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Her heart seemed to beat at a different rhythm when she held it in her hand. It was probably no less expensive than all the other jewelry, but there was something about the brooch that called to her. She placed it back into the box and twirled around the room again.
Astounded beyond reason, she finally found her phone and plonked herself down on the bed.
Marcy had sent her a zillion messages, which also brought home the reality of the situation for her. This was all pretend. His aim was to get into her pants. Her aim was to keep her pants on long enough so she could keep Everry Place from being demolished.
So why then did he use his belt as a gag on her if not to stop her from saying the word that would declare her the loser?
She quickly filled Marcy in on the dismal collapse of what she had thought was her breakthrough strategy last night. She really had been deluded into thinking she could overthrow Hunter McLeod with her wiles.
Marcy agreed that she was screwed, and her parting words to Kensley were to maybe glue her legs shut. She had to admit that the thought had crossed her mind.
She sighed deeply and threw her phone on the duvet. Her gaze skimmed Hunter's side of the bed. Did he ever sleep a full eight hours? And did she possibly throw her naked legs over him in her sleep? And why couldn’t she erase from her mind the image of him drawing her closer to his body every time she rolled a little too far away from him?
Nope.
She was going to blame last night's inebriation on dessert and put it behind her. All was still well. She still had her virginity. He still had just under thirty days to get it from her.
Who knows, maybe if she stuck out the month, he would eventually get bored with her and let her go. New strategy: do not engage, The Hunter.
Marcy visited her parents every first Saturday of the month, which meant Kensley had no other plans. But that didn’t mean she intended to just stay home and lounge around in a torn t-shirt, which is what she would have been doing if she were in her “own house.” That gave her the idea of spending the day in her apartment alone.
They hadn’t discussed what she was meant to do during the weekend, so she figured she was off virgin duty on those two days and the time was hers to own.
She showered quickly and put on a cute little baby pink summer dress with thin straps and the bottom bouncy and flare. Her hair went straight into a high ponytail, and after a coating of lip gloss and shoes, she grabbed her bag.
Crap. She still didn’t have her car keys, which meant she was going to search his house until she found them.
First, though, she had to stop in at the kitchen to get some coffee. But then she took a quick detour and quickened her pace when she remembered her dress could still be lying on the floor in the dining room, and maybe also the nipple clamps. She hoped Alice or any of the other cleaning staff had not gotten to the dining room yet.
Her heart beat harder on the off chance, too, that she might bump into Hunter. He could be sitting at the very table where he had quite soundly transported her to another dimension by making her come. She physically waved aside those thoughts. It would do her no good to think about them, mostly because the answers about herself she would reveal were bound not to be pretty.
She was also out of luck. Her dress had been scooped off the floor and was out of sight, as were the clamps, and a full breakfast replaced last night's decadence.
Also, Hunter was not there.
She should be thankful on that front, but she couldn’t get rid of the blush on her cheeks. She panicked for a moment when the whereabouts of her panties popped into her head, but she remembered Hunter had put them into his pocket after he had taken them off her.
The coffee smelled amazing, and as she poured a cup, she bit into a custard Danish pastry and moaned out loud. What kind of sorcery was this? Was Pierre, Hunter’s private chef, a wizard in real life?
She stopped herself from taking another pastry while also trying to ascertain whether Hunter had been there already for coffee. Was he even around? She couldn’t quite feel his presence, so maybe he was the kind of man who went into the office seven days a week. It would make perfect sense, actually.
That worked out well for her. She’d have ample time to find her car keys, provided he didn’t keep them on his person, which would make no sense. He probably just threw them onto his desk in his study. She supposed she could ask Karl to drive her, but surely the man had better things to do on a Saturday than drive her around. Besides, she needed to retain some of her independence from ‘Captain Controlling’, and that meant driving herself wherever she wanted to go.
She knew Alice herself didn’t work on the weekend, and Pierre would come in to do breakfast before he left. She wasn’t brave enough to go and find the other staff members just yet, so she set out to find her car keys herself.
First up, she needed to locate his study and start there. After going through a number of the wrong rooms, she finally found what looked to be his study.
Thick leather furniture and dark accents, coupled with beautiful paintings and what appeared to be rare ancient ornaments, graced the room. But more than that, it also smelled like him.
Nope, not going there either.
She walked up to his giant desk and started searching the surface before she resorted to opening drawers and rummaging through things. She found a crystal vase on an antique side table, which was filled with some miscellaneous stuff but not her keys.
And then she nearly jumped out of her skin when she noticed a man she had never seen before standing in the doorway of Hunter’s study.
Instantly, she was sure he might have been watching her for a while before she became aware of him. But when she realized his presence, her brain combusted in her head.
“Well, hello there, pretty lady,” he said, pushing off the frame of the door and coming toward her. “Lost something?”
