Thomas and I finished that box of chocolates together. I tried to keep him distracted, tried to keep him from thinking too much about Tristen.
I felt awful concealing so much from him. I was so confused about my own feelings that I didn't know how to articulate them to him. My past and future were pulling me in opposite directions and I was just trying not to snap in half.
After a day of chocolate and some more kinky fun, Thomas helped me slip into my nightgown. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the bum before sending him home.
I gave Thomas a few days off from butler duty so he could catch up on class work, and because I had my own obligations back at Delacourt Enterprises HQ. I worked. I tried to ignore Tristen's messages, but he was persistent, and like a fool I kept responding.
This was the thing about Tristen that gnawed at me the most. Even after all these years, I still responded to him. I wasn't sure if it was some deep-seated wiring in my brain from my time as his submissive. Maybe it was because I still remembered the man he was when we first met, the charming, confident man who swept younger me off my feet, before the cracks in his charm started to show. Before I realized he wore the role of a dominant like a mask to hide his more insidious intentions.
But it was awful. And worse, I was at risk of hurting this new man of mine, this beautiful boy sweet as sugar and handsome as a cherry blossom. I hated keeping secrets from him, but I was scared of what would become of him if I roped him in, what Tristen would do to him.
Or what he would think of me.
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Rose (The Billionairess, #1.5)
RomanceThe Billionairess, as told by Rose Delacourt Rose Delacourt has used her cool, commanding demeanor to rise as one of the most powerful women in the world. With eyes like ice and a heart of iron, she believes she's incapable of love. Real, pure, true...
