Page 61 of Dragonfly
“Yes, but I’m not on any birth control!”
He has to know that. I mean, he already proved that—somehow—he knows everything about me. Add that to how he had his men bring over my clothes, then he went to get Orion himself… oh, yeah. He knows I’m not on birth control.
And when he flippantly waves his hand, telling me, “It’s fine, I had a vasectomy,” I know why that tiny little tidbit doesn’t bother him.
But the bomb Damien just dropped?
“What? You… you did? When?”
“Five years ago? Maybe six. I can’t recall.”
Okay. I feel a teeny bit better that it wasn’t since he married me, but… “Why?”
“It was a precaution after the first woman tried to claim her child was mine. I was careful. She wasn’t my wife, and I insisted on two forms of birth control at all times: condoms for me, and pills for her. I wasn’t surprised when the paternity test said her child wasn’t mine, but I learned my lesson. I got snipped so no one else tried to take advantage of me or my Family.”
“Yeah. Sure. that makes sense.”
Right?
Damien tilts his head as his gaze runs over me. A small smile tugs on his lips. “Disappointed?”
Am I?
“What? No. I was… I was just worried about STIs from all your previous partners,” I lie.
He knows it, too. “There aren’t as many as you think. As for diseases, I’m all clear. Though, if you ask me, I think it might just be the ‘previous partners’ part that’s really got you pouting all of a sudden. What’s that matter, Savannah? Jealous?”
I sniff, patting my dress again. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.”
“Be careful, ragna mia,” he says teasingly. “You’re acting like you believe you are my wife.”
I’m not. It’s worse than that.
I’m panicking.
Okay. I fucked him. I kissed him. I admitted that I’ll never be able to kill him… but the way my heart sank when I thought about Damien never having children with me?
I’m not jealous about his previous lovers. Sure, I was curious when I thought Genevieve might have been one, but anyone else? That’s not my business. So long as my husband doesn’t fuck around on me while he believes we’re married, I’m not jealous.
But the vasectomy? The pregnancy scare? The fact that, despite being a man who lives and dies by his last name, he had surgery so that he wouldn’t have kids?
In a million years, I never thought that would bother me—but it does, and before I could examine that too closely, I blurt out, “Are you ever going to tell me what that means? Not ‘spider’, ‘cause you told me that. But of all the things you could call me, why that?”
“You haven’t figured it out yet?”
If I had, I wouldn’t have asked. “No.”
His icy blue eyes warm over. “Because the dragonfly has very few predators. But its biggest threat? Is a spider.”
Oh.
I can’t think of anything to say to that, and while I stand there, quiet, Damien takes my hand, placing it in the crook of his folded arm. “Let’s go back to the party.”
What? My hair’s a mess, my dress is crumpled, and I bet every single person in that room knows exactly what happened after Damien marched me out of it.
“I don’t know?—”
“If you’re worried that you’ll have to face Ricky’s body, don’t be. I’m sure Vin would’ve taken care of that while we were… mm… distracted.”
