“I always thought that was bullshit, actually.There are a lot of things I know I would hate.”
“Maybe you need someone to push your limits a little harder.”
I give him a good glare.“My limits are pushed just fine, thank you.”
“Whoa!”He holds up his hands.“I didn’t mean anything by that.Sorry, I struck a nerve.I know you’re with Gage.If I didn’t, that mark would tell me everything.”
“Mark?”
Seth looks pointedly at my shoulder.
The bite from my session with Dmitri in the fitting room is still red.He didn’t draw blood, but he did mark me, as promised.
I relax a little, now that Seth is acknowledging my relationship status.He doesn’t know about Dmitri—or maybe he does, I don’t care.As long as he knows I’m taken, that’s all that matters.
“Let’s start over,” he says.“You’re a tutor, right?”
“Yeah…how do you know?”
“I don’t read the tabloids or anything, but I’ve heard about some of the drama.”He grimaces in sympathy.“But things are good with Gage otherwise, right?”
“Well yeah, of course.”
“Good.He’s my friend, I want the best for him.But I want the best for you, too.I want the best for all my friends.”
I laugh.“Thanks, but I just met you, Seth.We aren’t exactly friends yet.”
“We could be.”He shrugs off my words.“It would be easy, too.No drama.I promise I’m not a celebrity of any sort.No previous entanglements that would draw the public eye.”
I imagine the scenario—not with him, specifically, but a faceless, nameless person.My relationship with Dmitri is soaked in drama and tainted by our lies to Danica.My relationship with Gage is being lived under a microscope and blasted by the media.Sure, things have died down a little since Gage’s statement on PhotoGram.But how long until something else happens?
“You’re thinking about it.”Seth’s voice is cool, confident.“We could learn each other’s kinks together, too.I already have some ideas of what you like.”
His words snap me back into reality.
I shake my head, clearing it.“I’m with Gage.And Dmitri.I’m not interested.”
He sighs.“You’re a good girl, Leah?—”
“You.”A dark, cutting voice speaks from beyond my peripheral vision.“You don’t get to call her that.”
13
Gage
The charming grin on Seth Colton’s face fades into discomfort.He not-so-subtly leans back from Leah, putting extra distance between them.
Too little, too late.
He’s lucky I’m not a violent man.
“It’s time to go home, Leah.”I hold out my hand.
To her credit, she doesn’t hesitate.But to add gasoline to the inferno burning in my chest, she says, “It was nice chatting with you, Seth.”
He gives her a slow smile.“You too, Leah.”
I don’t like the covetous way he watches her as she hops off her stool and takes my hand.I’m not beneath performing, so I wrap my arm around her shoulders and kiss her forehead.These are things I would do anyway, but right now they are especially for Colton’s benefit.
