I’m never going to be able to look at him the same way.
I grabbed my phone to message Maddie my review only to see waiting texts from Tripp. I’d been so engrossed in the movie, I hadn’t noticed my phone going off.
TC: You’re welcome.
TC: How’s your paper going?
TC: I’m hoping your silence means it’s going well and not that you’ve run away.
I didn’t answer his question to tell him that my paper was still unwritten and his idea of running away held a lot of merit.
I texted him the only thing that mattered to me right then.
Me: Will you take me back to Gilded?
Even though I’d left his messages unread for a while, his response came instantly—like he’d been waiting.
TC: Fuck yes. I’ll pick you up in an hour.
Me: It doesn’t have to be tonight.
I wasn’t sure why I said that since even that hour seemed too long to wait.
TC: The fuck it doesn’t.
Sitting there for a moment, I expected nerves and doubt to hit me until I was scrambling to rescind my self-invite.
But there was nothing.
Okay, that wasn’t true. Iwasnervous, but it was the good kind. The anticipatory kind that left me feeling breathless and giddy and excited.
And it wasn’t just about going to the erotic playground. It was about seeing Tripp.
That should’ve been enough to fill my veins with ice water instead of the Diet Coke and popping candy that bubbled through me.
Logically, I knew that returning there with him wouldn’t be toeing a line. It would be completely crossing it until the line was no longer visible.
But I was doing it anyway.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ANOTHER FRIDAY NIGHT WITHOUT A LEGENDARY PARTY AT THE NEPO BABY’S PLACE? MAKES US WONDER WHAT CLUB HE’LL BE STUMBLING OUT OF INSTEAD.
GREER
“You’re staring again,” Tripp rumbledwithout dropping his eyes to meet mine.
And he was right.
Because despite all that was happening around us at Gilded’s bar, I wasn’t looking at any of it. I didn’t care what celebrities and politicians were indulging in what kinks.
I was too busy staring at Tripp. It was easy to do since he’d positioned me right on his lap after he’d said we were having a drink.
Well, I was having a drink. He was having water.
“Do I have something in my teeth?” he asked as he finally looked down at me.
My cheeks flushed as I shook my head.
