Page 74 of Broken

My legs give out, and I sink into my chair, pulling her with me so she’s sitting on my lap. “Come to Chicago with me,” I pant.

She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “You know I can’t. Work is especially crazy this time of year. We had three intestinal blockage surgeries today. I wish people would stop feeding their dogs the leftover turkey legs from Thanksgiving.”

I suppress an annoyed sigh, and she curls a lock of my hair between her fingers. “But maybe next time, if you give me more notice?”

She’s right. This has been planned all year, and I should have invited her way before now. But I don’t usually have the luxury of notice in my line of work. Something about our arrangement will have to change because I need her with me. And once she’s pregnant… well, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that I’ll be leaving her alone for days at a time. Which means something’s gotta give. But that’s a conversation for a different day. “I’ll do my best to give you notice.”

“And it’s only three days. You’ll be back before you’ve even had a chance to miss me.”

Not fucking likely.

She stares into my eyes, and the deep green of her irises is obscured by her pupils. “I…” Her slender throat convulses. Is she about to tell me she loves me? “I’ll miss you though. Every second.”

I nod and try to hide my disappointment that she didn’t say those three words. Words that I’m strangely desperate to hear from her, but I don’t say them to her either. Instead, I pressmy forehead to hers, and we sit in silence. Her naked, with our cum dripping out of her, and me wondering how the fuck I fell so hard and fast for a woman who was only supposed to be a business arrangement.

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

NATHAN

Staring into my glass, I swirl the amber liquid around the bottom and think of Mel waiting at home for me. Sitting on the sofa in her favorite yoga pants and one of my sweatshirts while she watches some sappy movie. A smile pulls at the corners of my mouth. If I didn’t have one last meeting tomorrow morning, I’d jump on the jet and go home to her right now. By the time I’d get back, she’d be sleeping, and my cock aches at an image of crawling into our warm bed, parting her thighs, and sinking inside her warm pussy.

“You want to join me for another one of those?” a sultry voice says in my ear.

I shake my head, not bothering to give the owner of the voice even a cursory glance. “No thanks.”

“Aw, come on.” She caresses my arm. “Not even just a little one?”

I shrug off her touch, looking at her for the first time, and hold up my left hand. “I’m married.”

She glances around the almost-empty hotel bar. “Your wife’s not here though, is she?” She giggles and flutters her eyelashes.

“Doesn’t make me any less married. Go bother some other guy and leave me the fuck alone.”

She huffs dramatically and sashays toward the other end of the bar.

“She’s in here every night looking for her next mark,” the bartender says with a dry laugh as she picks up my empty glass. “Can I get you another?”

I should go to bed, but it’s hard to sleep without Mel next to me these days. I can’t remember a time in my adult life when I was dependent on another person for anything. A part of me hates the vulnerability of it, but for the most part, I like having someone to miss.

I guess one more Scotch won’t hurt. It might even help me sleep.

Jesus fucking Christ.My pounding head drives me from sleep, and my aching eyeballs throb their protest at the sunlight streaming through the open blinds.

A sleepy moan echoes in my ears, and I close my eyes again. Someone is lying beside me. Instinct, or maybe it’s simply the fact that I know my wife’s body and scent so well, tells me it isn’t Mel. Bile burns the back of my throat. I throw back the covers and jump out of bed, but the sudden movement only makes it worse, and I spew my guts out onto the thick gray carpet.

“Are you okay?” a woman asks.

I tune her out, hoping she’s a figment of my imagination, and sink back onto the bed. My stomach rolls and my chest heaves,but I swallow down the urge to vomit a second time and swipe the back of my hand over my sweaty forehead.

“Can I get you a drink of water?” the voice asks.

I turn around. She’s sitting up and the sheets have fallen from her body, exposing her breasts. I’m naked too. Motherfucking fuck. What the fuck is the bartender from last night doing in my bed?

“What the hell are you doing here?” I bark.

She pulls the covers over her chest, and her lower lip quivers like she’s about to cry. “What? We… well.”

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