Chapter 106: Happy Dance

Workplace affair.

Potential misconduct.

Inappropriate use of company time and office space.

Suddenly Jordan’s threat did not feel quite as powerful as it had a few hours ago.

Naomi smiled slowly. Dorian looked at her with unmistakable approval.

"Brilliant. You’re learning fast."

Naomi’s entire face lit up. "Yes!" She started jumping up and down like she had just won something far more exciting.

Then, with absolutely no warning, she launched herself straight into his arms. Naomi wrapped her arms around his neck, laughing into his shoulder.

"Are you even supposed to be this excited?" he asked.

"Ah, you have no idea!" She pulled back, still grinning.

It felt freeing.

Ridiculously so.

She hadn’t tested the idea yet. She had no proof it would work. Jordan might laugh in her face. But for once, she had come up with a way to protect herself.

The first time she had felt anything close to this had been when she finally told Richard that if he ever hit her again, she would tell her husband.

Dorian was right. Find the fear.

Use it.

Dorian kept one arm around her waist as her excitement slowly settled. He watched her smile. And then he couldn’t help himself.

He couldn’t.

Apparently Naomi’s habit of letting every thought escape the moment it formed was contagious.

"I missed you."

Naomi’s smile changed. It softened, but sadness entered it too. "The fight was stupid, Dorian. And you hurt me with the things you said." She lowered her arms from around his neck but didn’t step away.

Dorian’s hands remained at her waist. "I’m sorry. I really am." He exhaled. "I just don’t like that a man you used to be intimate with..."

"I was never intimate with Callum."

"What? You were getting married." His eyes narrowed. "Was that just a lie? Was it something you told me to keep me away?"

"What? No!"

"You really were supposed to marry him?"

"Yes."

"But you were never intimate?"

"No."

Dorian looked genuinely confused now. It was satisfying watching Dorian Heathcliffe struggle with information that did not immediately fit into one of his neatly organized conclusions. "How does that even work?" he asked.

"It was all arranged by my aunt’s husband. I never even met the man until news about our marriage blew up."

"I am having difficulty understanding any of this," Dorian admitted.

"The marriage was arranged, Dorian."

"You agreed to this?"

"I didn’t exactly have a choice."

That answer wiped some of the confusion from his face. Naomi continued before he could turn the conversation into an interrogation.

"I didn’t want to marry because I was absolutely smitten with a man anyway. Not that I’m capable of it. I mean, look what being in love does to everyone around me."

Her mother.

Her aunt.

Now Tessa.

Love did not exactly have an impressive success rate in Naomi’s life.

"It seemed like a reasonable and beneficial arrangement at the time," she continued, "until I found out that, well, I was already married."

"I can see how marrying you would benefit Callum. You’ve got a smoking-hot body. But how does marrying that douchebag benefit you?" he asked.

"It’s complicated."

Dorian’s smile vanished. He could practically see the door slamming shut.

Again.

Every time he got close to something real about her life, Naomi pulled back, changed direction.

"So, back to the fight..." she said.

Dorian nearly screamed into the air. Instead, he schooled his face and kept quiet. There was no point pushing her tonight.

"I do not intend to break the fidelity clause. You have my word on that. I am yours and yours only to fuck on every surface, every location..."

Dorian’s brows rose. Naomi continued, entirely too pleased with herself now.

"And you are mine to explore in every delicious way..."

His hands tightened at her waist. His eyes dropped to her mouth. "You’re getting me hard painting that picture, Trouble..."

Naomi’s gaze flicked downward automatically. The towel did absolutely nothing to hide the effect she was having on him.

"...In every pleasurable way possible for the next five months." she added.

Dorian went still. There was nothing like the reminder of the timeframe to douse his erection in cold water. "And after the five months are over?" he asked.

"I may be considering the marriage."

Dorian’s expression soured instantly. "Ugh. He’s such an asshole, Naomi."

She chuckled. "I know." She leaned forward and kissed him.

It wasn’t long or particularly deep, but it did what it usually did, make him hunger for her.

Naomi pulled back. "Speaking of ass holes..." She split the words deliberately so he could catch her meaning.

Dorian’s brows lifted. "Please don’t say what I think you are about to say."

Even as he spoke, excitement was already bubbling through him.

Naomi’s smile widened. "I’ve got one. We’ve got Saturday soon. Wanna do a little experimenting?"

His brain stopped functioning. Then every thought he had immediately rearranged itself around Saturday. Dorian groaned and dropped his head back. "Oh, you’re going to kill me. You had to tell me this on Monday? My mind is going to be stuck on that thought for the next fucking five days."

Naomi looked entirely too pleased with herself. He pointed at her.

"I will not function normally. I’ll be useless."

"I’m sure you’ll manage."

He was already imagining far too much, and Naomi knew it. She was enjoying every second of watching him suffer.

"I’ll heat up dinner," she said, stepping backward. "I brought home leftovers."

Then she gave him the sultriest look imaginable.

Throw a grenade into my brain, why don’t you?

"Trouble..." He reached for her again, unwilling to let her go just yet.

Naomi giggled and stepped out of range.

"Come here. Naomi."

She lifted one shoulder in defiance, turned toward the dresser and picked up the bouquet again, cradling the red roses against herself.

Naomi looked down at the flowers, then back at him. "Thank you, Dorian. For everything."

Naomi gave him one last smile and headed toward the door.

Dorian watched her leave.

Then he looked down at himself.

Still half hard because his wife had just casually offered him a new sexual adventure.

He shook his head.

He was totally fucked.

Not sexually.

Well, yes, sexually too.

But that was not the problem.

The problem was that this was no longer just sex.

Hadn’t been for a while.

He knew it.

He knew it every time the house felt wrong when she wasn’t there.

Dorian sat on the edge of the bed.

He had to say something before it ate him alive.

He just had to say it.

So he picked up his phone and dialled the one person in his life he knew would be able to handle this information.

The call was picked up almost instantly.

"I think I am in love with my wife." Dorian stopped. He heard the words in his own voice now that they were outside his head.

Really heard them.

He sat there, phone pressed to his ear, and realized there was no panic attached. His eyes shifted toward the bedroom door Naomi had disappeared through. "I am in love with my wife." He ended the call, lowered the phone slowly and stared at the door. "I’m so fucked."