Page 79 of Bitter Secrets

His brows shot up. “Yet you and your sisters speak…?”

“Ariana speaks the most languages. I believe Colette and I are tied.” When he stared at her, she shrugged. “He wanted us to have the advantages he didn’t have.”

“Yet he claims you’re a disappointment.”

“I am. I lack the qualities that make my dad and sisters exceptional.” She gave him a brave smile. “But I’m working on it.”

He looked like he wanted to say something, but was distracted by his vibrating phone. He pulled it out and stared at the screen for a moment.

“I have to go,” he said abruptly.

She nodded and reached for her bag as she got to her feet. As they passed through the doors and emerged back on the sidewalk, she was filled with an overwhelming sense of loss. The spell was broken, and it was time to go back to the real world.

“It was really nice talking to you,” she said as she fussed with her bag, so she didn’t have to look at him. She wasn’t sure what happened in that café, but she felt as if they were in there for hours instead of twenty minutes. She couldn’t remember the last time she had such a frank conversation with anyone. The therapy session she desperately needed had been fulfilled by the most unlikely source. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Why did she feel more comfortable with Roth, a man she barely knew, rather than her own fiancé?

“Are you available for dinner tomorrow?”

Her head snapped up. “Dinner?”

He held up his phone. “If this goes well, I should be back tomorrow evening.”

“And if it doesn’t go well?”

He shrugged. “New York’s two hours away.”

She thought she made a fool of herself, and he wanted to spend more time with her? He was a man on the rise. Men like him had no time to waste, yet he passed the time listening to her complain about school, and now wanted to take her to dinner? She tilted her head to the side as she surveyed him. Was he lonely? Her heart went out to him. They were two misfits that needed to stick together, but…

“You know I'm engaged, right?” she asked in a rush and ignored the heat crawling up her neck to her face. “To Ford Baldwin?”

Roth didn’t even blink.

“So?”

She grinned. What could have been really awkward, he took in stride. "What time do you want to meet?”

CHAPTER9

“Rex.”

The sound of her own voice, ragged with need, woke her.

The warmth of the sun, the roar of distant waves, and the fine sand beneath her hands and knees disappeared, along with the fat cock that had been hammering inside her. Her pussy clenched as her eyes flew open, banishing the sex dream. She was facedown on the mattress with a pillow bunched between her legs, which she had been humping like…

She let out a low growl as she rolled off the pillow into empty air. She landed with a whoof, flat on her back beside the bed, and glared at the ceiling as she tried to get her randy body under control.

She hadn’t closed the curtains, so the room was filled with light. She was in London, not on some tropical beach, getting deliciously fucked with Mai Tai’s nearby. She had vague memories of lying prone on a beach as a man rubbed sunscreen on her before he pulled her bottoms to the side. The man whispered filthy things to get her wet and primed before he began making good on his promises.

I’ve been waiting five years for you to give me another shot. I’m not going to waste it.

She bared her teeth as she surged to her feet and stalked into the bathroom. Fucking Rex. She woke a sleeping giant yesterday by initiating that scene. Her way of processing was to write, and who better to act it out than Rex and Juliet? She didn’t intend for it to be a part of their story, but Rex had leapt at the chance to make a move and was running with it.

She got ready for the day and refused to give in to the need to finish herself as Rex and Juliet’s sex scene continued in her mind. She muttered under her breath as she brushed her teeth. Apparently, Rex took Juliet on a romantic getaway and was promising that this time around, things would be different. Where had she heard that before? Juliet and Rex had done the impossible and became friends after they divorced. Why ruin it for sex? She made a face at herself in the mirror. Okay, yes, she jumped Roth in Colorado, but it was supposed to be a one-night stand. And now… Now, she was his sex/chew toy for a year to save her family from ruin. Juliet had no such incentive, yet she was still falling for Rex’s promises of a happily ever after.

Her mind was flooded with story—a story she didn’t endorse and didn’t want to transcribe, but that sex scene was so hot, her body was still throbbing. Maybe she could use it for another book in future… or use it for a different partner for Juliet to get her rocks off.

She dried her hair, wishing that would drown out the sound of Rex’s voice, but he was in her head.

“Does it really matter how we began?” Rex asked.

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