Page 156 of Charming Deception

Megan steps out of the bathroom, wrapped in a hotel robe. Her hair is twisted up, not wet.

“You’re finished your bath?” I state the obvious. “You want another drink? Or should we get some sleep?”

She blinks at me. “When I said I was going to enjoy the view,” she says hesitantly, “if I’d actually meant that I wanted to enjoy the view of you in the shower, would you have said yes?”

I clear my throat, which suddenly has an entire day-old croissant jammed in it. “Uh… I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

And now she’s probably thinking there’s something wrong with me. If I don’t even want her to see me naked in the shower, what am I hiding? Some ghastly rash? A tiny dick?

“Why not?”

Fuck me.

I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. “Megan.” I swipe my hand through my hair. “We just need to wait a bit.”

“Until you’re comfortable,” she says softly.

I don’t answer that, just grit my teeth. Because I’ve never been able to come up with an answer for this. Unless I make up a lie, I have no reason to delay putting my hands all over her body. Even telling her that I won’t touch her because of Cole would be a lie at this point.

So I just say nothing.

“Are you into me that way? Physically?”

Shit. I’ve really fucked this up.

“Megan… of course I am.”

“So, if you were ready for something to happen between us… it would happen?”

“Yes. If you wanted it to.”

She studies me for a long minute, like she isn’t sure if she believes me.

It fucking slays me.

“Tell me the truth, okay?” She glances at the phone in my hand and takes a little breath. “Was that a woman?”

“No.” I stand and slip my phone into my pocket, closing the distance between us, wanting to reassure her.

“I heard you. You were telling someone on the phone that you haven’t had sex with me.” Before I can respond, she adds quietly, “How do I know you’re not going to sleep with someone else?”

Fuck. How can I assure her that if I could have sex with anyone, it would be her?

Not being able to tell her why I can’t is becoming a worse problem than I ever anticipated.

“I’m not sleeping with anyone else,” I try to reassure her. “Other than what you’ve seen when we’ve been socializing publicly and I’m with you, I’m not even spending time with any other women, personally or professionally, right now.” Thanks to Graysen basically ordering me to stay away from womankind.

She gives a short, weary sigh. “It was my brother on the phone, wasn’t it? He’s still having a hard time with this. And you’re trying to cover for him.”

My mouth opens and shuts as I struggle with what to say to her. I decide to go with the truth, while avoiding actually answering the first part of her question. “Whatever your brother thinks about this, about us, even if he’s having a hard time with it, that’s not our responsibility either. We both care about Cole. But he doesn’t get to choose your partner or mine.”

Megan’s tension seems to dissolve as she takes that in. I only feel worse when my evasive answer puts her at ease.

She’s trusting me, even when I’m not being fully trustworthy.

“I agree.” She glances over at the Cristal on ice. “Why don’t we finish that champagne? I’m in love with the balcony. We can see the Eiffel Tower from here. It’s all lit up.”

I know that. That’s why I picked this room. For her. “I’ll meet you out there.”

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