My dick would hate me for it, but it’d be worth it.
I shifted the few pieces of paper inside, glancing over them. “I called it. You made a contract.”
“No need to say I told you so,” she said, taking another drink of wine.
“I know you better than you think I do.” I cocked an eyebrow at her, glancing from the contract to her barely touched food and near empty wine glass. “Eat, Red. Wouldn’t want you drunk for a business deal.”
She grinned and picked up her fork, slowly taking a bite that drew attention to her perfect mouth. I’d never been more turned on watching a woman eat. I was so fucked.
After a few moments, she cleared her throat. “If there is anything not to your liking we can discuss amending it.”
“Seems straight-forward enough,” I said, closing the folder and setting it beside me on the table. “You have a list of items. I help you check them off. In return, you take me to charity events and parties and help me appear more wholesome to the public.”
She nodded. “And…” she shifted in her seat, her clear nervousness over the discussion only making me want her more.
“Am I forgetting something?” I asked.
“You’ll be exclusive…to me for the duration of the agreement.”
A sting sliced at my chest and I resisted the urge to flinch. What the fuck did you expect? She’s seen you operate. Of course she’d think you’d fuck other women while you fucked her.
I pushed back from the table, setting my napkin over my cleaned plate. Her eyes widened as I tugged on the wooden arms of her chair, easily forcing her to face me as I leaned over her. “You think being exclusive will be difficult for me?”
She swallowed roughly, her breasts rising and falling rapidly. My dick grew hard beneath my jeans, but I mentally told him to calm the fuck down. He wasn’t running this show.
“Won’t it be?”
I trailed my eyes up and down her body, tightening my grip on the armrests to keep my hands from slipping beneath her little black dress. “No, Red. Believe it or not, I’ve wanted you since I first saw you. Finally getting to taste you? That’s worth the terms you’ve set.”
She sucked in a breath. “And the fights? You can’t do anything that reckless while we’re together or it will ruin both of us.”
I squinted at her, inhaling as I drew closer to her, taking in her sweet scent. “That will be harder.”
“Impossible?”
“No. It can’t be.” Any more incidents and I’d be off the Sharks. That was the only life I knew—the only life I wanted—and couldn’t lose it. I wouldn’t lose it.
“Right,” she said, her voice breathless. “Not only for the Sharks but for me as well.”
“I read that part. I understand you have an image to uphold.” I shook my head. How the hell had this brilliant flame of a woman allowed herself to be contained in the space of a candle? All she needed was a little oxygen, and she’d burn brighter than any fire if she just gave herself the freedom to breathe.
“What?” She asked, her lips so close to mine it would only take a small tilt, and I could claim her mouth.
“No wonder you need me.”
“We need each other,” she corrected me, and the truth of the statement sucked the air out of my lungs. I froze above her, my eyes boring into hers. I didn’t need anyone. Never had. This was completely new territory, and no one had exactly handed me a map.
“Whatever you say, Red.” I brushed her lips with mine, just a breath of a touch but it was enough to turn my semi into a full hard-on.
“And,” she said, licking her lips as I pulled back an inch. “Once the three months are complete we go our separate ways.”
“Awh, you don’t want to be friends?” I slowly slipped my knee between her legs, teasing her as I leaned closer, something in my chest rebelling at her imposed termination date.
She closed her eyes as I allowed myself to trail one fingertip down her bare arm. “We just can’t fall in love.” Her words froze my motions, and I reclaimed the armrest, gripping it so hard the wood creaked under the pressure. She laughed softly, opening her eyes. “That’ll be the easiest part for you.”
I pursed my lips, nodding. “Right.” I wasn’t a man who fell in love. I dropped panties. I changed women’s lives with body shaking orgasms. Lust was my domain. Lust was all I was capable of. And the girl of my fantasies knew it. That’s why she’d chosen me. So why did the notion make my chest ache—that I wasn’t someone she could possibly see a long-term relationship with when I knew that was exactly the kind of girl she was. But that wasn’t what she wanted from me, so maybe it was time to see exactly what she did. “Do I get to see this list?” I asked, suddenly needing to steer the conversation back to what I was good at—sex.
She shook her head, her eyes teasing.
“Really? How can help you if I don’t know what needs to be done?”
She reached up, running her hands over my chest and down my abs. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”
I clucked my tongue at her. “What did I tell you about the control in this…whatever it is we’re doing?”
“Relationship,” she said. “Say it. Because that’s what this is, and that’s what everyone will believe. And where our relationship is going to be very open, the details of our arrangement have to be our secret.”
I slid my tongue across her bottom lip. “Relationship.” The word might as well have been in a foreign language with how familiar I was with it.
“Good,” she said and slipped her hand beneath the waistband of my jeans, her fingers reaching for what raged in my pants.
I hissed and pushed off the chair, putting a few feet of space between us. Her green eyes blazed as she looked at me in shock, and I smirked. “Tell me, am I just someone you chose to complete this list with, or am I on it?”
“Number seven,” she answered instantly. She stood up, stalking toward me with the click of her heels echoing in my head. Damn, the fiery redhead would burn me from the inside out. I backed up until I hit the wall. “And I’m ready for that. Now.”
She reached for me again, and I clasped my hands around her wrists pulling her toward me and spinning her until I pressed her back against the wall. Raising her arms above her head, I held her pinned there. “And who else is on this list of yours?”