Surrender : Book 2 in the Dangerous Games series

Chapter 2

Katya

We arrived at the restaurant and I was starving. Once we were seated I attacked the chips and salsa like I hadn't seen food in over a year. "I probably should have asked before, you're on birth control right?" Immediately the chip in my mouth becomes lodged in my windpipe. I start to cough and I mean cough hard. My face turns red and my eyes start to water. I even push back from the table and bend over slightly in my chair. I guess you could say I didn't see that one coming. "OH! SHIT!" Gage jumps up and rushes around the table to pat me on the back as my cough deepens and becomes even more harsh. "It went down wrong." I managed to gasp in between a few moments of agonizing throat constriction. I chug my margarita in a futile attempt to soothe my aching throat. "Here, have some water." He reached for the glass and I shook my head. "No, I'm okay." I say, clearing my throat, "don't want to dilute my buzz." He laughs and shakes his head as he gives my shoulder a slight squeeze. Finally I stop choking and he sits back down. After a few more sips of my drink I think I'm okay. However, I'm done with the chips for now.

"So are you?" Gage asks, breaking the silence I didn't realize had fallen. "I'm sorry, what?" I look at him in confusion for a moment. "On birth control?" he asks again. "Oh, yes.... Yes I am," I chuckle. "Good. I wanted to make sure before we did anything we might regret later." He starts in on the salsa I had pushed across the table. "Oh I agree completely. I'm nowhere near ready to be a mother." The sudden image of me having his baby makes me blush. "Yeah, same here. I'm not sure 'daddy' is a title that fits me at the moment either. I guess I shouldn't have blurted it out like that. I didn't mean to choke you," he snickers. "It's okay, well not the choking part," I joke, "but we needed to talk about it at some point. I think you just startled me." My phone pings and I check my messages before returning it to my bag.

"I meant to ask, was everything alright? Earlier I mean, with Xavier? You guys normally don't talk that long." I scrunch my nose for a moment before I understand what he is referring to. "Yeah, about that..... apparently my parents are visiting soon." There is a hint of apprehension in my tone. "Is that right?" He leans back and crosses his arms with a smile. "Yeah, it seems they are concerned because I don't call them enough and haven't visited them since I moved. Oh, and the last time they called Ethan was kind enough to inform them that I moved out." Gage's smile falls into a thin line and his forehead creases. "Well that was very...." his words trailed off as if he were unsure how to end that statement. "Shitty? Stupid? Conniving? Vindictive? Asshole-ish?" The words just tumbled from my lips. "I was going to go with inconsiderate but you can pick your own adjective darlin'." I swallowed a bite of the huge taco salad that had recently been placed in front of me. "I'm sorry. I just can't believe he would stoop that low. He knew the shit storm that he would cause when he told them that. I may be 20 years old but he knew they would insist on coming here in person to check on me anyway."

I refilled my margarita from the pitcher on the table. Gage is still leaning back in his chair. The way he sizes me up tells me he knows exactly what I'm going to say. "They will be here for two weeks." Something tells me this is a no-go. "That's nice," he states as he cocks his head slightly. His body language remains the same but half his lip turns up in a smile. I open my mouth to speak, but his voice cuts me off before my words form, "No." He simply crosses his arms across his chest. "Excuse me?" I look at him as if he's lost his damn mind and all that elicits from him is a smile. "The answer to your question. It's a no." I scrunch my forehead and hold my hands out, palms up. "But, I haven't asked anything." He leans forward and rests his forearms on the table. "But you were about to were you not?" I avert my eyes and clear my throat. "I...umm...." I try to gather my thoughts. "Look at me Katya." Something in his tone compels me to obey. His voice drops in volume but remains strong with authority. He is sensual.....commanding. I instantly feel tingly all over. "I don't care what you do Thursday through Saturday. Sunday through Wednesday you agreed, you are mine. That starts now, not two weeks from now. I don't care what you have to tell them. I will be claiming you on time and that is non-negotiable. Am I understood?" All I can do is nod my head, my eyes glued to his. My nipples harden as my breathing labors slightly. I'm positive my panties are now wet. Fuck! He said I'd know the difference in his tone when he talked to me as my Dom. Apparently he was right. That shit is so hot! All I know at this moment is that Sunday can't get here fast enough.