Page 32 of High Stakes

I head out to the waiting car, climbing in. JP gives me the side eye before starting the engine and pulling out into traffic. “You’re distracted,” he notes.

“You’d be distracted if you had the shitty deal hanging over your head.”

“I do,” he says, arching a brow. “We all need to make this happen with as much damage limitation as possible.”

“I’m working on it,” I say, pulling out my mobile and calling the local florist. I order fifty red roses to be delivered to the bakery.

JP waits for me to hang up before asking, “You made progress?”

“Raff was right, I needed to take control. And actually, it worked.”

JP’s head whips round, “You’ve fucked her?”

“No, not yet. I thought I’d do it at the end,” I say, my voice slightly lower as guilt eats at me. “It’ll hurt less.”

“And now you’re just kidding yourself.”

“I could sleep with her now, drag it out into what she sees as a full-on relationship. Or I can play the long game and wait for the two months to be up, shag her at the end and leave.”

“Both ways will break her heart. Besides, what if she asks you to sleep with her? She’ll think it’s odd if you tell her you want to wait.”

“Or she’ll respect me for respecting her? I have to make her believe I’m worth giving her virginity to. She’s not the sort of girl that’ll jus fall into my bed without my effort.” My mind flashes back to this morning, wondering if I could have taken things further.

“Has Raff sorted the end game, like, how is this going to play out?” he asks.

“Jake sorted the doctor out. I just have to convince her to go for a check-up after the deed. Fuck knows how I’ll do that.”

“Unless someone walks in on you, confirming you were fucking?” suggests JP and I know he’s back on side and all that bullshit about trying not to hurt Bella, is past him.

“Maybe, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. How was Aria, did you get her home safe?” I ask, smirking.

He grins, “Wild! I’ve never met anyone like her. We had a crazy night. She showed me moves that I’ve never seen before, and you know how many tricks I’ve learnt along the way. But this morning, she practically kicked me out of there. It was weird.” I smirk again, “You sound like a hormonal woman right now, JP. Replay those words in our head then go and wash your mouth out with soap.”

He laughs, “I just didn’t get her reluctance this morning. I thought she enjoyed the night too.”

“Did she come?” I ask, and he laughs harder.

“Of course she did.” He groans, “So many times. And now I feel like she’s got me by the balls with her name tattooed all over them. I can’t get her out my head.”

I slap him upside the head, “Pull yourself together would yah. A month and a half left, and we can tag team a whole bunch of girls at the click of our fingers, now get a grip.”

Bella

“If you like him, I don’t understand the issue?” I ask Aria who’s going through the accounts while I stand in the office door.

“He’s keen,” she says, referring to JP. “But I like to keep him on his toes.”

“Ah, he’s keen and that’s why you’re backing off?” I smirk, knowing this is always the moment in any kind of ‘situationship’ where she panics.

“It’s not that,” she argues, even though we both know it is. “I like him.”

“So, what’s your problem.”

She sighs heavily and wraps a handful of receipts into a rubber band. “I just don’t want him to think I’m falling hook, line and sinker. It’s only been a couple of weeks and he’s already texting me at least five times a day.”

“He’s attentive.”

“Needy,” she counters.

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