The Dom of My Dreams: A BDSM Novel (51 page)

“I think we need to talk,” Jeremy said.
 
“There are things I have to say.
 
Things you need to know.”

“Unless it’s ‘What I did to you was sneaky and cruel, please forgive me,’ I don’t want to hear it.”

Jeremy sighed.
 
“I know about last night, Marjorie.
 
David called me this morning and told me to check on you.
 
He was worried.”

           
“Boy, news does travel fast around here,” I muttered nastily as I curled my arms around my knees.
 
“And suddenly it’s David, not Seton.
 
I had no idea the two of you were such big chums.
 
You hid your deception very well.”
 
I stretched my knees across the bed and crossed my arms over my chest.
 
“Again, how did you get in here?”

           
“I still had the key you gave me last year before you went backpacking to Australia.
 
I didn’t think you’d let me in, so—”

           
“So you barged in here uninvited?”

           
He nodded.

           
I stretched out a hand.
 
“I want my key back.”

           
“It’s on the nightstand.”

           
“I can’t believe you let yourself in while I was sleeping.”

“Like I said, I didn’t think you’d let me in.
 
I didn’t want to wake you, so I waited here by the window for almost an hour.”
 

“Well, gee, that’s not creepy or anything.”
 
      

He didn’t respond, just continued to look out the window.
 
I sighed and ran shaky fingers through my tussled hair.
 
This had been the worst twenty-four hours of my life.
 
I wondered what other unpleasant surprises lay in store for me today.
 
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least bit if terrorists suddenly showed up at my house with their bodies covered in explosives, just for the hell of it.

           
Jeremy glanced briefly over his shoulder, his brown gaze skating down my disheveled form before looking away.
 
“Margie, I didn’t know David was writing about you—”

           
“I know.
 
Seton told me.
 
But it wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t meddled into my life the way you did.
 
How could you do something like that to me?”

           
“Margie—”

           
“And did you know that you were hurting others in your little scheme?
 
You dangled Seton like so much delicious bait in front of Alfred.
 
Did you know that Bookends AtoZ was in trouble?
 
We’re all going to be without jobs in less than two years!
 
Alfred needs someone like Seton to help save the company, and you bastards just waltzed in with your bullshit story, giving the poor old man false hopes.”

           
Jeremy’s back stiffened.
 
“I—I didn’t know that.”

“No, you didn’t!
 
Nobody knows, but Alfred told
me
.
 
Look what your plans have done to others, and all for what?”

           
“I was being a friend.”

           
“Friends don’t betray you by setting you up with arrogant, manipulative assholes who treat you like crap and then write a book about it.”
 
I put my face in my hands for a moment and softly counted to ten.
 
“Why didn’t you tell me you attended Cambridge?”

           
“I did tell you!”

           
“No, you didn’t.”

           
“Yes, I did, Marjorie.”

           
“When?”

           
“Ages ago.
 
I told you I lived in England for four years, that I attended Cambridge during that time, and that I transferred to Columbia and lived in New York before I moved here.
 
I told you all that when we became friends.”

           
Huh.
 
Maybe he did tell me, but I honestly don’t remember.
 
I knew he’d gone to Columbia and that he’d lived in Manhattan during that time.
 
I also knew that he had traveled to England often.
 
I sighed.
 
Maybe he
had
mentioned it.
 
“That doesn’t get you off the hook,” I told him.
 
“You and Seton are a match made in hell.
 
With friends like you, who on earth needs enemies?”

           
He gave me the sort of sigh that spoke of long-suffering patience.
 
“Christ, Margie, I was just trying to help you!
 
Here you are, a bitter, cynical, frustrated woman who’s felt nothing but disdain toward the world and the people around her.
 
You’ve always criticized women and their so-called clinginess and neediness when it comes to men.
 
But let me ask you this, Marjorie, have you been happy with your life?
 
Is spending your nights alone watching old movies and eating chocolate fulfilling in any way?
 
Because I happen to know that you haven’t been happy.
 
You say you hate relationships, that you want nothing from men except for what’s between their thighs, and yet you spend your nights watching romantic movies and reading Regency romance novels.
 
You do want those things, Margie, but you think you won’t get them, that no one will ever find you interesting or attractive enough to stick around.
 
Your father was cruel to you, and now you’re terrified of rejection.”

           
“I so totally tuned out most of what you just said.”
 
I rubbed a hand across still tired eyes.
 
“If you’re going to give me a long-winded speech, at least have the decency to turn around and look at me while you’re doing it.”

           
Jeremy sighed another martyred soft of sigh, big drama queen that he was, and spun to me slowly.
 
I gasped when I saw his face, then quickly rolled the sheet over my body and jumped off the bed, scampering toward him.
 
I cupped his face with both hands and examined it.
 
It was badly bruised—well, his left eye was—and there was a slight cut on his bottom lip.
 
There were buttons missing from his shirt and his tie hung loose around his neck.
 

           
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked, stunned.

           
Amusement shone in his dark eyes, his expression slightly bashful.
 
“As soon as David told me what he did to you, I went over to his house and kicked his ass.”

           
I raised an eyebrow.
 
“Obviously, he did some ass-kicking of his own.”

           
The arrogant gleam in his eyes suggested that Seton had gotten as good as he gave.
 
He pushed my questing hands away and sauntered over to a lounge chair by the bedside table, plopping down on it.
 
“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” he said, his face in his hands.
 
“We were at it for a while, punching and wrestling around the house.
 
Then we cooled off and sat down, had coffee and talked more calmly.”
  

           
Hmm.
 
Two darkly handsome men fist-fighting over little ol’
moi
?
 
And I wasn’t there to watch?
 
Well, shit, I thought.
 
That sucks!
 
“Did you castrate him?”

           
His head shot up at that, surprise flickering in his face.
 
“Did I what?”

           
I snorted softly and reached for a silk robe resting on the bed’s wrought-iron footboard.
 
“Seton told me that you’d emasculate him with an axe if he ever did anything to hurt me.”

           
A smile played about his lips.
 
“No, I didn’t, unfortunately.”
 
His eyes shifted to my neck.
 
“What the fuck is that?”

Following his gaze, I drew my fingers to my neck, and remembered the rather intense shower session Seton and I had engaged in last night.
 
Bruises had probably already formed around my neck.
 
I felt my cheeks flushing pink.
 

“Jesus, Margie, rough much?”
 
He shook his head.
 
“Never mind.
 
I don’t want to know.”

“It’s none of your business anyway.”

“You’re right, it’s not.
 
I just hope you won’t mind wearing turtlenecks during the summer.”
 

I hadn’t thought of that.
 
Shit.
 

Jeremy’s expression changed to one of sadness and weariness.
 
“David feels terrible, hon.
 
Really terrible.
 
He looked awful this morning.
 
He was going crazy, calling you on both your home and cell phones.
 
You never answered.
 
I tried calling you too.”
 
He eyed the cordless phone on my nightstand.
 
It was not connected to the phone jack.
 
Jeremy heaved out a sigh.
 
“He told me he would fix the story, that he had no intention of releasing it the way it was.”

           
Annoyance rushed through me.
 
“Oh, so now I’m supposed to feel bad about
him
.”
 
I snorted, tearing my gaze away from Jeremy’s as I perched on the bed.
 
“Let me remind you that
he
betrayed
me
, not the other way around.
 
And while we’re on the subject, you betrayed me too.
 
So don’t think you’re off the hook, mister, because you’re not!”

           
I heard him huff out a frustrated breath.
 
“Damn it, Marjorie, I didn’t say that what he did wasn’t wrong, all I said was…You know what?
 
Forget it.
 
I’ve tried to help you, Lord knows I have, but you’re a lost a cause.
 
You are so friggin’ self-absorbed, always thinking about your own damn problems.
 
You don’t let people get close because you don’t want them to hurt
you
… as if your relationships don’t affect anyone other than you.
 
It’s always about you, what people do to you, what you don’t want people to do to you.
 
You, you, you and
you
.
 
I’m sick of it!”

           
I stared at him, stunned, my mouth hanging open.
 
Self-absorbed?
 
Always about me?
 
He’d said the very same things Seton had written in his book, only not as eloquently put.
 

“I’m not going to sit here and take this abuse.
 
I’ve gotten enough crap from you and your friend to last me a while.”
 
I jumped off the bed and shuffled to the bedroom door, holding it open.
 
“Get out, Jeremy,” I ordered darkly.

           
He slowly got to his feet, holding out one hand, palm up.
 
“Fine, I’ll go.
 
But first, I’d like to tell you something about David.
 
Something I feel you should know.”

           
Oh, goody.
 
More revelations.
 
Curiosity surged, but I brushed it away.
 
I was through with Seton, and this time it was definite.
 
I crossed my arms over my chest and shot Jeremy an oh-I-don’t-think-so look.