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“Noted, Miss Flowers. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my driver is waiting on me with my daughter. My two-hour duty here is more than up. I had fun tonight.”
“Pleasure was all mine.” She gives me a forced smile, her attitude still shining through, and it makes me laugh as I walk toward the doors of the building.
“Oh, I highly doubt that, Daphne. Pretty sure I had all the pleasure tonight.”
7
DAPHNE
Istand in the lobby, my head completely spinning by the highs and lows this man has put me through tonight.
How does he go from being so dismissive toward me like I’m merely an inconvenience in his life to looking at me the way he did when I was on his lap? I giggle to myself remembering his “issue” when I was trying to put my shoe back on. As embarrassed as I was in the moment, it’s nothing compared to standing there with a raging hard-on in public.
“Good, he deserves it,” I decide, spinning on my heel to head back into the auction and start cleaning up for the night.
By the time I make it back home, I’m exhausted. I’ve been going nonstop since six a.m. today and my body is feeling it. I trudge to my bathroom, dropping my bag on my couch. Several months back, Xana bought me some lavender aromatherapy bath stuff. I root through my cabinets, finding it and pouring a generous amount into the tub after turning on the water.
Rosé in hand, I dip my toes into the water to test out the temperature before slowly sliding all the way beneath the bubbles. The lavender actually starts doing its job of instantly putting me at ease. I try to take in some deep breaths, allowing the tension from the day to leave my body, but the second I close my eyes, my mind keeps drifting back tohim.
I recall the way he demanded I was going on his family vacation after placing a bid inmyname. The rude and arrogant way he looked me up and down at the airport before pretending he’d never seen me before. The way he acted when he was two hours late to our first meeting. But then, I think about the way he looked at me that night at my apartment, the way his eyes undressed me when he thought I wasn’t looking earlier tonight… and the way he held me.
A shiver runs through my body remembering the way his fingertips lightly trailed against my skin. The way his lips were so close to me that I could feel his warm breath against my cheek. My hand slips beneath the water, sliding down my body until I reach my inner thigh. I trail my own fingertips over my skin, imagining it’s Weston. Wondering what could have happened if we had been some place more private. Would he have leaned in and kissed me? Or what would he have done if I leaned in to kiss him?
I bring my fingers to my clit, slowly circling them around, teasing myself. Tension builds as I apply pressure, my back arching against the porcelain tub, my breath growing audible. I’m so close, my lips part as a small moan slips past them when I find my release.
But the second it’s over, instead of feeling satisfied, I feel guilty. An image of Carson’s sweet smile when he proposed to me sweeps across my mind. I feel a physical pain in my chest, like I’m betraying what we had by wanting someone else. Then it hits me. This is the first time that I have wanted someone else since his death. This is the first time a man has not only garnered my attention but left me wanting more. But this isn’t real; it’s a fantasy. It’s not a happily ever after with a white picket fence and the matching Disney outfits. It’s a secret fling that ends in heartbreak.
* * *
“Now you’re goingto the Bahamas? Damn, I need a vacation or maybe a different job,” Xana says after taking a sip of wine.
“No, the point is I’mnotgoing. Can you believe he thought he could force me into going?” I say, shaking my head. “The audacity.”
“Yeaaaaah, how rude of him to demand you go on a luxury, tropical vacation. Asshole!” Xana says sarcastically.
“What? You think I should go?”
“No, I didn’t say that. I just don’t think he’s beingrude,” she says, using quotation marks. I give her anI don’t understandexpression. “He’s thinking with his dick, Daph, come on.”
“Oh please, that man probably gets more women in a week than most men do in a decade. If he wanted to sleep with me, he wouldn’t go to those lengths. He’s just doing it as some sort of power move to get back at me for demanding he participate in the bake sale and silent auction, which was a huge success by the way.”
“Oh good! It looked amazing. You did such a fantastic job helping organize that entire thing. Did you say his nanny quit? Maybe I should apply.” She laughs.
“Right? What a job.”
“Aren’t you even a little bit curious?” She bounces her eyebrows up and down at me like a cartoon character.
“About?”
“The trip, if you went to the Bahamas with him.”
“No. First of all, I wouldn’t be goingwithhim; I’d be the hired help. Second, how weird would it be to vacation with people you barely know?”
“Hmm, is that why you’re so offended by his offer?” She eyes me. “Because you want to be more than the hired help?”
“No, get outta here,” I deflect, smacking her with one of my throw pillows.
“I’m just saying”—she laughs, holding up her hand to dodge the pillow—“if I liked a guy and he only wanted me around to do a favor for him, I’d be butthurt too.”
