He didn't say anything else, though I could tell he badly wanted to.
Instead, he got up and walked away.
It was not what I'd wanted him to do and completely unsatisfying.
"I thought you decided a long time ago not to do any of that in anger," Bianca told me later.
We were soaking in a bath. I snagged one of her feet and started rubbing at her arch.
I was trying to relax, to get over my rage, but even several orgasms and a hot bath didn't seem to be curing me.
I was bad at relaxing, always had been.
"I said I wouldn't do it when I was angry at you," I told her finally, kissing the bottom of her foot.
"Are you really going to try to say right now, with the way you've been acting all afternoon, that none of this anger is directed at me?"
I gave her very steady eye contact. "Yes, that is what I'm telling you. Not an ounce of my anger is for you."
She sighed. "It's Joseph, isn't it? You can't fire him over something so silly. You know you can't. That's insane. He's worked for us for years. You can't fire him just because I painted a picture of him. That's what I do. I paint things. I paint people. It's not even his fault. I asked him to pose."
"That's not why I'd fire him."
She gave me a genuinely confused look that went a long way towards making me feel better. "I don't understand."
I watched her face, wondering if she really didn't know.
If somehow she didn't, I wasn't going to be the one to tell her. I didn't want to see her reaction to his feelings for her.
What if she was tempted? What if she had feelings for him?
Without another word, I got out of the bath and went to bed.
I approached Stephan about it, a few days later, wanting his take on the situation, and his opinion on how to handle it.
We met up for lunch at his bar in my casino. I got right to the point.
"Joseph's become a problem," I told him bluntly.
He grimaced. Clearly, he knew just what I was referring to. "Bianca sees him as a friend. A good friend. You can't just fire him."
My jaw clenched. That didn't help.
"Does she know he's in love with her?" I asked quietly.
He didn't look surprised by the information, but he shook his head. "No, no I don't think so. If she had a clue how he felt, she wouldn't be so open and friendly with him. She wouldn't spend so much time with him."
I cringed. "She spends that much time with him?"
"No. Stop. Don't do that to yourself. She doesn't spend an excessive amount of time with him, just, you know, he works at the house, he takes her around. He's her bodyguard. That's his job. But you've got nothing to worry about. She would never . . ."
I knew I was in a foul mood when even Stephan was agitating me. I couldn't remember the last time I'd gone to him with something and not had him make me feel better about it.
"You find that situation to be acceptable?" I asked him bitingly. "You think this is going to end well? It's escalating, I can tell."
He didn't disagree with me, but he didn't have a solution, either.
I went to Clark about it next.
"Did you know that you hired someone with a very distinct distaste for my lifestyle?" I asked him.
He didn't look surprised. The set of his mouth was annoyed, and a touch resigned. "I do now. I've been catching that vibe for a while, but I didn't know it at the start. Of course, they've all signed NDAs that will protect you."
"Yes I know. This wasn't actually my real issue. Can you guess what is?"
He rubbed at a temple, looking tired. "Yes, I can. I don't know what to do about it. Firing is the easiest solution, with a severance package, but you're going to have to get that past Bianca. They're good friends, you know."
I laughed, and it was a bitter sound. "Yes, so I've noticed."
"I spoke to him about it," Clark added. This was news to me. "I told him that he needs to do a better job of staying part of the background. It's not his job to keep the boss's wife company."
"No, it's not. Did you also tell him it's not his job to lust after my wife?"
"I did, yes. In so many words. He said he'll do better. We'll just have to wait and see, unless you wanted to handle it more aggressively. Up to you. Just let me know."
I shook my head. "No, we'll wait and see, like you said."
I confronted Joseph at every opportunity, but he was doing much better at keeping his thoughts and his reactions to himself and under control after that. I didn't know if it was because of Clark, or if his own sense of self-preservation had finally kicked in.
As much as it went against the grain, I did nothing, just watched, and waited, feeling sick to my stomach every time I thought of him spending time with her.
It was agony for me. It made me antsy all the time. Was he with her right now? Would he slowly worm his way into her affections?
Had he already?
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
MY PROCLIVITIES
I came home in the early afternoon, some days later, to find her riding.