Pulling the sheet over my chilling body, I blink a few times to make sure I’m not dreaming. I’m not. He’s right here next to me, trying to catch his breath while I try to control my spinning emotions. I’m glad it was him. I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.
“Nate? Are you okay?”
He jerks as if I startled him. Turning toward me, he softly runs a hand down my body over the sheet and back up again. There’s a shadow of guilt on his face. I touch his cheek.
“It’s fine,” I say. “I wanted to.”
He sits up on the edge of the bed, his powerful back to me. Even though he’s just completely ravished me, I want to run my hands all over his body and do it again. His bicep bulges as he slides a hand through his hair and takes a fistful of it before letting go and standing.
Though I still feel a bit dazed, I’m getting the impression that he’s conflicted. He didn’t want this to happen. The whole point of our arrangement was to preserve my virginity. But neither of us stopped it and now my body aches with the sweetest bruising and my heart feels warm and full.
He didn’t stop because he wanted me, and I didn’t stop him because I wanted him, too. Nate couldn’t resist me because he has feelings for me. I know he does. Pulling the sheet over my breasts, I watch him as he disappears into the bathroom. The shower turns on right before he closes the door.
The sound of the door shutting makes my guts twist. Something’s definitely wrong. He never closes the door when he showers.
Does he regret what we just did?
Sitting up, I take a deep breath and tip my head back against the pillows. That can’t be right. He was always so careful before. All the things we did, all the times wecouldhave had sex but did something else instead. Our relationship has been slowly changing over the past weeks, turning into more than what we started as. He’s important to me. I want to see him happy, to make him smile, to please him. My heart flutters when he enters a room, or I hear his voice. And when he touches me…
I feel pleasure that I could never even begin to describe.
If he came back to bed right now, I would take him again and again. Despite the raw soreness between my legs. Despite how much we’re not supposed to. I want him as more than a business partner or a passing lover. It’s crazy and I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve fallen completely for Nate Windemere. Having him inside me, being connected to him like that, sealed it for me. I can’t deny it any longer.
He must feel the same way, or none of this would have happened. He even agreed that we’re getting good at being a couple. He’s just not sure what to do with his feelings. Men never are. I’m sure he’ll come to grips with everything, though. He just needs to process it all.
Smiling, I close my eyes as the shower turns off and listen to the sounds of him moving around in the bathroom.
He comes out with a towel around his hips and his wet hair slicked back.
Flipping back one corner of the sheets, I pat the mattress beside me. “Coming back to bed?”
“No.” His expression is flat and unreadable. “I’ve set your auction date, Piper. This will all be over soon.”
32
NATE
The lie isbitter on my tongue.
The truth is, I haven’t officially set the auction date yet—but I plan to as soon as I leave this room. It won’t fix the fact that I just took Piper’s virginity like a savage beast, but it will be a blatant reminder that she doesn’t belong to me. And I don’t want her to.
I’ve been prepping her to be another man’s wife.
“What? Already? But why?” she sputters. “Our agreement was for six months. We’re only halfway through the term.”
Why? Because this thing between us can’t continue on this trajectory. At this rate, I’ll be falling for Piper-Lily Barclay and putting a ring on her broke, scandalized finger. I’ve already let myself get involved in this too deeply, and it can’t continue.
Just look at me. I’m doing things for this woman, feeling things for her, that I never have before with any of my prior flings. Reaching out to the dance studio and demanding that she get her job back was the final reminder that I wasgoing too far. I shouldn’t care if she gets her job back or not, but it was driving me insane that she was unhappy over losing the one thing she loved so much.
“What are you confused about?” I say harshly. “This was the plan all along. And we need to get you auctioned as soon as possible now that I’ve taught you everything you need to know.”
I sound like an asshole, because I am one. Fuck.
What I’m not putting to words is the fact that I just annihilated her trump card, took her virginity like it was mine to have and possibly sabotaged her future in the process. At least I know why I sabotaged it. Idowant Piper to belong to me. My fucking feelings are destroying everything.
Her face contorts with confusion and hurt. Ripping my gaze away from her, I storm to the closet and pull out sweatpants and a shirt. Dropping the towel, I shove my legs in the pants and pull them harshly over my hips. The sheets rustle, followed by her voice.
“I can’t do this anymore. I’m leaving.”
