Page 39 of The Companion Love Trap

“Fine. You got me. You had a room, but this knucklehead took it.” Jace sighed, his shoulders dropping. “Sorry, Cruz. I’m not getting put in the doghouse for you.” Jace stepped aside, his eyes wary at the sexy Brazilian.

“Careful, Meu Dengo. You’re already on thin ice.”

Cruz’s dark eyes blazed fire at Jace, and I wished I had popcorn to watch the showdown between them. Jace kept his chin up in defiance, but it didn’t hide the noticeable bulge growing in his shorts. I had so many questions.

How? Why? When? Okay, I had three, but they were important ones!

“As hot as it is to watch you two eyefuck it out, I need to know something. Was this whole thing a setup?” I tried to keep my voice even, but I failed as a part of it hitched in the end.

I wouldn’t be able to stand it if this had been devised as a pity job. Cruz knew I needed work, so was this all his doing? If so, it would be the one thing to keep me from ever sleeping with him again. In fact, I’d go so far as to bunk with the crew or jump overboard and take my chances with the sharks. Not being a burden 101 meant never taking anything out of pity.

Just thinking about the word made me shudder. Gross.

Cruz dropped his eyes from Jace and moved further into the room as he kneeled down at my feet. His hand cupped my ankle, his thumb brushing the skin there. As much as I wanted to resist him and push him away, Cruz had a pull over me I couldn’t ignore. I’d at least let him have his say, and then he was toast.

“It’s not what you’re thinking, baby. It wasn’t pity.” I flinched at the word, my body physically recoiling. “Jace overhead you needed a job that night at the club. I told him you wouldn’t accept something you didn’t work for. The ad is real. I might have helped your coworker discover it, but the whole process was legitimate. I swear.”

“But why?” I asked, unsure what I needed to hear but knowing there was something I had to know.

Why had they gone through so much trouble for me?

“I know Jace and Kieran from the club, and they’re good men. You mentioned you were looking for something, and this seemed ideal. Can you deny that you’re perfect for it?”

I shook my head no; though the words dried on my tongue. But Cruz didn’t let it stop him.

“You exude confidence and make everyone feel like a friend within seconds, Everly. You know the ins and outs of high society and can hold a conversation with anyone. Plus, you’re not the type of women that were applying, the ones hoping to snag a rich boyfriend for a hefty payout.”

“Ew.” I reared back, offended on Kieran and Jace’s behalf. “Girls did that?”

“More than you’d think.” Jace grimaced, and I thawed a little more. I remember what those girls had been like growing up, and couldn’t deny I’d be desperate to find someone unlike them if I were in their position.

“It’s part of why I don’t date. I can’t talk to women on the best of days; throw in the fact they’re trying to lock me in some trap, and I’m useless. It might sound weird, but Jace arranges dates for me when I need one. It’s just easier, and he’s better at that type of thing. When we discovered the investors didn’t see me as stable because I’m single, Jace devised the ad. It seemed like the best way to find someone who knew the score from the beginning.”

Kieran had wrapped an arm around me at some point, his cologne soothing me as he spoke. It was unfair how sweet and honest he was.

“So, the ad was real, and for some reason, you wanted me to fill it out?” I asked Jace, needing clarification. I could understand their position but still didn’t know how I felt about the lengths they’d gone to for me.

He nodded, his hazel eyes watching me carefully. The blue and green swirled, bits of brown flecks dominant in his current emotional state.

“And you asked Cruz for help? Why?”

“I spied on you while you were in his office. I assumed you were together, so it felt like the respectful thing to do.” He shrugged like the fact he listened to us have sex wasn’t a big deal.

I opened my mouth to yell at him about it but stopped as I blinked and tried to remember why it was a big deal. We’d chosen to have sex where people could hear us, so that was on us. And why was it hot to picture Jace listening to Cruz and me fuck? Had he gotten aroused by the sound of us together? Ugh, this was not the time for my exhibition kink to be activated. I cleared my throat and wished I could shift my leg as my pussy throbbed with need, a wetness developing below.

“So when you ordered a coffee and said you’d see me later, you knew I’d show up for an interview?”

“I hoped you would. I was manifesting what I wanted. Putting out into the world that I would see you again, so I would.”

“And again, when you pretended like it was a coincidence I appeared in the restaurant?”

Jace cringed, rubbing his face. “Looking back, I can see how that might look. But I honestly was just so stoked you showed. I knew you would be the perfect candidate.”

“How? I’d never met you before.”

Jace flicked his eyes to Kieran for a split second before returning to me.

“I’m a photographer, Firecracker. I can look at someone and see the real person within. I watched you perform that night at the club. The way you moved to the music and captured the crowd. It was breathtaking and the exact energy I’d been looking for. When I saw you for the first time that night, I just knew you were it.” He shrugged his shoulders, keeping his eyes on me. “Call me a stalker, or call me a romantic. It doesn’t matter. They’re the same to me.”

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