Chapter 14 THE FIRST WEEK
Ava's POV
Monday night was supposed to be our first official date under the contract, but Dominic changed plans at the last minute.
There was a change of location as Adrian will bring me to the penthouse at 7 instead of 8 and I was also to wear casual clothes.
I stared at the text, confused but also relieved because I'd been stressing about what to wear for hours.
Casual could mean anything though, so I settled on jeans that Maya said made my ass look amazing and a soft sweater that was low enough to be interesting but not so low that I looked like I was trying too hard.
Adrian picked me up exactly at seven and we drove through the city in silence until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Can I ask you something personal?"
His eyes met mine in the rearview mirror.
"You can ask. I may not answer."
"Has Dominic done this before? The arrangement thing with other women?"
The pause was long enough that I thought he wasn't going to respond.
"No. You're the first."
Something warm bloomed in my chest even though I knew it shouldn't matter.
"Why me then?"
"You'd have to ask him that." But there was something in his tone that made me think he knew more than he was saying.
The penthouse was on the top floor of a building in Tribeca, it was all glass windows and exposed brick and furniture that probably cost more than my entire apartment building.
Dominic was in the kitchen when I walked in, sleeves rolled up and an apron tied around his waist that looked completely out of place on him.
"You cook?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He looked up and smiled.
"Surprised?"
"A little." I replied.
"I'm full of surprises." He gestured to the bar stool across from him.
"Sit. Tell me about your day while I finish this."
It felt weirdly domestic, sitting there watching him move around the kitchen with confident efficiency while I told him about the weird customer at the club who'd tried to pay me in crypto currency and Maya's ongoing drama with her ex-boyfriend who wouldn't stop texting.
"You should quit that job," he said suddenly, not looking up from whatever he was chopping.
"Excuse me?"
"The club. You don't need it anymore. The money I'm giving you is more than enough."
Something prickly rose in my chest.
"I like my job."
"You like serving drinks to men who treat you like property?"
"That's not..." I stopped, took a breath.
"I like having something that's mine. That I earned myself, not because someone gave it to me."
He was quiet for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"Fair enough. But if any of them touch you..."
"Then I'll handle it like I've been handling it for months before I met you."
His jaw tightened but he didn't argue, just went back to cooking.
Dinner was surprisingly good, some kind of pasta with vegetables that he'd made from scratch apparently, and we ate on his couch with our plates balanced on our knees while he asked me questions about my life that no one had ever bothered asking before.
What books I liked, what music I listened to and what I wanted to do with my life if money wasn't an issue.
I found myself opening up in ways that scared me, telling him about wanting to go to college but never being able to afford it, about dreaming of traveling but never making it further than Jersey.
"Then we'll travel," he said like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Where do you want to go first?"
"I don't...Dominic, that's not what this is."
"Why not?" He set his plate aside and turned to face me fully.
"The contract says three nights a week. It doesn't specify what we do during those nights."
"I assumed it meant..."
"Sex?" His smile was wicked.
"We'll definitely do plenty of that. But I also want to spend time with you. Get to know you. Take you places."
Before I could respond, his phone rang and his expression darkened when he saw the caller ID.
"I need to take this." He stood and walked to his office, shutting the door behind him.
I sat there for a minute, then my curiosity got the better of me and I wandered around the penthouse, looking at everything.
There were almost no personal touches anywhere, no photos or knickknacks or anything that gave insight into who Dominic actually was beyond being rich and powerful.
Except for one shelf in his office that I could see through the glass door.
There were book, really old ones that looked like they'd been read a thousand times.
I was trying to read the titles when the office door opened suddenly and Dominic stood there looking tense.
"Sorry about that. Work emergency."
"It's fine. I was just..." I gestured vaguely at the bookshelf.
"Snooping?" He asked.
"Curious." I replied to let him no i was just looking around, not with any other intent.
He walked over and pulled out one of the books, some leather-bound thing with gold lettering I couldn't read.
"My father gave me these. They're the only things I kept after he died." He said and the vulnerability in his voice surprised me.
"I'm sorry.... about your father."
"Don't be. He was a complicated man." He put the book back carefully.
"But he taught me everything I know about business and survival."
There was a story there, something dark and painful, but before I could ask, he was pulling me against him.
"Enough talking," he murmured against my neck, his hands already sliding under my sweater.
"I've been patient all through dinner." He added, taking off my bra immediately.