Total pages in book: 230
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1089(@200wpm)___ 871(@250wpm)___ 726(@300wpm)
Taggart nodded. “Yeah, he’s working on a case. Said he’d be a while and you should start without him.”
Dean gave him a thumbs-up. “Excellent. I’ll go get our girl warmed up.”
“You’re an asshole.” Kash watched as Dean strode away.
“It’s all a part of my charm.” Tag stood up. “I think the demo is going to get started soon. I’m going to go watch. Also, it’ll be fun to watch Adam and Jake fight when Adam realizes Jake got that first piece of pie.”
He wasn’t sure what pie had to do with anything, but he followed Tag into the play space. All around him the members of Sanctum seemed to be embracing the idea of a masquerade. He caught sight of the ridiculously wealthy Milo Jaye and his girlfriend. Milo was on his knees in front of her, his eyes soft and a smile playing on his face. His girl lightly ran the tip of a cane down his chest, and it sent a shiver through the man’s body.
Why did the image have to tighten his groin? Why couldn’t he be normal?
What the hell was normal?
“So your wife didn’t want to come down and play?” Taggart asked as they moved toward the largest of the stages. “She’s more than welcome, of course. I have no problem giving her full Mistress privileges here.”
“But I am given merely probationary privileges?” Naturally Day would be able to oversee him if she’d come down. She could stop him and instruct him if she thought he was doing something incorrectly.
Taggart nodded. “Oh, yeah, she’s way better than you. You could learn a thing or two. I don’t know why you wouldn’t. She’s a badass.”
“In my country, women are not supposed to be badasses. They are supposed to be partners, to be helpmates to their husbands.” Had he honestly just said that? What the fuck was wrong with him? He didn’t believe that. He fought against that kind of backward thinking. When he’d been running his lab, he’d made sure to bring in all the brightest minds, male and female.
And now the only use he had for anyone was to bring him his next drink, be his next body in a bed.
How had his life gotten so damn shallow?
Taggart slapped him on the shoulder, one of those American male gestures that let a man know he was both stupid and tolerated. “Maybe that’s why you couldn’t tell the difference between the chick who wanted to kill you and the ones who were in it for your cash. As for me, give me a badass chick every day of the week. You say you’re looking for a helpmate? Badass chick will not only cook your breakfast, she’ll take care of the assassins trying to kill you, give you the best blow job of your life, and scare off all the people you don’t want around. You can keep your delicate chicks. Give me a Russian mob princess. There’s a class of women who know how to treat a man right. Conversely, they also know how to cut a man’s balls off if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain.”
“That being?”
He smiled, a bright, open expression that Kash wasn’t used to seeing on Taggart’s face. “Complete and total dependence. I’m joking. Though that is what I feel when she leaves me alone with the kids. Sometimes I think that’s her way of letting me know what hell on earth is like. I’m ready to drop to my knees and beg her to never leave me and all she did was go buy groceries. Yeah, that’s a clever plan of hers. That’s my girl. She’s always plotting. So you didn’t tell me why Day didn’t want to come down and play. You’ve been here. Why hasn’t she?”
Because he’d made her feel so terrible about their situation that she mostly sat around the room like a prisoner waiting for her execution. She read a lot, used the gym when she was sure no one was around. She’d taken to sitting in the small alcove that contained the basketball net. He’d caught her sitting in the sun, her face turned up as though she missed the warmth. She’d been so stunningly beautiful in that moment that he’d wanted nothing more than to take her hand and lead her upstairs.
“Do you think a woman like Day could be happy with a vanilla relationship?”
“Why should she have one?” Taggart asked.
How did he make him understand? “It’s not seemly. If we ever got caught…”
“You get caught all the time, dude. There are pictures of your junk pretty much everywhere. You know you have your own YouTube channel, right?”
“That’s different.”
Taggart stared at him for a moment. “How? Because you’re a guy and you’re supposed to fuck around, and she’s female and should remain pure until she gets to marry the guy who’s fucked around?”