It was her turn to appear scandalized. She was not looking for me to be willing. Negotiating shoving my dick in Klaus Mikasa wasn't on my year's bingo card, either. But it was all theoretical anyway.No hurting me." She had stood up a finger for every rule, counting them out on her hand and starting with her thumb. "No audience, you always wear a condom—I am never getting pregnant again—and we'll have to be exclusive.".I nodded. That's not a problem. I'd been a huge pussy lover in my old gigolo job, and I just wasn't up for variety. If anything had been true about that job, it was that a pussy was a pussy.I enjoyed the hypocrisy of the situation. I'd been paid to pretend to date all manner of individuals when I worked in my old gigolo job, and now I'd be paying someone to pretend to date me back.Karma, nasty little beast."Sounds like a plan," I said. "We have a deal.""Wait—I'm not finished."I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers and breathed deeply. "Of course you're not.""
She shrugged one shoulder. "Julia Roberts commanded three thousand in Pretty Woman, and I think it was less than a week. That was 1990. Just consider the inflation.""Julia Roberts provided a hell of a lot more than holding hands and being pretty," I gritted out."So am I, though." Klaus licked her lips nervously, fingers wringing together. "Sex is going to be the only plus of this deal.""What'd you say?" I yawned to pop my ears. Must have been hallucinating. Seriously needed to watch out for that non-casual coke habit."I said, sex is on the table."Shh."Or anywhere else you'd like to have it, to be honest. I'm not particular."My.Jaw.Was.On.The.Goddamn.Floor."Sorry." I swallowed saliva—and quite possibly my fucking tongue as well. "My grasp of the English language has declined during the past five seconds. You're telling me you're inquiring if you can, uh, screw?She glared at me directly in the eye, calm if slightly flushed. "I mean, the affair will be fake, but the orgasms had better be
"Listen—" I started.The elevator made its metallic ding and opened its doors to the side. I carried the bags and followed behind her like a bellboy. She stood in the middle of the hallway, waiting for me to act. I could see she'd never been there before. Not to Pete's apartment and probably not in New York. Other than the occasional London trips to visit her brother and Timothy, Klaus hadn't seen much of the world."It's this one." I nodded my chin to the right door.She poked her chin out defiantly, and we both pretended the blood on her cheeks wasn't there.Klaus pushed open the door and gagged in amazement. Yeah, the room was really nice. Gravity let out a little shriek of delight."Big windows!" She squirmed out of her mother's hug. The little girl dropped her headphones on the floor and ran out into the hall to go see.I wheeled all the bags in, glaring at Klaus.Her brow creased in annoyance. "Oh. Sorry." Her scowl eased, and she removed the Target bag from her shoulder, rummaging thr
You're making the right decision, son." Bruce ruffled Flinn's shoulder. "I respect a good family man. Am one myself. Don't know if you've read the Forbes piece on me, but seventy-three percent of my staff attend the same Sunday service that I do. Birds of a feather flock together, hey?"Flinn smiled broadly, and at once I realized his ploy.I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing. Flinn said the "heat" in "heathen." The man was such a reprobate I was sure he'd catch fire one day if he ever made it fewer than three miles from a church. His secondary job was actually dating and screwing women for money. And he did it with gusto. I'd estimate he'd slept with more women than were registered to vote in this district. And as exhibited right here and right now, he had no qualms about lying, deceiving, and cheating his way into achieving his goals."Absolutely right, sir. There is no bigger fan of monogamy and children than me," Flinn clucked, his voice honeyed menace."Alrighty." Bruce rubb
"Just get your bags out first. Our garage elevator is tiny and we're going to be forever shuttling bags."I resented that he was helping me. Resented that I was flustered enough to have been accepting said help. And I resented having a disheveled look about me at all of this happening.Flinn got out, tossed all six of my suitcases and duffel bags onto the sidewalk, and stopped a burly Amazon delivery guy and got him to shift the lane so he could push my car into the building's parking lot. They both pushed the trunk, rolling it into the garage underneath. I put Gravity onto a suitcase, her legs hooked over the handle, and dropped her iPad, covered in a butterfly-shaped sleeve, into her hands. I put her kitty-ear headphones on her ears. Her face lit up as she saw Caitie's Classroom. Then I went and fetched my broken phone from the pavement.With a mix of mortification and humiliation, I watched Flinn and the delivery guy work. When the car was wedged into the garage, Flinn once more ca
My daughter stood upright on unsteady legs, her face twisted into a terrified expression. She moved forward directly into the onrushing vehicles, looking for me with an ethereal, fearful gaze. I struggled with every ounce of strength against leaping towards her and scaring her directly into the rush-hour traffic in the seconds it took for my legs to catch up to her.Out of nowhere-and in an instant-a giant, wide, thunder of a human scooped up Gravity in one hand, tucked her under their arm like a football, and sprinted to the sidewalk to safety.I knelt on my knees and hacked out the breath lodged in my lungs.She could have been killed. She almost was. Due to my careless lack of attention.Wiping away the tears, I stumbled towards the man holding my baby. More specifically, the man swinging her by the ankles, splashing her body around like she was an opened piñata. "Where's the candy?" His dark, deep voice rumbled. No baby talk. "I know you have some. Don't play.""I don't!" Gravity