She wouldn’t look at me. She kept shaking her head as she stared out the living room window. Her arms hugged her sides, shielding her cool skin from the chilled April air.
“But you gave the deal to Kyle, of all people,” she said. “Kyle.”
Kyle was a fucking jackass, of that I was certain. I’d already decided I hated the prick, and I’d spent all of one lunch with him. It was after Addison removed herself from the table temporarily that I knew exactly what I had to do.
“I see you checking her out,” Kyle said to me, his voice low. “Hot piece of ass. Bat-shit crazy.”
“Excuse me?” I’d asked.
“We used to date,” he said. He spun his finger against the side of his head in a circular motion. “You don’t want that. Trust me. She’s pretty to look at. Nice lips… if you know what I mean. That’s about all she’s good for. I’d never trust her to sell a property for me.”
So it was Kyle. He was the guy who had hurt Addison. Who’d made her the guarded, broken-winged baby bird I found myself irresistibly addicted to. I could’ve bashed his face in right then and there, but I decided to play along.
I was going to destroy him.
Professionally-speaking, anyway.
Which was precisely why I had to pick him over her. At least temporarily.
“Trust me,” I said to Addison. “Everything’s going to work out exactly the way it’s supposed to.”
“You realize I’m going to have to work extra hard now,” she said. “Harder than I was working before. I have goals, Wilder. I’m not sacrificing them for this. I don’t even know if I’ll have time for this anymore.”
My hands slid down the curves of her sides, cupping her firm ass and giving it a punishing squeeze. “Don’t ever say that again.”
I claimed her lips with mine before hoisting her up on the cool, marble counter top.
“I’m still angry with you,” she said, ending our kiss. My lips found the indentation below her jaw and I quietly reveled in the sweet taste of her soft skin.
“You can’t stay angry forever,” I whispered. My right hand skimmed down her side to the opening of her skirt, then trailed along her inner thigh until it reached the silken fabric of her panties. I slid them aside and worked a finger into the inviting wetness of her folds. A faint moan passed through her lips as her head fell back, blonde hair spilling in every direction.
“Give yourself to me, lovely. You’ve had a long day. Just let go.” I lowered myself, leveling my head between her legs and kissing the tenderness of her delicate inner thighs.
I craved her taste. Her smell. The way her fingers pulled my hair as she was just about to come. The low, sultry rasp of her voice as she begged for more. The look in her eyes when I brought her to the brink and told her not to come just yet.
The way she obeyed.
I could get lost in her for hours. An hour a week wasn’t enough, and I wasn’t sure it ever would be.
Addison was different. She didn’t throw herself at me. She didn’t pretend like most girls did. Her authenticity was addictive, and I’d never be able to resist, no matter how hard I tried.
Addison was the sun shining bright into my dark world.
And she had no fucking clue.
I was falling for her.
And she could never know.
My alarm blared at five in the morning, but when I leaned across the bed to silence it, my hands grazed over top of a warm body. I jerked back.
“Wilder,” I whispered, pushing the hair from my face as my eyes adjusted. He squinted. “What are you still doing here?”
The light that filtered in through the curtains shown just enough for me to realize he was sleeping on top of the covers.
“You asked me to stay until you fell asleep, remember?” he said, his hair disheveled and his voice groggy. He leaned forward and rubbed his eyes.
“Are you sure? I don’t remember saying that.”
“You’d had a couple glasses of wine. You really don’t remember?”
I shook my head. I didn’t remember drinking wine, either. Then again, the day before was one of the worst days I’d had in a long time. I wouldn’t have blamed yesterday-me for drinking an entire bottle of wine in an attempt to forget it.
“I’m kidding.” He slid off the bed. “We were talking. I fell asleep.”
I slid out of the covers, instantly realizing I was buck-naked. Pulling a sheet from the bed, I wrapped myself in it.
“Ah, you’re shy in the morning,” he said.
My cheeks burned hot. I was sure I’d slept off most of my makeup, and my lashes crunched with dried mascara as I blinked. My fingers combed through the tangled knots of my hair.
The last guy to ever see me one hundred percent au naturel was Kyle.
I wrapped the sheet tight around my body. “Just so you know, this is something a boyfriend would do, so don’t let it happen again.”
I ambled toward the bathroom, starting the shower and rinsing off any remnants of the night before, hoping my confusion might swirl down the drain along with it. My life was a perfect row of dominoes I’d spent years setting up, and falling for Wilder would send them all toppling down.
My eyes closed as I faced the streaming water, letting it bead and trickle down my skin as I breathed in the warm mist. Two warm hands gripped around my waist, pulling me backwards until I was pressed against a very naked, very erect Wilder.
“What are you doing in here?” I pushed him away.