Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
I’m holding all her weight, her naked breasts between us, her pressing against me, me pulling her on top of me. It’s fast. It’s hard. She leans forward, holds my neck, and whispers “Tyler,” and her sex clenches me so freaking hard I can’t help but come.
When it’s over, I carry her to my desk, set her on top, and hand her a tissue. She accepts the tissue and when she would climb off the desk, I catch her waist. “Don’t say that meant nothing. Bella, you—it’s you.”
“I don’t like how all of this makes me feel.”
There’s a knock on the door and then, “Tyler, it’s Gavin.”
I lift Bella and set her on the ground, pulling her blouse back into place but she’s already fired up again. “He probably wants you to look at your prospective fiancées. I should go.” She pulls her skirt down.
“That’s an angry reply,” I accuse.
“Because I am angry, Tyler. Orgasms don’t solve everything. Only you would think it does. It’s past time for me to go.”
In other words, time is up. I can feel that in my bones. If she leaves this office on the other side of this contract, I’ve lost her. And outside of a contract or an accomplishment, I’ve never been more determined not to lose. “It has to be you, Bella.”
“It’s not going to be me, Tyler,” is her reply, and when she tries to move away, I tighten my grip on her waist.
“I don’t accept that answer,” I say, determined to end this drama between us now, but there’s another fucking knock on the door.
“I’m not a business transaction,” she says and again, “I don’t like how this feels.”
“You think you’re a business transaction to me?” I demand. “Really, Bella?”
Her lips tighten. “I think you made that pretty clear last night, Tyler.”
“I was protecting you.”
“We’ve covered this. You were protecting yourself.”
“I wouldn’t offer anyone else what I offered you, Bella.”
“A better-paid whore is still a whore.”
“Holy fuck, Bella. Stop with the whore bullshit. Just to be clear, one more time, you know I have to do this.”
“I know.”
Which means she knows I have to pick someone else. And for the first time since I was a college kid, I feel like I was just punched right in the heart. “I guess that makes your point.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not going to try to tell you what anything means anymore, Bella. You clearly have everything, including me, all figured out.”
I release her and step backward.
She doesn’t immediately turn and leave as I expect. Instead, she just stands there and stares at me with tormented eyes I don’t even understand at this point. Seconds tick by and I give her about three more before all bets are off and I’m going to erase all this bullshit angst and she’s going to end up naked this time when I do. Almost as if she hears my warning, she sucks in a slow breath, and I find myself holding my own, waiting for whatever she has to say.
But she doesn’t say anything.
She steps around the desk and all but runs to the door, her perfect, sweet little ass the last thing I see as she leaves me where I stand. For once, it’s not me pushing someone away, it’s the opposite and it’s a fucked-up feeling. Bella fucks me up. She just saved me from me. I should be thankful. What’s more fucked up is that I’m not. I went into this saying no more emotional bullshit with Bella.
This should be a business transaction.
What the fuck is not?
Chapter Eight
Bella
The minute I exit Tyler’s office I all but run into Gavin, who is as always, dressed in an expensive suit and reeking of arrogance. But then, being close to Tyler demands nothing less.
“Bella,” he greets, giving me an up and down that feels as dirty as the contract Tyler offered me and Gavin created. The look that slides over Gavin’s face is pure satisfaction, as if he knows Tyler has just fucked me into submission and life is now good. Obviously, he assumes Tyler also inked the deal to make me his full-time bedmate for the next year. I’m job security in his eyes, but then maybe he thinks Tyler will share me, and then I’m everyone’s fuck. I don’t even like that word, and the fact that it’s now part of my vocabulary thanks to Tyler, says so much.
Gavin’s smirk deepens, and it’s all I can do not to lower myself to an adolescent level and tell him how I feel about his role in all of this. I’m stopped by the embarrassment of pretty much every aspect of this situation. It’s a reality that makes it a little easier to do what I should have done the first time sparks flew between me and Tyler…walk on by. We are done. I have no idea why I just let what I let happen. I’m probably a mess, my hair as finger fucked as I am. But if I can just make it to my office without acting like a fool, I might survive this. Turns out the hour is still early, and the lobby and front desk are still free of employees or clients.