“Was it?” she pressed. “Because it feels the same to me. My thighs are still sore and my ass hurts from all the spanking.”
The bartender cleared his throat and I gave him a warning glare. And she had the nerve to laugh.
This fucking girl.
She was reckless and knew exactly what kind of trouble she was stirring. I should’ve shut it down the second she walked in.
Instead, here I was, sitting and listening to her toy with me while every instinct screamed to get up and leave.
I turned to her finally, eyes hard. “You think this shit is a game? Huh? It’s not! You don’t know what you’re playing with.”
Aurora’s lips parted into a slow grin. “Sure, I do. I’m playing with you. And I like playing with you, Mr. S.”
I grimaced, “Don’t call me that.”
Laughing at my frustration, she stood. “I’ll see you at the party tonight, Marlon! Bye-bye for now.”
PARTY ON YOU
Desire.
Rory.
My heart wasin my fucking ass.
I playedit cool at brunch and with Marlon at the bar, but inside?
Panic.
Pure fucking panic.
If my father even dreamed I slept with his business partner, my ass was grass. And not just regular grass—freshly cut, bagged, and thrown straight in a fucking dumpster grass.
Especially after Jason.
God, I swore I’d learned my lesson after that mess. I swore I’d stop letting myself fall into these reckless ass situations.
Yet here I was again.
How do I keep getting myself into this shit?
The wine industry was not even that big here and my father knew every businessman worth knowing in this city, so I should’ve connected the dots sooner.
But business partner?
I should’ve read his damn business card because that was a curveball.
How the hell had I never run into Marlon Sinclair before?
The man’s name alone carried weight in wine circles and was always tied to my father.
And now tied to me.
I wassotemptedto ask more. I thought about leaning in at the table and playing the role of clueless daughter, probing about how well they knew each other, why he never came around, and what my dad thought of him.
But I knew better.
Any interest I showed would’ve lit a red flag so bright even my clueless father would’ve caught it.
