Page 23 of Donut Overthink It

I reach out and pull her across the center console. She sucks in a breath as her watery blue eyes land on mine. I reach my free hand up and wipe the wetness away with my thumb on her cheek. She lets out a shaky breath. “Mr. Kyle …”

The way she breathes my name has my cock hardening. “I want you. All of you. One night. My way.” Her lips thin, and her eyes narrow on me.

“You think I’m guilty,” she growls.

I shake my head. “No …”

“Yes, you do. You think I’m no better than those whores you take to bed, and that I’ll spread my legs for you to save my own ass,” she shouts, pulling away from me, and I allow it.

I think she’s better than that. It’s me who is the whore. She was right earlier when she said I parade women around like fucking trophies. But what she doesn’t know is that I did it on purpose. I wanted to make her jealous. And it worked. “That is my payment, Miss Burns. Take it or leave it.” Which we both know is a lie. I’ve already made the call. I should have made the offer before I ever had the chance to call, but the circumstances wouldn’t allow it.

She yanks on the door handle and shoves it open with her heel and then jumps out. Bending over into the car, she growls, “Go to hell, Mr. Kyle,” then she slams it shut.

CHAPTER NINE

HADLEY

I WANT YOU. ALL OF YOU. ONE NIGHT. MY WAY.

His words have my body shaking with anger. How dare he think he can use me like that! Who the hell does he think he is? I almost roll my eyes at that question. He’s Aiden Kyle, hotshot criminal defense attorney who gets any woman he wants. And I hate that although I told him to go to hell, my heart sped up knowing he wanted me.

Me!

What the hell would he do with me? What would I do with him? He was right when he said that I was innocent. I lost my virginity when I was nineteen in college to a mathlete. It was the slowest five minutes of my life in his dorm while his roommate slept in the bed next to us.

I had placed his pillow over my face to keep from screaming from the pain of it being my first time, and he wasn’t big by any means. It took me another six months to get up the courage to try it again with my lab partner who wasn’t any better than the math geek. And let’s just say that my sex life never got much better than that.

I never was one of those girls who went to parties and hooked up with random men. And then there was Randy. I dated him for two years. He was an accountant. Yep, he was as boring as the rest. But I found that I liked boring. They didn’t grope me in the kitchen or try to hump me the moment I changed into a nightgown before crawling into bed.

I never looked at myself as a sexual woman. I never really had the urge to pull a man’s pants down and pleasure him. Not until I got hired on as Mr. Kyle’s assistant.

I run into my apartment and slam my door shut. Falling down to the floor, I pull my knees to my chest and cry.

I was arrested! And for prostitution, of all things.

What the actual fuck? I’ve never had sex for money.

Losing my job would have been easier than the position he offered me. He wants to fuck me. That’s what he said men like him do, right? Fuck!

And although I’ve thought of the guy a hundred times, I don’t plan to actually sleep with him.

Do I have a choice?

Of course, I do! There is always a way out. I just have to think about it.

My phone goes off in my purse. I dig it out to see I have a message from Nate.

Nate: Is Saturday night good for you? My mother has plans Friday night.

What the fuck? I let out a scream as I bang the back of my head against the front door. The instant headache I get tells me how stupid that was.

I pull myself up off the floor and drag my ass to my bathroom. I need a bath. I smell like a criminal.

Climbing into the warm water helps my sore body. I don’t know why, but my body feels like it’s been through the wringer.

I drop my hands into the water and hiss in a breath as it stings where the handcuffs were on my wrists. They had them on really tight.

Closing my eyes, all I see is Aiden standing there at the police station to bail me out. And wondering why the hell he did it in the first place.

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