Near Perfection [Aspire 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

“Haley. Haley, wake up, sweetheart. We need to talk.”

He watched as she jerked and then put her hands toward her face in a scrubbing motion. It seemed odd, and her voice sounded rusty when she replied.

“Okay, Warren. Please give me a minute. I need to use the bathroom. Can it wait until breakfast?” she answered.

“Of course, sweetheart.”

Haley then seemed to flow from the bed with such grace and hurried past him. He admired her curvaceous shape even as he noted her drawn face. If he didn’t know better, he would have thought Haley had been crying. But Haley never cried, other than tears of passion, which was a good thing because he didn’t like any other kind of tears. They bothered him because he didn’t know what to do, how to comfort people who cried. He didn’t know what they required of him. His past subs always told him that he lacked that ability to comfort. He was excellent with aftercare following a scene, but he didn’t do real life. Well, that was the reason he did scenes. They met needs for both subs and Doms and made up for any lack in real life. Warren was more aware of his reserve than perhaps others knew. He provided for his women and took care of all their physical needs. He was polite and thoughtful, and they lacked for nothing, or so he assured himself.

The bathroom door shut as though Haley required privacy, and Warren shook off yet another uneasy feeling. He quickly dressed and then went in search of his housekeeper to request that a light breakfast be served on the terrace.

He was partway through the financial pages when Haley arrived for breakfast. Warren was slightly annoyed. She never kept him waiting, and he was hungry, having denied himself the fulfillment of a different kind of hunger that morning. That particular appetite still gnawed at his insides, and he really had to work hard not to strip Haley and bend her over the padded bench by the pool. She looked beautiful and sexy in a sheer blouse and flowing skirt, her choice in lingerie arousing as always. He had always been a sucker for sensual fabrics, and she always seemed to know his preferences. He didn’t expect her to be naked for him, like many Doms expected their subs to be. Warren had his own code, and he liked the way things worked. Haley totally went with his flow, and he was content with that. She always seemed to anticipate his needs and never put a foot wrong. Except he was irritated with her right now, and that was strange. He was really never irritated with Haley. She never gave him cause to be. She was perfect, when he thought about it, and Warren tamped his cantankerous feelings down.

“Sit down, Haley. The coffee won’t be hot. You took a long time coming for breakfast.”

Warren heard his tone and suddenly understood his irritation. It wasn’t that Haley had kept him waiting. It was because he had known there was something wrong with her earlier and he hadn’t stayed to find out what it was. And she was withholding from him, something a sub should never do to her Dom. He conveniently forgot that he preferred no real emotional involvement outside of scenes. He examined her face and thought he saw evidence of residual tears, carefully camouflaged with the light makeup she wore. His stomach clenched. He knew he was supposed to take care of his woman, although Haley had never before required it of him, except after a scene or rough sex. She was always so self-contained. He felt incompetent somehow, and it was an unsettling, and very new, feeling for him.

“I’m sorry, Warren. I took longer getting ready today for some reason.”

Haley’s voice was bright and cheerful, and Warren dismissed the idea of tears as being fanciful. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was ever wrong with Haley, and that was why he had kept her with him as long as he had. Warren worked hard at finding the relief that should have come from her response. He waited until she had chosen some fruit and a piece of toast, and added cream to her coffee, before he spoke again.

“I’m going to New York later today, Haley,” he advised. “I’ve neglected that office over the past months, and I need to get out there.”

Haley kept her eyes on her plate but said, “I’ll be ready….”

Warren cut her off. “I’ll be gone about a week, Haley. There is no need for you to come along. I’ll be working the whole time. It’s better that you stay here. You can sort through your clothing or something and make a list of what you need for next season. The weather will be changing soon.”

Haley carefully set her fork down across her plate, balancing it with great precision. She looked into his eyes, and for a moment, Warren couldn’t get a complete breath following what he saw there. He wasn’t really good at interpreting a wide range of emotions. He didn’t need to in his world of business where everything to him was black and white. After all, he had the power. People needed him and came to him. But he knew pain when he saw it. He knew sadness. It was a look his mother had when his father was around. She tried to hide it from him until he was older, but Warren knew it for what it was. He couldn’t stand the fact that he saw it in Haley’s eyes, although he had seen it in the eyes of his other women and it had not really affected him. Warren knew he would have to brace himself for the tears and recriminations that would inevitably follow should he have to tell Haley their relationship was over when he returned from New York. He found he regretted the thought, but for her sake, not his own.

“Tell me the truth, Warren,” Haley said quietly.

Warren nearly tipped right back in his chair. He couldn’t have been more surprised if she had reached out and slapped him. Haley wasn’t reacting like his other women. They pretended, and became upset, and hung on until he released them. He was reading something in this sub he had never seen before and hadn’t expected. He didn’t like this kind of confrontation unless he was the one doing the confronting. Haley never questioned him, never challenged him. Those women who did were released immediately. Warren wanted to remind her of her place and tell her to go to his room for correction, but something stopped him. He found he wanted to continue this conversation and see where it led. However, once he set a course, he never deviated.

“I need to think about us, this relationship, Haley,” he said evenly. “I find myself questioning things, and I feel uneasy. You should know that there is a possibility that I will release you from our contract when I return from New York.”

He hesitated and then added, “There is the honesty you requested.”

Warren waited for Haley to become emotional, and suddenly wished he had simply gone to New York to think things through as he had originally planned and not given her any idea of what he was thinking. Damn her. She had made him speak before he had time to weigh his words.

The blood drained from Haley’s face, and for a moment, Warren thought she might faint, and he pushed back from the table to get up and reach for her, but she raised a hand and gestured for him to remain sitting.

“Thank you, Warren. I won’t be here when you return. We can either sign a termination of the contract or tear up the one we have.” Haley stood and placed her napkin on the table.

Warren couldn’t find words. He had just told her that he needed time to think. He hadn’t totally committed to releasing her. No woman had left him before. It totally discomfited him, and he heard himself lash out like a bad-tempered child.

“If that is your wish, Haley, by all means. I will honor the terms of the contract. I’ll deposit the money into your account by the end of today, and Madeline will help you pack your things.”

The latter slur was unmistakable. Warren had just inferred that Haley might take items that she mistakenly thought belonged to her, and he found himself wishing he could take the words back. That had been unforgivable.

“Stick your money and your things up your tight ass, Warren. You are a totally ignorant boor and an asshole to boot,” he heard Haley reply, to his total astonishment, and his regret vanished. Haley was a lady and never, ever, used crass words or epithets. Ladylike behaviour was one of the things he expected from his women. When she continued in the same vein, he thought his cock would beat its way out of his zipper. Where had this side of Haley been hiding?

“I didn’t fuck you for money or for things. But then you wouldn’t know anything different. You don’t let yourself feel because that would be taking a risk. You’re a coward,” Haley said and then turned to stalk into the house.

Warren sat, as though glued to his chair, staring after her for several minutes. He tried to eat his breakfast and ignore his confusion. He just wanted to pretend nothing had happened. He found that he couldn’t think, couldn’t process what had just taken place. Haley had quit her job, at his request, when she had moved in with him. He knew she didn’t have much money saved. He didn’t like money-grabbing women, and Haley never asked for nor demanded material things from him, although accepted what he gave her. When he really thought about it, she had been perfection, and yet only this morning he had been questioning that perfection, wondering if he was becoming bored. And what did she mean that he wouldn’t know anything different? What the hell was going on? He meant to find out.

He marched through the house, looking for his impertinent sub. He even poked his head inside her bedroom when she didn’t answer his knock. Her room was off-limits to him, but since she had broken the contract, he reasoned that he could at least look inside. She wasn’t there. The blouse and skirt she had worn to breakfast were on the bed, the lingerie tossed carelessly on top. He cautiously walked into the room, noting her little sandals on the carpet by the bed, probably right where she had stepped out of them. His caution in entering Haley’s bedroom caused him to marvel at being such a creature of habit, so bound by some code. A code he rewrote to suit
him
because it kept him comfortable. Warren wasn’t feeling so comfortable now.

He didn’t know where Haley kept all her things, but the closet seemed full and orderly. He moved the clothes aside, fingering the fine fabrics. The scent Haley wore wafted up, and he inhaled it, heightening his arousal. Her suitcases, the ones he bought for their last trip to New York, were also in there, so she hadn’t packed to leave. Where the hell was she? Warren had some involved sexual plans for Haley to precipitate a discussion about what had just transpired between them and to begin to unveil any further unknown aspects of her character. It would likely take a considerable length of time. He dismissed the memory that he was going to New York and that he wasn’t certain they would even have a contract in a week’s time. He decided to ignore the fact that
Haley
had broken it.

The attached bath was spotless, and while feminine items littered the top of the vanity, nothing looked out of place to him. He turned to leave and caught the end of a hairbrush with his shirtsleeve. It clattered to the floor, and he bent to pick it up. A sparkle in the toilet caught his eye as he straightened, and Warren stared, incredulous. Haley’s platinum chain, the closest thing to a collar that he had bestowed on any woman, was curled like a shimmering silver shaft of light in the water on the base of the bowl. Warren ran toward the front of the house, shouting for Madeline, his guts in turmoil, his chest full of something he didn’t immediately recognize. Fear and loss weren’t emotions Warren routinely felt. Not since his mother’s death.

“Yes, Mr. Warren!” Madeline’s breathless voice announced her as she found him at the front door. “What is it?”

“Where is Miss Haley?” Warren nearly bellowed. He tried to calm himself. This was totally unlike him.

“Why, she just took a taxi, sir,” Madeline explained. “She asked me to call for one right after she had her breakfast.”

Warren cursed, quite imaginatively, likely shocking Madeline, who was probably more used to the gentleman he had been, right up until the moment that little wench had talked to him the way she had. She wasn’t going to sit down for her meals for a week, and he was going to ream her… Madeline was talking again.

“Is Miss Haley ill, sir?” she asked.

“What would make you think she was ill?” Warren demanded.

“Well, she was so pale, and she had on that unflattering, old gray coat she wouldn’t let me get rid of. You know the one, sir?”

Warren did indeed. Haley had explained that the coat was her mother’s, one of the few things that she had left of her, and had resisted it being given away along with the rest of her unsuitable things. He had been relieved when she hadn’t shared more of what had clearly been a painful memory, sparing him that, unlike some of his other women who would have unloaded on him. Warren suddenly felt faint for the first time in his life, and he found himself sinking onto the bench in the hall. He was a selfish piece of shit. That was what he was. The whole freaking morning had been full of revelations, what he liked in a woman, what he didn’t, what he demanded and expected. He wanted perfection, and Haley had given it to him at who knew what cost to herself, and he had decided that he was bored with it! Warren was furious with himself
and
with Haley. What she had done was terribly unhealthy, and he thought he now understood her statement about him not understanding, and why she had done it. And he had hurt her and fucked himself in the process. It was too convoluted, and he didn’t like the way it made him feel. With an enormous emotional effort, Warren tucked his epiphany and all accompanying emotions away in a dark, safe place and pulled himself together, right back to the old, familiar Warren. Madeline was watching him narrowly.

“No, she wasn’t ill, Madeline. Miss Haley has made the choice to leave. I have a plane to catch, so kindly take care of things while I am gone.”