“Now that the ‘no sex’ rule is broken,” he said finally, “does that mean you’ll join me in bed tonight?”
I turned around and smiled up at him. “I think we need a new rule. Just fucking and no kissing. What else? No cuddling. And no sharing beds.”
Denton’s mouth tightened. “We broke the no kissing rule.”
“Oh, yeah.” We’d gotten a little carried away.
“Why do we even need all these rules?” Denton’s eyes had gone cool and assessing.
“The rules are there for our own protection.”
“From what? Are you afraid I’m going to fall for you?”
No, you dumbass. I’m afraid I will. I’m protecting my heart here.
I couldn’t let him know how much that scared me. “If you don’t like the new rules, I suppose we could just go back to the ‘no sex’ rule.”
“No.” Denton sighed, rubbing his face. “I’ll accept them.” Thank god. But his face was pale and pinched as he stepped out and wrapped a towel around his hips.
Now that the high from my climax was slowly fading, I felt like an uptight bitch. I didn’t want to fight over something so trivial. Maybe I could spend tonight in his bed. It wasn’t like it was such a big deal, anyway.
Just avoid the cuddling and kissing, and you’ll be fine.
Feeling a little better, I soaped up with the luxurious shower gel, but the echoes of his touch remained.
Seven
It was a bit awkward going to dinner, wondering if Denton’s mother had heard me scream out in ecstasy. That was made up for by the fact that Annabelle couldn’t join us. Over roasted quail and rhubarb, the conversation flowed freely as Gloria and Patrick asked me questions about my life.
“I studied ancient history in college.” I paused to take a sip of the really fabulous wine whose name I hadn’t been able to catch because the label was in French. “Specifically, the Near East. When I was little, my dream was to become an Egyptologist.”
“That’s an ambitious goal,” Patrick said. “Will you continue to pursue it?”
“I might continue with a Master’s degree one day,” I replied, smiling demurely. “But my focus right now is on Denton.”
“And what about having kids?” Ernest piped up, his eyes gleaming wickedly. “I don’t have long to live, girl. And I want to see my great-grandkid before the good Lord takes me away.”
Denton and Gloria both protested at the same time, glancing at me. But I knew the old man was just pulling my leg. After all, he’d accused us of having a fake engagement a few hours ago.
Gravely, I reached over and patted his burly arm. “Don’t worry, Ernest. We’re working on it.”
Denton nearly choked on his quail.
Right after dinner, Ernest asked me to join him in his study. I had a strong feeling he wanted to talk about Denton’s and my “engagement.”
When Denton tried to join us, I shook my head. “Your grandfather clearly wants to speak with me alone.” I gave a reassuring pat-slash-rub to his left peck, and desire raced from my fingertips to my chest, making my breath catch. “Maybe he wants to impart some advice on how I can get pregnant right away.”
I winked to show him I was teasing, but he didn’t find my joke amusing. At all.
When Ernest invited me to sit on the cushy couch, I sat and admired the leather-bound books decorating the shelves. He was obviously a man of curiosity and learning.
“Let me cut to the chase, young lady. How did this fictuious engagement come to be?”
The man obviously had seen right through us from the beginning. There was no point in lying to him now, especially since he was dying.
I straightened my shoulders and made my voice as warm as possible, so he wouldn’t think as badly of me as I was afraid he might. I really liked the old guy. “Denton approached me with an offer. I help him, and he gives me financial compensation at the end of six months.” That sounded cold and shallow, but I wouldn’t give Ernest more unless he upchucked some facts himself. I narrowed my eyes. “Now it’s my turn.”
He let out a deep chortle. “Ask away.”
“How did you know it was a fake engagement?”
“My grandson has been dead set against marriage since he hit puberty. And then all of a sudden, he appears one day to announce he’s getting married? That he’s in love? That he proposed on top of the Empire State Building?” He snorted. “No, no, and definitely no. If he ever did propose to a woman, it would be in some luxury hotel suite, right in the middle of… ahh, what couples do. And then he’d cancel the whole thing the next morning.”
Silence fell between us as I stared into his intelligent, sharp eyes.
“My turn.” He wheeled closer to me. “Now tell me, young Tiffany, what are we going to do about this?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“It’s quite apparent that my grandson pulled this stunt thinking it would give me my dying wish. And it’s even more apparent that the both of you are using this charade to hide how you truly feel, how in love you are.”
“I’m not in love with—”
“Hush, girl. Don’t interrupt your elders. You might fool yourselves for a while, but you can’t fool someone like me. So here’s my offer.”
At this point, I was completely and utterly speechless and filled with admiration for the old coot.
“Cat got your tongue, eh?” He threw back his head and laughed raucously. “Finally! Here’s my offer—get married and do whatever it is you both agreed to do. I’ll just sit here and act dumb for my grandson’s sake. But during that period, I want you to make Denton fall in love with you. I mean really fall in love.” He sat back, suddenly looking his age. “In all my life, I’ve never seen him in love with a woman. That’s what I want to see before I die.”
My heart squeezed painfully and tears welled in my eyes. This man loved his grandson and just wanted the best for him before he left this world. What could I do?
I nodded, sniffing. “I’ll try.”
“Don’t try, young Tiffany. Do. Make it happen.” He snapped a quick nod at me, like I was one of his soldiers, and directed his wheelchair away and out to join his family.
Around eleven, I changed into my pajamas in the bathroom and stepped into the bedroom, hesitating in the doorway. Denton was already in bed, flicking through channels on the remote, probably looking for the foreign film channel.
“Don’t you have Netflix at the Hamptons?” I teased, stepping toward him.
“My parents don’t really watch TV,” he explained. “They prefer to play tennis and golf at the country club.”
Before I could change my mind, I hurried over and slipped under the bed covers.
“What are you doing? I thought you said…”
“I know what I said earlier. And now I’ve changed my mind.” I blinked at him and smiled in what I hoped was a sultry way, my heart pounding as I thought about Ernest and his request.
Denton leaned back, confused, but with his eyes lingering on the bit of cleavage I’d left exposed. “I like, but explain to me, what happened to the new rules?”
I drew in a deep breath. “The new rules… no longer exist.” I moved forward, closing my eyes as our lips met in a chaste kiss.
That was all he needed. Cupping my face, he deepened the kiss, pushing his tongue into my mouth. I groaned as he sucked and nibbled on my lower lip, his mouth trailing down my neck. This was heavenly. This was like nothing I’d experienced before.
This was… not sloppy, like Andy’s kisses were. Once again, I was reminded how much my love life had lacked in so many ways.
Denton pushed up my t-shirt, his mouth landing on my bare breast. When I wrapped my legs around his hips and moved against his erection, he let out a pained groan.
“We’re really doing this? No more rules?”
“No more rules.” I gave his neck a little nip so he wouldn’t be too inclined to dig deeper. “And we’ll be sharing a bed from now on.”
�
�Even at the penthouse?”
“Of course.” I breathed in the scent of him, the sharp male fragrance of his soap, the clean, fresh scent that was just him. My fingers went to his soft blond hair, pushed into its depths. “If we’re doing this fake marriage thing, we’re doing it all the way.”
The delight on his face nearly unraveled me. Maybe Ernest was on to something.
Could we really be falling for each other? Is that what Ernest saw?
I let out a little gasp when Denton slid beneath the covers, down to the waistband of my pajamas, and peeled them off. His hot breath suddenly surrounding my mound made me squirm, wanting what he was hopefully going to give me.
His hand cupped me, pressing against my lips, and my hips responded by increasing the pressure. Hooking one finger under the top of my panties, he inhaled, letting his breath out with an “ahh, delightful” that ended in a sort of growl.
Then one long finger dipped beneath the material and stroked straight down the middle of my folds. I couldn’t help the whimper that came out of my mouth, and it seemed to urge him on because he growled and yanked my undies off, then his head dove between my legs. His heated mouth clamped around me, making every muscle in my core tighten. When Denton’s tongue found my clit, I couldn’t stop my mewling sounds.
“You like that?” His head popped up, but his tongue kept working as he spoke the words, only now I could see that talented tongue undulating around my hardening nub.
“Yes. Yes!” I sunk my hands into his hair, grabbing on, wanting more.
“What about this?” His mouth dropped down around my clit and sucked.
Oh. Ohhh.
I came, shattering beneath his mouth, and he didn’t let up until he’d drawn every last shudder from me. I didn’t know I could come so fast, or that oral sex could be so intense.
Denton rose above me, his pjs stripped off, pressed my legs upward and slid his rock-hard cock inside my wet core, and all thoughts flew out of my head. This was entirely different from the shower. His intense green eyes stared down into mine as he began moving inside me, his hands under my ass, pressing me upward as he went deeper. I wrapped my legs around him, changing the angle, and he moaned. Wanting to hear that sound again, I grabbed his ass, used the leverage to rise up to meet him with his next thrust. His mouth dropped open but his eyes remained on mine, and I felt like I could see everything he was feeling in his eyes. Surprise. Intimacy.
A tension began building in my core again, and he felt it too.
“Come for me, Tiffany. I want to feel it all around me, like in the shower today.”
His words took me to the edge of an orgasm and I gripped his shoulders, raising my hips to meet his with more urgency. His cock was stretching me now, swelling with his arousal. From the way the muscles in his arms and chest were tensing, he was on the edge too.
“Come with me. Come inside me. Want to feel your heat, feel—” My throat closed around my words as my lower body clamped down on him and he staggered to a stop, his torso going rock-hard. He let out a short shout, then his hips were thrusting with a frenzy, his cock pounding into me, his mouth in a grimace as each thrust initiated wave after wave of tingling spasms. He slowed as my climax began to wind down, taking me to a place of gently rocking waves.
He collapsed on top of me, the skin of our chests sticking together with our sweat. Which was even somehow sexy. “What was…”
“That?” I finished for him, wondering if this was some special level of chemistry we’d reached or if it had something to do with the L word.
Before I could separate the two, I fell asleep, my limbs tangled with his.
On Monday morning, we arrived back at the penthouse and got ready for the day. Denton took off for his office, and I prepped for my yoga class.
On the way, I checked my cell phone. I’d barely looked at it over the weekend. Both Rach and Andy had left numerous text messages, and there were several voicemails.
Rach was foaming at the mouth when I called her.
“You ass!” she shrieked into my ear. “It was a deliberate attempt to keep me in the dark, wasn’t it? Was it because I said I wanted to ogle him?”
“We had sex,” I blurted. “Multiple times.”
“What? Are you insane?”
Now that I was back in the city, the whole trip to the Hamptons felt like a dream. Even Ernest seemed like some reverse Scrooge apparition that had appeared to me in the night.
I rubbed my right temple. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Rach. But… I think I’m sort of falling for the guy.”
“No, no, no. Don’t do that.” Her voice took on a mother hen tone. “Look, I know how hot Denton North is. But the only one who’ll end up getting hurt is you. Get it? You’ll have your money, but you’ll be the only one who leaves with a broken heart. Denton will move on to the next woman, and the next, and so on and so fucking forth. He always does.”
Was this true? I’d believed this same thing when I’d first met him. But things had changed, were different now. Weren’t they?
“Listen, I’m late for my yoga class. I’ll call you again later, okay?”
“No, I need more than that. Come and stay the night with me. Denton had you all week, so it’s my turn to spend some time with my best friend.”
I knew she would work on me some more, trying to convince me to keep my guard up, but she was my bestie and I missed her. “I’ll talk to him.” I hung up, a headache pounding behind my temples.
After an hour of stretching and bending and twisting my body into a hot pretzel, I dropped by Morning Brew to get my coffee fix, and also to talk to Andy. As soon as he saw me, he personally made my coffee and ushered me to a corner booth, away from other customers.
“Here you go.”
I gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks.”
After I took a few sips, Andy leaned forward. “Tell me what happened. How does a person become engaged right after her asshole boyfriend dumps her?”
I raised a brow. “I’m glad you got that part right. As for the engagement, it sort of just happened.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means that I bumped into an old flame, feelings returned, and we remembered that we’d made a pact to get married one day, so we decided to go for it. Voilà.” I waved my arm like I held a magic wand, wishing I actually did. I hated lying, but there was no way I would tell Andy Morris the truth.
“Old flame? When did you meet him? When you were barely legal?”
“I was at a summer camp, and he was one of the counselors. We hit it off straight away and kept in touch, dated on and off during my first year of college.”
Andy stared at the table, folding a napkin then opening it again. “I broke up with her.”
“Who? The girl you dumped me for?”
“Yes. I made a horrible mistake, I see that now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But it no longer concerns me, Andy.”
“I want you back.”
Sighing, I rubbed my temples, feeling the nagging headache turning the corner to migraine. I knew him so much better now than I had when we were together. “Actually, you don’t. This is about your wounded pride, not about me.”
“I love you, Tiff. Losing you made me realize that.”
“Bullshit,” I said softly. “All that time we were together, I was the one who showed more interest and made the effort. You took me for granted.”
“You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t regret it every single day?” He stood up, breathing heavily. “Listen, can you just give it some thought? Don’t jump into this marriage too soon. We’re talking about a lifelong commitment here, damn it.”
He wasn’t entirely wrong. Except my lifelong commitment was set to expire after six short months. My heart pricked with a stab of pain.
“I’ll think about it,” I agreed, sliding out of the booth. “I have to go. Rach and I are having a sleepover, and I need to grab some snacks.”
He nodded, hi
s lips thinning. “We’ll talk soon.”
Later, as I was shopping for candy, beer, and chocolate chip cookies, it dawned on me that both Rach and Andy didn’t like my new situation. Rach, because she was worried for me. And Andy, because he wanted me back. It was probably the first time they had agreed on anything.
It made me wonder if I was doing the right thing here, especially the part of getting sexually involved with Denton. What if Ernest was wrong? What if I couldn’t get Denton to fall in love with me? If women like Veronica Sullivan didn’t stand a chance, then how could I? And even if I was successful, what would be next?
Feeling troubled and uneasy, I called Denton to tell him I’d be sleeping at Rachel’s place for the night.
“You’re having one of your slumber parties?” He chuckled in the most annoyingly cute way.
“Something like that. Actually, I think she’s starting to feel a little left out. A sleepover is just the thing to make her feel loved again.”
“I’ll miss you.” His voice was tender, as if he meant it, and my heart squeezed a little. “Oh, and my parents and I talked an hour ago. We think a small wedding three weeks from now would be perfect. What about you? Think it’s too soon?”
Yes! I wanted to shout, but I kept my cool. I wanted, needed my best friend to assure me I wasn’t going off into the deep end of the love lagoon before committing to a date. A date. Oh god. My ring finger itched at the thought.
I swallowed hard, making sure none of my nerves were apparent in my voice. “Let’s discuss that tomorrow. Would that be okay?”
“Sure.”
After I hung up, my mind reeled just thinking about it. Three weeks!
Gulping back my fear, I put back the six-pack I’d added to the cart and replaced it with a case.
Eight
“Three weeks!” Rach screeched, her eyes wide with horror. She reached for the mint ice cream tub and dug in greedily. “Why the mad rush to put the ring on your finger?”
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