Salt Kiss – Episode 41
Mark’s demand followed Tristan into the private office and closed the door behind them. The room where Tristan had first refused to kneel now felt smaller, crowded by truths neither man could control.
“Nothing happened,” Tristan said.
Mark’s gaze hardened. “That is not what Isolde implied.”
“She said I protected the boundary.”
“She also said she wanted you to cross it.”
Jealousy stripped the polish from Mark’s voice. Tristan should have found satisfaction in finally hearing it, but the timing turned possession into hypocrisy.
“You sent me to bring home the woman you plan to marry after hiding her existence from me,” Tristan said. “You do not get to interrogate me as though I betrayed you.”
Mark stepped closer. “Did you want her?”
Tristan remembered Isolde’s hand during the nightmare and the almost-kiss beside the convoy. Lying would preserve nothing.
“Yes.”
The answer landed with visible force. Mark turned away, one hand braced against the desk.
“But I stopped,” Tristan continued. “Because she is your fiancée and because I gave you my trust.”
“You gave me your submission.”
“Not ownership of every feeling I have.”
Mark looked back, anger battling fear. Losing control had once cost him the man he loved; now two people stood close enough to expose the same wound.
“I cannot protect what I do not understand,” he said.
“Then stop trying to control the truth and listen to it.” Tristan removed the club earpiece and placed it on the desk. “I will keep protecting both of you, but I will not kneel again until you decide whether I am a person you love or an asset you own.”
He left Mark alone with the distinction. Outside, Isolde waited in the corridor, and the concern in her eyes made Tristan’s impossible choice even more dangerous.