But all I wanted to do, tangled up with her, was stay there. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want her to go. I wanted that night to stretch on. I wanted to watch her walk out to the balcony, wrapped in white linens, over and over. I wanted to feed her grapes for breakfast and fuck her some more.
It is goddamn unacceptable. I need to sweat out whatever the hell is brewing in my veins because I’ve got a job to do. She can’t be the end of everything.
“Come on, Eric.” Paxton taunts again. He nails me in the jaw, hard. “Why are you so off your game? What happened with that girl?”
“I don’t know.” I grit my teeth and land a few good ones on Paxton. “You can let it go now.”
“I’m your best boy. I don’t let things go.”
“You’re my best boy because you let things go, Pax.”
“False. I’m your Jiminy goddamn Cricket. And I’m here to tell you to get your dick out of that girl and focus on your job.” He launches after me, endless punches flying my way. “Otherwise, you’re going to watch your whole damn career crash and burn.”
This, more than anything, fans the flames tearing through my veins, and my jaw sets into a hard line. I’m not going to lose anything because of this woman, not matter how badly I want her.
“Get your shit together.”
I turn, deadly calm, and land a full knockout blow to Paxton. He stumbles backwards and falls on his back. I lean over him.
“Eric Stevens always has his shit together.”
I leave him in the ring.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
KATE
Lily pours an extra-large glass of Malbec and slides it my way. I take it and steal a sip while seamlessly finishing my recount of the night with Eric. Wine isn’t going to detour this nonsense.
“Was it amazing?” Lily gasps. “The sex you’ve always needed?”
“Yes.” I drop my head to my chest and heave a large sigh. “God, Lily, it was amazing. The best sex I’ve ever had, hands down. He always acts like such a fucking asshole, but he was someone entirely different in bed. I mean, he was still cocky and arrogant and demanding, but there was a touch of something… softer. I don’t know. It was intense.”
“I’m getting chills. That’s incredible.”
“Not incredible! Terrible! He’s David’s lawyer, Lily. He’s the enemy!”
“Are you sure?” Lily eyes me skeptically over her glass. “Because you two apparently have some sort of crazy chemistry straight out of tinsel town, babe.”
“That’s all bullshit. Lights, music, soft filters, costuming and some poor assistant running around with mints for bad breath. That’s not real. What happened two nights ago was… something else entirely.”
“Are you going to see him again?”
“God no! Yes. No. I mean, maybe?” I rub my forehead. “This is all so bad. So bad. But it was so good.”
“Did you… you know?”
My eyes light up and I bite my lip as I cross through my apartment and rummage around my desk. I find the jump drive in the bin with my pens and hoist it in the air. My prize, my trophy for a night of sex with the sexy evil attorney.
“You have to let me see it!”
“No!” I squeal, cheeks already red. “Oh my God, that would be so embarrassing.”
“I’ve seen you naked at least a dozen times. This is no different.”
“Look, college doesn’t count, number one. And two, this is so different! It’s practically porn. You’ll see, you know, all of me. That’s weird.”
Lily pouts and clasps the bottle of wine to her chest. “I won’t share any more if you don’t show me. All mine for the rest of the evening unless you plug that bad boy in.”
“I don’t know, Lily. It’s so personal.” My plan didn’t include sharing the video with anyone other than Eric and David.
“Kate Lilliana Monroe McArthur. This was not a romantic tryst, no matter how amazing it may have been. This was pure revenge fucking and you know it. Stop trying to treat this like some shiny, sparkly junior high love bullshit. You sucked that guy’s dick to make David jealous. Now gimme.”
“It was such a nice cock, too.” I groan, remembering the exact feel of it in my mouth. I had never before in my life enjoyed fellatio until that moment. “No, you’re right. I’m being ridiculous. David is going to shit himself when he sees it.”
“When are you going to show it to him?”
“I’m not sure. I feel like I need to tell Vivian first, given the parties involved. Maybe I’ll save it for after everything finalizes. Not only will I get my freaking money that I deserve out of this shithole excuse of a marriage, but then I’m going to show him a video of me fucking his lawyer. God, I can’t wait to see the look on his face.”