.” He cocks his head, smiles. “I would have to do something specific to give you the will to walk away. I haven’t and so now you can’t will yourself to do anything but stay.”

I stare up at the off-white ceiling above me. I have worked to keep the interior of my home simple, sophisticated, comfortable, but now everything in here feels complicated, untamed, and I am not comfortable at all. Everything about Robert agitates me. His voice vibrates inside of me like the beat of a rock song, bringing me alive, amplifying emotions that I might otherwise suppress. “I’m just out of a relationship,” I remind him. “I spent years being controlled by someone else’s vision of me and now you want to control me, too.”

“No.” He stands, moves to my side. “I don’t want to control you.” He lets his fingers slide under my chin, guides my face in his direction. “I would like to corrupt you . . . if only a little.”

“Corrupt me?”

“Kasie, if you let me help you, we could have everything. The people who would mock you or try to make your life harder? They’ll bow before us. Tom was a cautionary tale. We need those.
You
need those. People should know what happens to those who cross you.”

“You’re talking about a man’s life.”

“I’m talking about winning.”

His hand slips to the small of my back and I instinctively lean into him, pressing my breasts into his chest. “I don’t want you to get Asha fired.”

“Ah, but you want so many things,” he whispers, grazing his teeth on my earlobe. “What is it you want more, Kasie? Fairness? Power?” He gently pushes me back against a wall, his tongue flicks against the base of my throat. “Me?”

I try to answer but his hands are on my shirt, pulling it from me, unbuttoning my pants, and then letting them fall. . . .