* * *

I’ve never been so completely consumed by my business as I have for the last two months. It’s the only thing I can do to distract myself from her. Her. The girl I let get away--the one I’ve only grown hungrier for in the months since I last tasted her lips. Lysa. She’s out there somewhere. It drives me half-mad knowing. Wondering. Is she with another man already?

I grit my teeth. I’ve told myself a hundred times I’d be happy for her if she found someone. After all, if Lysa means as much to me as I say she does, then I shouldn’t wish for her to pine away for me. Wanting me can only end two ways for her: in ruin or in disappointment. I saw so much of who she is in those sparse moments we shared. I saw a girl who cares more for her sick mother than for herself. A young college-aged girl who is far too innocent and far too pure to be desecrated by my dark desires.

So I go on. I wake up, I make deals, I make money, and I let the zeroes pile up in my bank account with as much meaning as so much dust. I spend the hours I’m not working at the gym trying to exhaust myself. Hoping that it will exorcise her from my mind.They are motions I go through. Routine. It’s all just a game to keep my mind off of her, and it only works for bits and pieces of my day. Give me a few moments of quiet--a walk up a flight of stairs, a drive to one of my properties, even the pause for breath in a conversation--and there she is, bubbling to the surface of my mind like a flowery burst of misery.

My pet.

I walk inside Baptist Memorial Hospital, where I’m greeted by a nervous man in a suit. This kind of deal normally happens in a board room, but I learned a long time ago to do it in the most public place possible. Let the ground floor workers see I’m the boss now. Let them see how their former CEO defers to me and hands me the power. It’s easier that way.

I exchange a few cold pleasantries with the former owner in the lobby, motion for my assistant to hand him the necessary papers, and wait while he signs over ownership of his business to me. It’s a homerun deal for me. Baptist Memorial is a hugely successful chain of hospitals all over the country, and I just bought over fifty percent of them. The only reason I was able to snag the deal is that the majority of the shareholders just got snapped up in an insider trading scandal, leaving the leadership bare and profits slumping.

I should be thrilled. In an already unprecedented career, the potential profit from this deal alone dwarfs anything I’ve done. But all I can do is force a smile and shake a few hands while the familiar emptiness gnaws at me from the inside.

Men and women move in and out of the lobby in a steady stream, but a flash of blue catches my eye. I turn my head, and my mouth actually falls open. Lysa. She’s walking directly toward our group, eyes cast out the window sadly as she clutches a pamphlet in her hand.

Every muscle in my body tenses. The temptation to go to her nearly overwhelms everything else. I hold still, but only barely, watching her while she gets closer. I told myself I had stretched the truth in my mind, that I had made her more beautiful and more breathtaking in memory than she could’ve ever been in person, but the truth is staring me right in the face. My memories didn’t even do her justice. The sun catches her brown hair and eyes through the windows and lights them up like they’re filled with gold. I can still remember how it felt to hold those jaw-dropping hips in my hands and drive my cock inside her, how soft her skin was against the rough callouses of my hands, and how sweet the sounds of her moans were.

I’m about to turn away so she doesn’t notice me when my eyes fall to the pamphlet in her hand. In big, white letters, the words “Pregnancy and You” are printed at the top. It doesn’t take much mental math to run a quick calculation of the odds. Unprotected sex two months ago. No real sign of a baby bump yet. No man on her arm as she leaves the appointment.

Is she carrying my baby?

I was only holding myself from going to her by the smallest possible margin, and now there’s no hope. I ignore the shocked gasps when I set off at a jog, leaving the men behind without so much as a word.

When Lysa sees me coming, she stops in her tracks, eyes widening and hand going limp as the pamphlet drifts soundlessly to the ground.

“You’re pregnant,” I say. A statement, not a question. But the question I’m asking is plain as day. Is it mine?

The surprise on her face quickly melts to something hotter. Something close to anger. “It’s for my friend,” she says.

I take a half-step closer until she has to tilt her head up to look into my eyes. The connection is just as strong as it was before--stronger, even. I can practically hear her thoughts humming in my head, like they’re being broadcast to me by radio signal. She’s lying to me.

“It’s been two months since we saw each other, and the first thing out of your mouth is a lie?” I ask. My voice is low and dangerous. I felt like she belonged to me from the moment I saw her in the lobby of my hotel, but if she’s carrying my baby, too? Fuck. If I knocked her up, then it’s not about the danger of tainting her purity anymore, or bringing my darkness into her world. It’s about making sure my baby has a father, and that the mother of my child isn’t struggling to raise him on her own.

I made a promise to myself a long time ago that if I ever had a baby, he would know his father, and that his mother would never want for anything I could give her. It didn’t matter if the relationship worked out or if we had our differences. That promise is rooted in my past, and it’s not one I’ll ever fucking break. I’m surprised to realize even if the baby isn’t mine, I still won’t let her do this by herself. No way in hell.

She swallows hard, but doesn’t back down. “It’s been two months since we saw each other, and you think you deserve to know my business?”

The corner of my mouth curls up. “You know, there are elevators right over there. If you want to keep testing my patience like that, I’ll be happy to give you a quick lesson. Or a slow one, depending on how fast you learn.”

She sucks in an indignant breath through her nose, but I can see how rapidly she’s breathing. Her cheeks are flushed, and I’d bet every penny I own that her nipples are hard and her pussy is getting wet for me already. I may have stayed away this long, but there’s no way I can now. I’m about to fall into this harder than I did the first time, to drink deeper, and I know I won’t be satisfied until she truly understands what it means to be my pet and to call me Master.