A few hours after Pete left, I was still reeling from his visit. I still felt there was something he wasn't saying and I couldn't for the life of me figure what it was about him that got me so uncomfortable. I debated on talking to Rogue about his visit, but I decided not to make it an issue. I didn't want to make this a big deal and have him think I was trying to ruin his friendship with his best friend, so I decided not to say anything.

"You better be thinking about me," Rogue said, interrupting my daydreams.

I looked up to see him standing in the doorway of Hanna's office, a little shocked to see him and kinda excited because I had been thinking about him and he just appeared as if I had a button that summoned him.

When I stared into his eyes, dark and vague, the corner of his mouth tilted up a little. "Were you thinking about me?"

I had heard he was in the building, having a meeting with Robert. I had been confused but slightly relieved that Pete had left an hour before he had walked in; although, people would still talk about seeing him twice and with different clothes. I wondered if anyone had asked him that. I wondered if he knew Pete was here. Twenty minutes ago when I saw him around the office, we had brushed past each other and he gave me a slight nod of acknowledgement.

"Hey." Fingers snapped in front of my face and I returned to reality when I realized when he was standing a few feet away from me. My eyes widened when I registered that he was really here, and I rushed to see if anyone had noticed him sneaking into the office.

"Did anyone see you come in?" I asked, quickly dimming the windows so we couldn't be seen. Rogue was behind me when I turned around, caging me against the wall and kept steady hands pressed against the wall behind me. I sucked in a breath.

He raised a brow. "Is that the first thing you're going to say to me? Very well, then." He drew back, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I came in here to invite you to lunch and don't worry, no one saw me coming in here." Cocking his head, he added, "And don't you think people would notice the windows and be a little suspicious? It's certainly not the brightest move if you're trying to make it look like nothing is happening between us."

"Ah, shit." I huffed out a breath and banged my head back against the wall. "When you put it like that, it's actually true."

"Well, I try to make it a habit of stating facts." His fingers were playing with mine, but my eyes were on his smirk. "Have lunch with me."

"What business would I have with Rogue Slade to have lunch with him?" I arched my brows slightly. "It's what people will ask."

He didn't have to think before replying, "We got to know each other so well after our companies collaborated, and if you haven't forgotten, I did your photoshoot. And of course, after that, we realized we both have something in common."

"Which is?"

"We like each other."

I snorted. "Be serious. If we have lunch together, people will talk."

"Then let them. In case you haven't noticed, people love talking a lot. I'm a man who has been in the spotlight for years. Anything I do, people talk about it, and eventually, they will move on to better things. It's nothing that should scare you."

"But—"

"Don't you have lunch with friends?" he probed, now walking around Hanna's office, poking at the papers on her desk.

I straightened and crossed my arms, leveling my breath. "None of them are Rogue Slade," I countered lamely, enjoying looking at his taut ass in those pants that were directly in my line of sight.

This time, he gave me the full piercing weight of his hazel eyes. "You're making me sound like a goddamn Pope or royalty. It's not everything I do that gets on the paper, Beth. People aren't interested in who I eat with, trust me."

"You underestimate your popularity, don't you? Or are you just trying to lie to me to get me to have lunch with you?"

He rolled his eyes. "So what if people talk? Give it a few days and they will forget about it and move on to something better." His tone sounded like he had decided where he stood on the matter. "I don't give a fuck what they think and neither should you. Just have lunch with me or I won't eat unless you do, and I'm really starving, Beth."

I snorted.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the desk, giving me a challenging stare. "You don't think I would?"

Laughing, I uncrossed my hands and rested them at my sides. "I know you're a different kind of crazy and I believe every word you say."

"I take that as a yes."

Fifteen minutes later, we were seated in a restaurant across from the office building with our food in front of us. The restaurant had been his choice after declining all the restaurants I had recommended, but he claimed I wouldn't make it back to work in time. Somehow, I felt like he was deliberately trying to show off our relationship or find a way to corner me into having no choice but to publicize it.

I had been on guard, trying to look around the restaurant to check if I would see anyone that I knew. For my sake, Rogue had asked for the table away from the windows when I mentioned paps, then he jokingly said he wasn't a celebrity and there was no reason for the paparazzi to follow him. I forced myself to relax when he threatened to kiss me in front of everyone and knowing him, he would definitely go through with it.

"This is nice," I remarked, after taking a bite of my salad. I was trying to cut off from eating too much when I realized I was gaining more pounds than I could handle.

He had a small smile playing against his lips as he cut into his medium-rare steak. "I agree."

It was nice. It was like a real date that we never had. The times we had been together like this, we hadn't been officially dating and we were in a bad place with each other. Right now was different. Right now, we were two people who wanted to spend time together, and two people who liked to spend time with each other.

"Why were you seeing Robert?" I inquired curiously.

"It's confidential," he responded with a smirk.

He didn't want to tell me? Well, then fine. I rolled my eyes. I wasn't interested in what they had discussed. I was merely curious.

His grin made me think he was making a joke here. "Or maybe I created an excuse so I could drag you out from that cage."

My cheeks felt pink. "It's not a cage."

"It's a cage," he pressed on, and I tensed. He was perfectly still for a long moment. Still and silent, except for his breathing, which was slow and steady. When he started to cut his meat, he added, "Any place that you don't feel comfortable with me around is a cage."

I whispered, "So you found a key and got me out?"

"I wish." He huffed out a breath. "I just bought a little of your time. You're the one who needs to find the key and let yourself out. I can only do so little in the presence of your cowardly."

"I'm not a coward," I replied faintly.

Rogue looked up and held my gaze. "Then kiss me right now," he dared, and my whole body tensed.

"We're in public." I looked around at the dozen people in the restaurant. Although they weren't looking at us, I still didn't want to take the risk and kiss him.

In a husky voice, he said, "That's what I thought." He looked down at his food.

"You're honestly not going to get mad at this, right? I've explained it to you."

"Beth." He was staring at me again, quite intensely. "There are a thousand ways I intend to make you pay for hiding our relationship and another hundred thousand for making me go along with it."

My heart turned over. My stomach filled with butterflies and it was making me breathe harder, my heart pounding like a hammer. I drank my glass of water to cool down.

"How long do you think this would last?" he suddenly asked. We held each other's gaze for several seconds. "How do I act with you in public? I didn't like our interaction earlier." He sounded annoyed. "Beth, I didn't like how I walked past you with a nod when I wanted to stop and kiss you, hold you in my arms."

Something deep inside me tugged and tightened. I lowered my eyes.

"When do you think it's going to be okay for you to tell the world how I mean to you?" he questioned. "Will you ever be confident and accept this, or will you wait until you think it's alright for people to know? How long do you think that is? I need to know the duration because I'm not exactly going to be out of the public eyes anytime soon, so when? Or do you plan to continue with this secret relationship? Is that what you've been thinking?"

I pressed my lips together hard, unwilling to acknowledge how true the statement was, even though we both knew it.

Then, he grew serious.

"I know how to wait, but I'm an impatient man. There's only so much I'm willing to take," he said, studying me to see if I understood what he meant.

And I did. Which made my heart rise and slam into my chest.

My voice rose ever so slightly. "You're considering breaking up with me?" I sat up straighter in my chair, tension rolling down my spine.

"I don't want to," he replied tightly. "I don't like the idea of breaking up with you, but you're being selfish. You want me to continue having a secret relationship with you when you have no idea when you would be able to publicize our relationship. In this case, you're only thinking about yourself. What about me?"

I was silent. I shifted in my seat.

"I've never had any real relationship until you. It was you who made me want to have something worthwhile and something that I'm willing to fight for. I want people to know we are together. No hiding or worrying about being seen together."

I blinked.

Rogue pushed his dish aside and leaned over the table. "Beth, I can't change who I am. I can't turn it off. I wish I could, but this is what you get. If that's still an issue to you, then I need you to tell me sooner rather than later." He reached out to put his hand over mine. "Are you truly willing to be with me? You're not the only one who had to make sacrifices."

This sounded interesting. "What sacrifices?"

He drilled his eyes into me. "Haven't you noticed? I gave up some of myself to keep you."

"What?" I was shocked and confused.

He wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Do you think the man I am right now is the man you've met months or weeks ago?" he questioned me. "I had to hold him back and be this man for you."

I didn't notice. I didn't notice that he was quite different from the man that I knew. I never knew he was struggling to hold back from being the man that I feared. I never knew he had to be this version of himself, a version he thought I would like. My stomach twisted at the thought that he had to be different to keep me. It didn't settle well with me.

I let out the air in my lungs, slowly. "I never asked you, Rogue. I never said I wanted someone different. All I want is you, the real you."

"The one who kidnapped you and tortured you—such villainous acts against you. You want that man back?"

"That man is you. It's who you are and who I know." My brows pinched together. "You think if I cared about that, I would be here with you right now?" He didn't get to reply because the waiter came and left the tab on the table. I swiped it before he had the chance to take it.

"I'm paying."

"I asked you out."

I shrugged. "I want to pay. I don't expect you to pay for everything all the time. Consider this a nice treatment for you." I pulled my card from my bag, grinning when he glared at me.

Rogue nodded with a smirk and caught the eye of the waiter as he passed by again. "We want to order dessert." He handed him his black card before I had the chance to realize what he just did.

"You're insufferable," I remarked, shaking my head. "You can't just let me win this one time."

"The universe needs balance, darling."

There was no goodbye kiss when we left the restaurant and his car pulled up. He gave me a gentle smile before he got inside, leaving me to stand by the sidewalk. When the car started moving, it took a couple of seconds before I was crossing the road to get to the office.

*

On the same day, I received a bouquet of Juliet roses by delivery. Everyone was talking about them and the person who sent them. It was not everyday people received expensive flowers like that. There was no card attached, and I didn't need it because I knew who would send them.

"Spill, who is the secret admirer?" Erica asked me as she lifted the bouquet and sniffed the flowers. "I know it's not West, so who is it? Are you seeing someone new?"

I knew the secret wasn't going to last, and it didn't seem like Rogue would care if it didn't. I was the only one who was against it, but I knew it annoyed him. I had to remember exactly why I was trying to hide it, but I had no good reason for it. I was torturing him for a stupid reason, and in the end, torturing myself as well because it hurt him.

Yeah, people would talk. I didn't care. What was the worst thing they could do? It was not like I killed someone or anything. There was nothing wrong with dating Rogue Slade. Words could not hurt me. Opinions didn't matter to me, as long as both Rogue and I were happy with each other.

"They're from Rogue," I told Erica and her jaw dropped, her eyes following the flowers and back to my face. "Is this...are you....." She leaned closer to me. "Are you dating Rogue?" She almost seemed to choke on his name.

I met her eyes and smirked. "Yes."

Erica gasped and bit down at her bottom lip, grasping my shoulder. "Oh my god, you're dating him? Are you serious? Holy shit, that's insane. You and Slade are dating, like actually dating. You've kissed and touched that man." She shook her head in a state of disbelief and excitement.

It wouldn't be long before everyone knew.

"I'm so jealous!" she exclaimed, pushing me a little when I chuckled. "I'm happy for you, Beth, but seriously..." she leaned more towards me. "I've always wanted to know, is he good in bed? Does my imagination have his correct dick size? Six-seven inches?" Her eyes were bright and wide, filled with curiosity.

"If you want to know his dick size, then ask him."

She gasped again. "I can't just ask about his dick size, are you crazy?"

I shrugged in answer. My heart was racing and I could feel the flush on my cheeks. I took the flowers and held them in my hands, hugging them to my chest. I couldn't keep the smile off my face and I didn't care that I wasn't listening to what Erica was blabbing about. All I could think about was Rogue. All I could feel was him and how much my feelings for him were going so fast.