I pull back out of her grip.
I’m close. Too close. But I want to save it, to take her upstairs and fuck her properly.
She looks worried for a beat, and I press my lips back to hers. I pull back, and I move my lips toward her ear as I tuck my cock back into my swim trunks. “Let’s go up to my room to finish what you started.”
“What I started?” she asks, her hand moving to her chest, where her tit has magically moved back into her swimsuit. “Excuse me, Mr. Bradley, but I believeyouare the one who started this.”
I chuckle. “I’ll take the credit.”
She laughs, too, and we slowly make our way out of the water and to our towels, my cock pulsing with need for her the entire way, and my heart definitely getting involved in a conversation I decidedly didn’t invite him to.
CHAPTER 34: Millie Monroe
Quit
The last few days have been excursions, beach walks, margaritas, and sex. So much sex. Amazing sex. Sex with that ruby plugged into my ass, as promised. Sex with toys.
Sex on the beach. Sex we could check off a bucket list.
I feel closer to him than I’ve ever felt with anyone. We laugh together, and I think in totally different ways, we both feel free and happy in a way we never really have been with anybody else.
I suspect that feeling is due to the lack of inhibitions that comes with both tequila and the fact that there’s no pressure coming from outside of here. The only pressure is our self-inflicted end date, and each morning, I seem to wake with a little more sadness in my chest.
When I wake up on Friday morning next to Archer, I realize we only have one weekleft.
That sadness in my chest feels extra heavy this morning.
It gets worse when Clive, Archer’s personal butler, knocks on the door shortly after we’re awake and moving around the suite. Archer opens the door once we’re dressed, and they exchange some words.
“He’s here for you, not me,” Archer says.
“Ms. Monroe, Diedrick Pinder has requested a meeting with you at your earliest convenience.”
The sadness in my chest morphs into something else. Fear, I think.
Clive bows out, and once the door shuts behind him, Archer asks, “Is that the hotel manager?”
I nod. “He’s probably pissed I’m not using my free room and spending all my time with you instead.”
He chuckles. “So quit.”
I tilt my head and stare at him. “Quit?”
“Let’s make the rest of our time together just about us.” He walks over and takes me in his arms, but I step back.
I blink, trying to make sense of what he’s saying. “I can’t justquit. This ishugefor my career, Archer. Huge. Having a monthlong sponsorship could open the door to my dream paid partnership, and I’ve barely been putting any effort in at all because we’ve been spending so much time together.” I take another step back, suddenly feeling like I need a little space.
Here we go again.
He draws in a breath, and it’s as if he’s nervous for what he’s about to say. “I want you to come work with my foundation. You’re smart, Mills. Savvy. You’ve got this great background in social media, and you could lean into it.” He opens his mouth to add more, but I stop him.
“Thank you for the invitation, but I already have a career,” I say, my voice starting to tremble a little.
“I get that, butwhyis this your career?” he asks.
That’s a great question, actually. But my brain takes the defensive route. “Because it’s been my fucking dream since I was nineteen!”
“But do you actually love it, or do you love the opportunities and the validation?” he asks. “I’ve seen how it affects you. How you’re a different person when you turn it on. It’s not the real you, the one you’re starting to let me see, and it’s not what you need.”
