Page 80 of Fake

Or maybe now isn’t the time.

Or maybe I need to stop making that excuse and get it over with.

“Are you okay?” Nathan asks, resting a hip on the rail beside me. “You seem tense.”

“I’m fine. I had a strange conversation with my friend and just needed…you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You make everything better and?—”

Nathan silences me with a kiss. His lips are charged, electricity releasing from his body to mine as his hand lifts my skirt and slides up my thigh. “Funny. I’ve been thinking the same thing about you.”

I pull back because I need to tell him about Fallon before I get distracted by his touch. “Nathan, I?—”

“Tell me after,” he growls, his voice sending a shiver of delight down my spine.

After, I think as he nuzzles my neck.

After, I think as his teeth graze my lips.

And then he palms the tight bundle of nerves between my thighs and I stop thinking altogether.

His fingers fumble with his pants and he bends me over the rail. I’m staring at the ocean as he kicks at my feet, spreading my thighs. I glance over my shoulder to find him watching as he enters me, his face transforming in ecstasy as his cock slides inside. With one thrust he has me weak in the knees. With another I’m little more than the night sky, hanging somewhere near the moon and glimmering with the stars. He grabs my hair, wrapping it around his fist as he pulls my face skyward, changing the angle while I grunt and moan each time our bodies collide.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs. “So perfect. So exactly what I needed.”

And then he’s beyond speaking and it’s just his hands on my body. His fist in my hair.

The rush of the water blends with my moans and then there’s nothing but sensation. Nothing but Nathan.

Nothing but us.

THIRTY-ONE

Nathan

As of the charity auction last week, we officially overshot our financial goal for the adult side of the Reversal of Fortune Foundation. The board gave its perfunctory okay and Aunt Maisie is as excited as I am about this new venture. Next is community outreach and marketing and we’ll finally be able to offer some relief to the people drowning in this hard new world.

My family isn’t worried about me anymore. The concerned glances and fake smiles are gone, as is my general mistrust for humanity at large.

I pull open my closet and flick through a few shirts before a realization stops all movement.

I’m happy. I’m actually happy.

Who would have thought several months with Mina Blake, Hot Mess Express, would give me my life back? I feel comfortable in my skin again. I don’t have to be the villain or learn to play the hand I was dealt. I can just be me. The guy who feels best when he’s giving. And I don’t have to worry about being lied to or taken advantage of. Mina doesn’t want my money. Or my notoriety. She doesn’t want anything from me except me.

I haven’t regretted one thing about letting her into my life. Not one thing. These last six months have been the best of my life.

My phone pings and I smile expectantly.

It’s probably Mina, informing me she’s running late for our dinner date. She and Benjamin have been going over the final plans for my house before we send them to the builders and start purchasing materials.

That right there might be one thing I regret.

That damn lair on a secluded stretch of beach.

I don’t need that much space. Even if I wasn’t living alone.

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