All Chapters of Just Say Yes: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

EricStevan had already come out of the bathroom. He was wearing a light pair of shorts and a pale T-shirt that seemed a little too large for his slender frame, accentuating that air of untouched youth even more. He sat on the edge of the bed, brown hair slightly mussed, staring at his own hands.I placed the ice bucket and the bottle on the nightstand. I poured two generous measures of the dark liquid and walked over to him, holding out one of the glasses.“Drink,” I said, keeping my tone low, almost like a magnetic whisper. “It’s not to get you drunk like at the club, Stevan. It’s just to help your mind stop running in circles.”He took the glass, his fingers brushing mine for a fraction of a second. The touch of his skin was cold. He took a long sip, closing his eyes as the strong flavor of the wine slid down his throat.I moved away to the closet in the room and retrieved a strip of soft, opaque black silk. I returned to the bed and stood right in front of him. When Stevan saw the

StevanYou know that saying about digging your own grave? I think that was the moment I finally understood what it meant—when Eric walked toward me.I can say that day was one of those when I almost had a full-blown anxiety attack. I tried to avoid Eric as much as possible at the company, as if that could somehow change what was waiting for me that night.While the elevator climbed, my stomach dropped, and there was nothing I could think about that managed to distract me. I stared at my shoes, then at my hands, feeling completely out of place.The anxiety didn’t ease. It only got worse the moment I stepped into that penthouse. Eric wasn’t rough, and that, ironically, made everything more dangerous. If he had been a monster, it would have been easy to hate him. But he was a dark gentleman.I confess that at the beginning I felt fear when he wanted to blindfold me, but after that everything changed. I wanted to disappear, wanted to run from the humiliation of being bought, but my body…

StevanI woke up before the alarm.I lay staring at the ceiling of the apartment for a few minutes, trying to convince my brain that everything had been a very vivid dream and that I could simply get up, have coffee, and go to work as if nothing had happened.It didn’t work.My body remembered everything. The silk blindfold, Eric’s hot mouth on my chest, the rough sound he made when I…I didn’t finish the thought and rolled onto my stomach against the pillow.“Stop,” I muttered to myself, as if that would do any good.The problem with having spent years denying myself any kind of pleasure was that now, after a single night—one that hadn’t even gone all the way—my brain wouldn’t talk about anything else. And the worst part wasn’t remembering what had happened. The worst part was remembering what I myself had said. Stay. It’s not fair that only I feel pleasure.Who the hell had given me that brilliant idea?I took the longest shower of my life, as if the hot water could wash the embarra

EricThe apartment fell silent the moment the elevator doors closed.I stood staring at the empty space for a few seconds, as if his presence were still there, occupying the air in a way I would need time to understand. I picked up the glass of whiskey I had left on the table, took a slow sip, and walked to the window.New York continued moving down below, indifferent to the confusion settling into my mind—and, I risked saying, into my heart.Stevan had left too quickly, that backpack on his shoulder and his eyes avoiding mine, as if I were something he needed to process from a distance before he could look at it up close. I knew that movement—it was the movement of someone who had felt too much and still didn’t know what to do with it.What I hadn’t expected was to care.I stepped away from the window and sat on the sofa, resting my elbows on my knees. The scene returned without being asked. Stevan on his knees in front of me, hands trembling, the determination in those green eyes co

StevanThe hospital corridor smelled like antiseptic and bad coffee, as always.I kissed my mother’s forehead before leaving, listening to her complain for the third time that the nurse had turned the television off too early. I walked out smiling, but the smile faded as I waited for the elevator.My head wouldn’t stop.Julian had been circling my thoughts the entire afternoon, and I hated admitting it. It wasn’t him, exactly—it was what he represented. Someone who would have stepped into that contract without hesitation, someone who, I was sure, had all the experience necessary to please a man like Eric and who wouldn’t get as nervous as I did.Someone who would know exactly what to do.I knew what I was to Eric. I had the signed paper in the drawer to remind me of it every time I risked forgetting. And yet, seeing that man in the lobby—handsome, confident, the kind who had probably never in his life not known where to put his hands—had bothered me in a way I couldn’t justify without