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I still don’t know where Jett is, but his stare has intensified. There’s no escape.
I drag in a deep breath and walk into the warm water. It envelops me like a soothing blanket. Shutting my eyes, I sigh.
“Are you incapable of following instructions?”
I start at the sound of Jett’s voice. Suddenly, he’s standing at the edge of the pool, mere feet away. How did he sneak up on me so quickly?
Never mind that. Will he give me another stitch to wear for the next seven days?
Turning, I cock my head at him to see he’s still wearing the same designer suit. “Not at all.”
“So you’re merely choosing not to.”
My smile is nothing short of mocking. “Something like that.”
“You understand I’m going to make you regret that?”
Excitement flips in my belly. “I’m sure you’ll try.”
Jett doesn’t merely smile at my snarky reply; he actually laughs like there’s a joke—and it’s on me. “Out of the water.”
“Or?”
“I’ll make you suffer.”
Thrill rushes through me. It dips low. I feel my sex swell and my womb clench.
He won’t actually hurt me. I know him well enough to know that. I’ve heard the whispers about who and what he is in bed.
“I already am. I’m giving up my work, my life, and my fiancé for a week. And I’m stuck with you.”
He rubs his palms together like they burn. “I’m going to count to five. If I have to come in after you, I’ll end our arrangement. You can go home. I’ll take my forty million and disappear. Your call.”
Damn it. I pushed him. I don’t think too hard, but he clearly wants some show of obedience. He wants proof I’m still choosing to be here. And he wants to know this week won’t be a constant tug-of-war. I can’t promise that. But I also can’t risk calling his bluff.
With a sigh, I wade back to the steps and slowly ascend. My shoulders break the surface of the pool, then my breasts, my hips, my thighs. Water clings and drips as I meet his gaze and make my way across the deck to him, one swaying step at a time.
Possessive hunger blazes in his dark eyes. He wants me. Just to fuck…or for something more? I can’t tell, but it’s obvious he craves every inch of skin he sees. He’s not even trying to hide it.
Less than two feet from him, I bow my head. Mostly because I can’t stand the triumph on his face…but I’ve also heard the expectations he has of his lovers. I’ve wondered so many times if the whispers are true.
“There were three parts of my command,” he points out.
You will strip. And you will kneel. Then you will wait for me.
I shiver. “I remember.”
“Are you cold?”
“No.”
I can almost feel his smile. “You’re finally naked. Part two now, please.”
My head rebels against this, but something far lower flutters with thrill. What does that say about me?
“If I don’t?” I ask.
“I won’t keep fighting you. And I refuse to spend the next seven days threatening you, Whitney. You agreed to my terms and you got in my car. If you can’t comply with these exceedingly simple commands, I’ll turn around and leave. I doubt our paths will cross again.”
He’s right. I haven’t seen Jett Dean, except in tabloid rags, since that summer all the promise between us burned away in a fiery blaze of betrayal.
I nibble my bottom lip.
Tick-tock. In my head, I hear time ticking away. I said yes in the bar because my only other choice is far less palatable.
Now I just have to find the courage to surrender to the man I’ve considered both my first love and my enemy since sixteen.
I swallow, steel myself, then kneel at his feet. The hard concrete beneath my knees presses unforgivingly into my skin. I’m still dripping, and the hot wind blows. Nothing about this is comfortable. But I don’t move as Jett scrutinizes me. I feel every second of his stare.
He grabs my left hand. “Take it off.”
My engagement ring.
I nod. It’s always been a bit tight. At times, I would have sworn the diamond-encrusted band wrapped around my finger was somehow strangling me.
“What will you do with it?”
“Keep it with your clothing for the next seven days. At the end of that time, if you want to return to him, slip it back on.” He shrugs. “I won’t stop you.”
I don’t entirely believe he’ll let me off that easily. Or is that wishful thinking? “Then why not let me wear it? Wouldn’t the reminder that you’re temporarily screwing my fiancé out of his bride-to-be give you a thrill?”
“No.” His black eyes flash as he snatches my clothes from the table and into his grip. “I said naked. I meant naked. That means everything goes.”
I’ve asked myself a hundred times why Jett wants me for the next week. Certainly, if he was going to bail Vance out, the arrangement could have been done through lawyers, brokers, and bankers. Instead, he came to me with this indecent proposal. From the moment I read his note, I could only think of two possible reasons why he would contact me directly. First, he could be eager to humiliate me. I’ve known all along that he’d likely want to repay me for the ignominy he suffered that summer. I’m sure he’s even thought a time or two that I’m partially to blame. The second—and much slimmer—possibility is that he’s never forgotten me and he now wants all the pleasure stolen from him that summer.
