AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And… voila,” I say, waving as we step into the small sanctuary. “Privacy.”
Ella puts her hands behind her back and walks around the statue. “How do you know this is here again?”
I shrug, taking a seat on the bench. “Boredom, mainly. I hate that museum, not that I would ever tell Isla.” My lips twitch and I look down at her toned legs again. “Why don’t you come sit down?”
She purses her lips and arches an eyebrow. “You’re awfully nice to me all of the sudden.”
I smirk. “Well, that’s what I was going to talk to you about. Yesterday, I was interviewed for an Irish morning program. Wendy showed up unexpectedly… and if she had our tape, I think she would’ve played that card when she had me trapped.”
Ella squints and comes to sit down next to me, crossing her arms. “So… what? You think that whoever has access to our videotape is staying quiet for some reason?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. But my feeling is that the danger of the tape leaking has passed. I want you to stay until the end of the month, just in case—”
“It’s only the fifth!” she says, a little outraged.
“Again, I remind you that I’ll pay you for your time. The money is much better than anything else you would normally be doing. I can assure you of that.”
She sucks in a sharp breath.
“It isn’t about the money. Never has been.”
I move a little bit closer, brushing the back of my knuckles over her bare shoulder. Goosebumps form where my skin touches hers. I hear her breath catch.
“What are you in such a hurry to get back to? Hmm?”
The way her cheeks flush. The way her breathing grows ragged. The way her dark lashes flutter over those gorgeous tawny eyes…
“I had a life in New York,” she says, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I still have friends there. Kaia says she will get me a job with Calum’s company. There are people waiting for me, Keir.”
“So? If they have waited this long, they’ll wait for a few more weeks.”
She swallows hard, some foreign emotion flitting across her face. “I miss my little sister. I miss Kaia. I feel like I’m missing a pretty important time in both of their lives. And if I was giving that experience up for something real, it would be one thing. But that’s not what this is.” She reaches out, gingerly touching my collar, smoothing it down where it touches my neck.
I can’t help but close my eyes. It’s so nice to be touched, especially by someone that looks like her. I think I had genuinely forgotten how good it feels to share these little moments of intimacy with another person.
But none of that changes who I am. I might feel a sort of sadness at the very idea that one day soon Ella will leave. It can’t undo all of my past damage, though.
I’m still broken. I still don’t trust women. A month with Ella can’t change that, even if we both wanted it.
My eyes snap open. “I’m not relationship material, Ella. I think you know that.”
She starts, then pulls her hand away.
“I didn’t mean to say otherwise. I was just saying, you know… if things were different. If we were different people. Then maybe it could be something real.”
I pick up Ella’s hand, kissing her wrist. Locking gazes with her, I give her delicate flash a sharp nip. She gasps and tugs at her hand, but I don’t let go.
“My heart is non-fucking-functional. I think we both know that. But I love your body, Ella. I love fucking you and watching you come and hearing you call out my motherfucking name.”
She looks down, smiling shyly.
“I like it too,” she admits.
“Give me the rest of the month. I’ll make sure that you leave here with enough money to live comfortably on for the rest of the year. And to sweeten the deal, I’ll take you to Rome with me. We’ll stay in my penthouse, right by the fucking Parthenon. How does that sound?”
Ella looks up, her nose wrinkling. “Pretty nice.”
Putting my arm around her waist, I draw her in. Her chin rises and I cup her face, tracing my thumb along the jagged line of her lips.
