Page 112 of My Real Love Affair

“You’re going to be my personal assistant?”

“I’m very qualified. I can carry bags. Take photos. Provide moral support and excellent commentary.”

“This is insane.”

“The best things usually are.” He kissed me quickly. “Trust me?”

I looked at him and the hope in his eyes. The vulnerability still lingering from last night.

“Okay,” I heard myself say. “Let’s do it.”

His smile could have powered the entire city. “Yes. Perfect. Go shower. I’ll handle everything.”

I headed to the bathroom. The tiles were heated beneath my feet, and there were about seventeen different bottles ofexpensive toiletries lined up on a shelf. I turned on the water, adjusting the temperature until it was perfect, and stepped under the spray.

Heaven.

“Wow,” I murmured aloud.

This was how the one percent lived. My townhouse was nice, but nothing like this. The previous owners had updated the kitchen and bathroom but now I knew I wanted to upgrade again. I would have to knock out a wall to get a shower this size into the bathroom, but it would be worth it.

I let the hot water work out the pleasant aches from last night, washing my hair with shampoo that probably cost more than my usual monthly beauty budget. I could hear Austin on the phone in the other room, his voice too low to make out words but the tone all commanding.

Typical Bancroft. Making things happen. Because that’s what Bancrofts did—they made things happen.

I was about to turn off the water when the bathroom door opened.

Austin stepped in, completely naked, wearing all that confidence like a shield with a wicked grin on his face.

“Room for one more?” he asked.

My brain short-circuited slightly because now, in the bright bathroom light, I could fully appreciate his body. All the lean muscle and broad shoulders and—other things that made my mouth go dry.

He stepped into the shower, closing the glass door behind him. Water streamed over both of us from the rainfall feature above us. He pulled me close.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.”

“This okay?”

“Very okay.”

He kissed me under the spray, water running between our lips. I felt heat that had nothing to do with the temperature of the shower building low in my belly. This was dangerous territory. The kind of territory where I could lose myself completely.

Because being with Austin felt too good. Too right. Too much like something I’d been missing my whole life without knowing it.

This was supposed to be a business deal. A mutually beneficial arrangement. A way for both of us to get what we needed and then move on. But what I needed was getting really muddy. Confused. All tangled up with what I wanted, which was apparently Austin Bancroft in every way possible.

Being with him like this, naked in an expensive shower in a penthouse suite, his hands on my body, his mouth on my neck? It felt too good to be true. But maybe that’s what love was supposed to feel like?

No. Not love. I immediately corrected myself. This was desire. Attraction. Really,reallygood sexual chemistry.

Not love. Definitely not love.

Even though my heart was doing that thing where it felt too big for my chest and the thought of being away from him made my stomach hurt. Even though I was already thinking about next week, next month, next year with him.

Nope. Not love.