Page 13 of Yours, Truly

Zak was the same height as Jude and looked as if he took care of himself, like he worked out but not overly muscly, with his soft blonde hair pulled back into a slight man-bun. Soft stubble lined his jaw and a pair of bright blue eyes lit up when he saw me.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled sweetly.I knew this was a set up. He went in for a hug, taking me by surprise as he kissed my cheek.

“You look stunning,” he announced as he ran his eyes over me,

“That's what I said,” Ivy agreed, happy with the interaction. “I'll leave you guys to chat.” She danced away, back to Jude’s side and I saw her whisper something to him before giving me the thumbs up. I could kill Ivy. I didnotneed to be set up.

The anxiety was forming but thanks to the whiskey I had already had it seemed to settle it from bubbling over. I felt a bit awkward, not sure what to say to Zak, as he stared at me in admiration. I wasn’t a massively social person anyway and especially at parties and social events I was more of an introvert. But for Ivy I would make an exception.

“Hi,” I said again shyly, while Zak rubbed the back of his neck.

“Hi,” he chuckled, meeting my response before he dove into the conversation, as if this was his permission to continue talking to me. “So how long have you known Ivy for?”

“Erm, since university. We both got lost on the first day and realised we were actually sharing a student house and now, here we are. We have been kind of inseparable since.” I smiled at the memory, looking into my drink.

“Awesome. Jude and I were neighbours as kids so we kind of grew up together. So, what do you do?”

“I work in marketing,” I announced. It wasn’t the most interesting thing to talk about with the current situation.

“You?”

“I'm a detective,” he said proudly. And that was where the conversation ended, he didn’t really know what else to say and I hated small talk.

“That's amazing. It’s nice talking to you but if you’ll excuse me, I need to do my rounds as maid of honour. I'll see you around.” I excused myself, running to take cover in the bathroom.

I needed a second to myself. I was feeling overwhelmed and needed a breather. The bathrooms were just as luxurious as the rest of the hotel. I focused on myself in the mirror, taking deep breaths and grounding myself.

As a couple of women came in, I pretended to be fixing my makeup looking for my lip gloss in my small purse. The ladies were swooning over Nate, how good looking he was, that jawline and those big hands, followed by more wildly inappropriate comments. I couldn’t escape him even for a second, even in the bathroom! As if the universe was giving mea sign that it was ok, I smirked to myself, that indeed I had experienced those hands and other inappropriate comments. The ladies were completely oblivious to my presence.

“I mean, have you seen her brother, what I would do to get him in bed!” One of the girls confessed.

“I heard he is quite the player. You know Olive Willis from the Nightingale bar, she said he was amazing in bed. The best drunken one-night stand sex she ever had apparently.” The small blonde exclaimed. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of this.

“Well, I need the best sex ofmylife. And if that means I need to seduce the sex god tonight then I will.” I looked over at the beautiful brunette. She had a very short red dress on, leaving nothing to the imagination, the thought of her seducing Nate made me giggle a little.

“May the best woman win,” the other brunette girl in the blue dress challenged. “Don’t think whores are his type though” she teased. They all laughed before they left the bathroom to pursue their mission. Then I remembered Nate hadn’t taken his eyes off me the whole evening, even with these women who looked like models.

It was getting late. I was ready to go meet my bed and get some rest. I rushed out the bathroom to find Ivy and Jude, to say my goodbyes, before calling a cab. I retrieved my jacket from the coat closet in the lobby and left. Nate was waitingoutside; he was on a call by the sound of it.

I rolled my eyes that he was there yet again, everywhere I turned. His eyes fixed onto me as I bounced down the stairs, throwing on my jacket and walking away from the building just as his call came to an abrupt end. I stood at the side of the road, away from the hotel entrance down the street, as I checked my Uber app to see where my driver was. There was urgency in each of his footsteps as he stalked closer to me, like a predator to prey. With one swift motion, he placed a hand on the nape of my neck, turning me and pulling my lips to his.

His kiss was powerful, possessive, dominant and hungry. His other arm snaked around my waist, pulling me close to him, locking my body against his. His tongue wanted access to deepen the kiss and he growled on my lips, frustrated as I fought with him.

Eventually I gave in, our tongues dancing until he pulled back to see my reaction, that smirk on his face. He had literally sucked all the air from my lungs leaving me feeling dizzy.

I gazed up at him breathless, lips plumped, seeing the lust in his eyes, exactly like last week when he backed me against my car. The kiss was passionate, just like our first one in Barcelona, with hunger but also tender.

“Get in the car, sweetheart,” he cleared his throat, instructing me as he pointed across to his car parked down the street.

“It's okay. I can grab a taxi,” I said nervously, not sure what this was. I didn’t want to read too much into it.

“It wasn't an option, it was an instruction,” he growled, hiseyes never leaving mine. Part of me knew this wasn’t a good idea but the other part of me wanted this so badly.

I accepted and he placed his hand on my back, guiding me to his car. Without thinking, I climbed into the Porsche as he opened the door feeling like I was under hisspell.

11

THE LONG DRIVE HOME

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