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“I’m right, though. I don’t know anything about you. All I know is what it says on your Wikipedia page.” How fucking pathetic is that?
He releases a heavy breath and rubs both hands down his face. “This arrangement is meant to protect you. You, Madeline. It’s better if we don’t get too close.”
“Why?”
Crickets.
I let out a long sigh of frustration. There’s no response from him, because that would require revealing something personal. His guard is up and at full attention at all times. Even when he’s fucking inside me. He can ask me all about my life—or find it out in other ways, but I can’t know anything about him. One thing is clear, whatever this twisted arrangement is, it doesn’t exist to protect me.
Chapter 19
Grace Period
I sit up from the bed, shaking my head. “This was a bad idea.” What the fuck was I thinking? This never could have worked long term. The fucking w amazing while it lasted.
Thank God we’d negotiated a grace period.
“Christ, Madeline.” He sits up next to me. “Why does this need to be more than it is?”
“Yeah. You’re right,” I say, standing up. I fix my bra and snatch my panties off the floor. “We’re just fucking. That’s all this is.”
I head into the bathroom and lock the door, sinking against it. This is too much. Kohl is too much.
I quickly wash up and slip on the jeans and baby tee that I’d left in the bathroom after my shower. When I open the door and walk out, Kohl is dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed, tying his shoes. He looks up at me. “Are you hungry? I have about an hour before I need to be downtown.”
“No, thanks,” I say, grabbing my backpack off the floor. “My exam is Friday, and I really need to study.”
He nods, but I can see the disappointment on his face. “Would you like help studying?”
If I didn’t know better, I would say he was looking for a reason to stay a little longer. A reason that doesn’t involve sex. A complete contradiction to the way he’d just been acting.
Time to give him a taste of his own medicine. I shake my head. “Thank you, but Keith is coming over to help me study.”
His eyes narrow. “The guy who works at the coffee shop?”
“Yes, he’s been helping me out with my studies. He’s very good.”
Something dark crosses his features—jealousy? “He’s coming here? Will you be alone?”
“Yeah, you don’t mind, do you?” I set my backpack down on my desk.
He stands. “Yes, I bloody well mind. Christ, Madeline, I saw the way he looks at you. Stay the fuck away from him.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “So, what, you own me now, because you’re paying for this house? Because of a fucking contract?”
He rakes his hands through his hair. “That’s not what I said.”
I fold my arms across my chest and look down. “Well, it’s how you’re acting. Keith is a friend. Not all men just want just one thing from me.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “I saw the way he looks at you,” he repeats, as if that proves anything.
“It doesn’t matter how he looks at me, does it? I signed a contract, and I stick to my agreements.”
He looks skeptical. “That isn’t enough.”
Whaaaaat?
“Well… you’re going to have to trust me, then, aren’t you? Are you capable of that?”
