“You heard me. If you want me to believe I mean more to you than your other women, then you’re going to prove it.”
“By not fucking you?” He followed her inside, their meals forgotten. “How is that going to prove a damn thing?”
“It means you respect us enough to see what’s here without the lust and the blind passion sex brings. Sexual chemistry only goes so far, D. I want to know if you’re going to be around for the long haul, if you’re going to be able to deal with my anxiety, if I can deal with it enough to give you everything you deserve.”
His eyes softened, and he dropped his outraged stance. “You are all I need and more than I deserve. I could give two shits about your anxiety.”
“And you can say that now because you haven’t been around it day in and day out. Two weeks from now? You might change your mind. I want you to think about this, Dimitri. Really think about what it means. Take the next two weeks to do that. Then when we go to Texas, if you still feel the same, we can go at it like two Energizer bunnies if you want, but until then, no sex. I mean it.”
“You seriously think I’m going to go home and change my mind?”
“You might, Dimitri. Once you realize I can’t do all the things your other flavors of the week can. I hate going out. I’d rather be home, safe behind four walls and a door. You saw what crowds do to me. You’re asking me to accept you being the control freak in the bedroom. The least you can do is respect me enough to take the time to think about what I’m asking you to accept.”
His gaze became calculated, and her hinky feeling decided to rear its head. He was up to something. She knew that look.
“You’re right. I haven’t been around your anxiety day in and day out. I don’t know what it looks like, but how am I expected to evaluate it if I’m not around it?”
The asshole. She knew where this was going.
“So, to be fair, you need to come to LA with me. We need to spend time together, to get to know each other’s ins and outs. Like the fact I leave the cap off the toothpaste all the time. Or I leave my dirty socks laying around. Things like that.”
“You want me to come to LA?” That meant an airport. People. Crowds. Standing in line…
He grabbed her hand before she could panic. “No airplanes. I can book a train, our own private car. You won’t have to be around anyone longer than it takes to board.”
He really was beginning to learn the early signs of her panic. Not only that, but he’d thwarted it. Maybe he could handle it.
“So, what do you say? I’ll stop trying to seduce you if you agree to come to LA and let us work on our relationship.”
“No sex for two weeks.”
“No sex until Texas. Pinkie swear.”
Becca took a deep breath and let the first real ray of hope invade her chest. She hooked her pinkie with his.
“You have a deal, Dimitri.”
Chapter Fifteen
The rest of the evening passed without incident. They’d reheated their food and eaten while Dimitri started working on signing all his preorders, and Becca went through his email, answering what needed to be taken care of, then working on his new book’s teasers. It released next week, and she’d been remiss in working on the project.
Not that she really got much done. Her thoughts were too screwed up. Never had she expected him to declare he had feelings and in the same breath admit he wanted to tie her up and fuck her. She wasn’t that girl. But…
Yes, but. There was the crux of it. She had liked being immobile way too much. Enough to think about letting him tie her up.
Could she really let him, though?
Maybe.
The one question that worried her the most whether he did love her or was reacting to his own lust. He’d found a bright and shiny new toy to play with. Once he got bored or too frustrated, she was worried he’d toss her aside like all the others. That was why she demanded no sex. It would only complicate matters. If he still felt the same way about her in a few weeks, then she’d know it was real, that it wasn’t only a lust-induced declaration.