The Drake Unwound Complete Collection (The Drake Series Book 9)(41)

After I dropped her off, I went to the Foundation and sat with Dave, shooting the shit as men are wont to do at times, especially when I wanted to kill time waiting for Kate to be finished at the studio.

“So where is the lovely Ms. Bennet?” Dave asked as we sat in his office, a cup of coffee in hand. “Finishing up stuff at Columbia? She withdrew from her semester for you. That’s huge.”

“I know,” I said. “I asked her to.”


He shook his head, examining me carefully. “That is so not the Drake I know. You really must be addicted if you’re asking her to come with you.”

“A very pleasant addiction,” I said, giving him a half-grin. The other half of my wanted to give him a punch, but I held back.

“I tried to win her heart,” Dave said, leaning back, propping his feet on the desk, his hands behind his head. “I was persistent but she turned me down each time.”

“She’s not the sleep around kind of woman. You’re the sleep around kind of man. She knew that.”

“She’s spoken to you about me?”

“Not really, but she did corroborate your story of persistence.” I grinned at him, enjoying the expression on his face. “She said you were a pleasant lothario.”

"She said that?” He frowned. “Pleasant was not what I was going for.” He grinned and then laughed at himself. “I was trying to be seductive, but obviously she was immune to my masculine charms.”

“Totally immune.”

“Obviously she wasn’t immune to yours. Tell me, what’s your secret? Is it the money? The MD after your name? The guitar?”

I studied him, unable to tell him the truth—that she was attracted to the Dominant in me and that is why she would choose me over him. He had no real idea about my involvement in the lifestyle and I wanted to keep it that way.

When an hour had passed, and we had discussed Africa and what the Foundation would do in my absence, he shuffled his papers around and seemed a bit uncomfortable.

“As much as I’d like to shoot the shit with you all morning, Drake, I do have a conference call in half an hour and need to go over my notes.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said and stood up abruptly. “Of course. I’ll pop into my office and see what’s on my desk.”

We said our goodbyes and I left him in his office, flipping through files. I felt at a loss for I wasn’t used to not having business to attend to. I went into my own office down the hall and sat behind the desk. Then, I stared out the window and wondered how long Kate would be, trying my best not to get jealous.

When she still hadn’t texted me after two hours had passed, I decided to drive over and pop in. She may have lost track of time. Part of me felt a bit guilty doing so, for I should have waited until she contacted me but I was so damn curious to see what they did while I wasn’t there.



I parked close to the building and walked down the street to the entrance, annoyed once more by the fact that it was open to the public and anyone could just walk inside. I took the old creaky elevator to the top floor and could hear the music blasting even before I arrived. I went to the studio, opened the door and stood inside.

Some kind of industrial music played on the sound system, grinding, like metal. I glanced around and saw Kate standing between two men dressed in jeans and hoodies, the air blue over their heads, the stench of weed strong.

The two men passed a joint between them. On her part, Kate stood with her back facing me, washing items in the sink.

I caught Nathaniel’s eye. He turned to Kate and gestured to me with his head, saying something that I couldn’t hear over the music.

Kate turned and saw me, our eyes meeting. I raised my eyebrows suggestively, not all that pleased to see her standing so close with the two men.

She glanced around and said something else to Nathaniel and then turned back to the door.

"Drake," she shouted, drying her hands off on her apron. She went to the sound system and stopped the music. Then she came over to where I stood and put her arms around my neck. "I didn't hear you come in."

"How could you hear anything?" I said, smiling at her, trying to put on a good front despite finding her sandwiched between two artists who were much younger than me. I slipped my arms around her waist, pulling her against my body.

"What time is it?"

I smiled. "It's 1:30."

She inhaled sharply. "I forgot to check. Have you been waiting long?"

I shook my head. "I decided to come by and see what was going on. I figured you were otherwise occupied and just forgot about the time."

"I did. I was so busy putting on the gesso I lost track of time. Forgive me?"

I kissed her quickly. "Nothing to forgive. Let's go. Unless you want to stay…"

She shook her head. "No, let's go. I can't do anything until the coat dries. I have to finish cleaning up first."

I released her and she went back to the sink to finish drying off the brushes. I moved a bit closer and glanced at Nathaniel and then the other man, trying not to laugh out loud at the two of them.

The other man with long hair to his waist held the roach out to me. "Have a toke, man," he said.


I shook my head and held my hand up, palm out. "Thanks, but no."

He shrugged and sauntered back to his studio.