call you sometime?”
She stiffened. “No.”
“No?” He tried to keep his hurt from showing. “Do you have a
boyfriend?”
“No. No, no. Nothing like that. It’s just, well, I mean,
you’re you, and I’m me.”
“Yes, and that’s why I like you.”
“You like me?”
“Silly woman, of course I do. I wouldn’t put up with your
bratty ass if I didn’t.”
“I’m not bratty.”
“Oh yes you are, and willful, but that’s okay. I like it.
Gives me a reason to spank you.”
She wiggled against him. “We haven’t done that.”
He chuckled. “No, we haven’t. I’m not going to push you for
your number, but I want you to know the offer is there to take it outside of
the club when and if you feel comfortable. I promise you I don’t have a torture
room set up in my basement. In fact I’m terribly dull.”
Instead of laughing she pulled his arms harder around her.
“You are an amazing man.”
“Well, you can’t really base your opinion of me on what
you’ve seen here. Someday, in the far-far-far-far-far-off, distant future, I
hope you’ll let me take you out to dinner. And then have you for dessert.”
She laughed and gently elbowed him. “That was so cheesy.”
He grinned and nuzzled her cheek. “By the way, nice hickey.”
“What!” She tried to pull away, but he held her close.
“Don’t worry. If you wear a high-necked shirt, no one will
see.”
Chapter Six
Anya tugged her turtleneck higher, glad it was the last day
this week she’d have to wear something around her hickey-covered neck. Gosh darn
that man. He’d left what amounted to a necklace of love bites all over her. It
was like he’d marked her as his property. The thought at once scared and
tempted her. She could all too easily see herself spending the rest of her life
with Jesse and the boys. Unfortunately she didn’t think he’d want anything to
do with her once he found out the truth.
During their brief meetings throughout the week he’d not
even commented on the glasses she now wore. They were purely decorative, part
of her disguise in a weird way, but he’d smiled and chatted as usual, letting
her fill him in on the twins’ antics as they clambered all over him. While he
may have seen her the same, she couldn’t look at him without wanting to touch,
taste, and surround herself with him. She knew how good he was in bed, and it
was driving her nuts to have him right in front of her but unable to touch
because of her deception.
She looked down at the mixed drink in her hand, wishing she
was mean enough to spit in it. Never in her life had she met anyone she
despised as much as Diane, Jesse’s late wife’s twin sister. A mean, vain, and
utterly manipulative woman who used her looks to get what she wanted. She’d
been divorced four times and had left each man near broke from her extravagant
spending. Newly single again, it was apparent to everyone but Jesse that Diane
had her sights set on him as husband number five.
Anya took a deep breath, counting to ten twice before she
entered the living room, where Diane sat smoking her fake cigarette. The end of
the electric cigarette glowed red as she took another puff of the
nicotine-laced vapor, then blew the resulting plume of water vapor into the air
through her nose. She reminded Anya of an evil dragon getting ready to feast on
innocent villagers.
Across from Diane the boys played with their toys, oblivious
to their aunt’s presence. Not that it really mattered. From what Anya had seen
in the time she’d worked here, Diane really only came to the house to visit one
person. She usually arrived right before Jesse came home at least twice a week,
oozing insincere love for the boys while trying to cuddle up to him. It made
Anya want to snatch her blonde hair out by its black roots.
A rather possessive anger flared through her, pushing aside
her usual tolerance for the woman. How could Jesse not see that to Diane the
boys were an excuse to get her anorexic, Botoxed
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