No man would have refused this goddess, offering herself on a silver fucking platter.
But I had. Insanity!
I adjusted my hard-on, cursing myself. What a fucking idiot.
For sure, she was pissed at me now. Slamming the door and calling me a son of a bitch made her feelings crystal clear.
I went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water, twisted the cap off, and guzzled the whole damn thing in one shot. I needed to calm down and prepare for her wrath. She might even throw something at me. Was it possible she had a gun in her room? One I didn’t know about?
Nothing in Simone’s place was a mystery to me. I’d thoroughly investigated it last summer and again yesterday. I even knew what drawer her sex toys were in. My girl liked big cocks. Lucky for her, mine put her most giant dildo to shame.
Why the hell was I tooting my own horn for? I’d just gotten her and myself all worked up, then left her wanting. She’d probably never spread her legs for me again. Fuck.
Simone shuffled down the hallway. My body tensed, waiting for her to appear. I was on high alert.
She was in black leggings and a pink T-shirt. Her hair was still up in a ponytail.
I’d never seen anyone more beautiful.
I tracked her movements, expecting her to acknowledge me. To curse me. But she didn’t.
Simone went into the kitchen and poked around her cabinets but took nothing out. After not finding what she was looking for, I assumed, she went to her favorite club chair.
I was totally perplexed.
She settled into the chair, resting her feet on the ottoman, and picked up a book on the end table.
Now I understood. Simone was ignoring me. Well, that was fine and probably for the better. We could sit in silence all she wanted—no sweat off my brow.
An hour later, I was going out of my fucking mind. Simone did the silent treatment very well. I was completely invisible to her, and it ticked me off more than it should. She was just giving me a dose of my own medicine.
I didn’t like it at all.
A triple knock followed by a single one stole my attention. It was the signal from Darwin or Jones. Simone didn’t react as I got off the couch and went to answer the door.
“Miss St. James’s groceries arrived.”
I took the two bags from Darwin. “Did you check the delivery person’s identification?”
“Yeah. Got all his info and sent it to York.” Darwin looked past me and furrowed his brow. “She okay?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yeah.”
“She doesn’t look it.”
“Well, she is.” I kicked the door closed and put her bags on the counter.
From the island, I had a perfect view of Simone. Her loft was one large open space with an L-shaped kitchen and island, a dining and living area. Several large picture windows were across from the kitchen. It wasn’t huge, with only three bedrooms and two bathrooms, but it was the nicest apartment I’d ever been in and was probably expensive. There were only two lofts on her floor, at the very top of the tower.
It seemed she was still ignoring me, so I removed the items from the bags and put the ice cream in the freezer. She had ordered an odd variety of foods, but it wasn’t my place to question her food choices.
It was approaching noon. I had a meeting with York to discuss Conrad and the Morosov family. I didn’t want to leave with Simone upset with me, but I really didn’t have a choice.
“I need to go out for a little while. Do you want me to pick anything up while I’m out?” I figured offering was a nice thing to do. Maybe it would smooth things over with her.
No response. She didn’t even take her nose out of her book.
“Okay. If you need anything, text me.”