Page 15 of Forget

Discussion.What a crock. He had to tell her the truth. That this had been fun but he didn’t date and he sure as hell didn’t screw a client. But Jayda wasn’t just any client and he’d never done this before, mix business with pleasure. Jayda had this hold over him, always had.

What would she think if he told her that he’d lusted after her for four long years at uni? That he’d been hard every time she’d sat next to him so he’d learned to wait outside the lecture theatre until she’d entered and chosen a seat, then he’d choose one in front of her so he wouldn’t have to see her and torture himself with wanting her? That he’d deliberately treated herwith disdain so she wouldn’t see how badly he wanted her and how it messed with his head?

Lucky he’d had a high IQ otherwise he wouldn’t have passed a single semester and his grades would’ve resembled his hopes with her: a big fat fail.

He’d never thought someone like her—popular and extroverted— would return his interest, until graduation night, but even then he hadn’t been a complete fool. He’d been convenient and she’d only turned to him because she’d been distraught after discovering that douchebag Deon had seduced her on a bet, his mates saying they’d give him five hundred bucks to ‘bang the virgin fat chick’.

He’d seen red when she’d told him that and had wanted to punch the prick so badly. But he’d seen how much she needed a shoulder to cry on; then later, his comforting had turned to something else and their passion had been redirected.

Not that it mattered. He’d had his revenge on that prick another way. Having killer IT skills made for some interesting online revenge. He doubted Jayda knew what he’d done to that loser but he didn’t need her thanks. He’d screwed with that jerk’s online social media profiles to the extent he’d had to shut them down and he hoped that the resultant ridicule from his peers had made that asshole understand how bad Jayda had felt when she’d heard his mates do the same to her.

He would’ve done anything to protect her back then. Which was why when she’d run from him that night he’d let her and hadn’t looked her up since.

This time, she’d come searching for him, so technically it didn’t count as him doing the wrong thing and allowing her to get too close. But he’d known the moment he’d brought her into his home he was being sucked back into a vortex he’d be powerless to resist.

Yeah, she’d had that much of a hold on him back then and she hadn’t known it.

So what the hell happened now?

He should ask her to leave. It was the right thing to do. He’d never get involved on any level beyond physical. He couldn’t do that, not to her. She deserved a hell of a lot more than he could ever give her.

As for the bombshell that she hadn’t been with any guy since him…he couldn’t begin to comprehend how that was possible. A woman as beautiful, as confident, as bubbly as her would have guys drooling.

So why hadn’t she had sex with any of them?

His head ached thinking about her rationale and his conundrum, and he pressed his fingers against his temples. It didn’t help and he sucked in a deep breath, tucked the towel around his waist, and opened the bathroom door.

To find she’d gone.

6

While Brock tookan inordinately long time in the bathroom, Jayda dressed and went in search of coffee—caffeine made everything better—to quell her disappointment.

Could he leave her in bed any quicker?

She hadn’t expected cuddling or spooning or anything remotely resembling intimacy, but it still irked. Sex with Brock had momentarily stripped her defences and rather than wanting to run from him as she had on grad night, this time she revelled in the way he’d made her come alive.

Tonight had been even better than that night six years ago: Brock had learned some moves and then some.

He’d seduced her into wanting something she couldn’t have.

Him.

Brock had made it clear he was leaving in two weeks and he rarely stayed in one place. If he’d been trying to send her a message, she’d got it loud and clear.

But what if she didn’t want anything else but his body for a few weeks of scintillating sex? Two weeks with Brock fulfilling her every fantasy would be heaven but could also plunge her into hell if she couldn’t get him out of her head again.

The kicker? It was more than the sex and she damn well knew it.

Back on graduation night, she’d been seeking solace and he’d willingly given it. But after their banter tonight she realised they had a connection beyond the physical. Sex, even the oral stuff she’d done over the last few years, always made her feel a tad uncomfortable. It had been the same with every guy: a date or two, the goodnight kiss that led to more, her being plagued by insecurities at having to reveal her body to a virtual stranger, and the resultant lack of wanting to follow through beyond a blowjob.

That whole dating scene left her cold because of it and the longer her sex drought extended, the more insecure she became. Yet with Brock it had been different. He already knew her insecurities and made her feel adored in a way she could get used to.

Tonight, she’d felt comfortable around him in a way she never had with any guy, which definitely left her wanting more. But considering how fast he’d bolted from his bed, what would he say if she suggested it?

She fired up his state-of-the-art espresso machine, grateful she had one just like it. The whiz-bang appliance ground beans and frothed milk and produced the best coffees on the planet in record time, ensuring her mug was filled in two minutes. Lucky, because the caffeine could jumpstart her brain and she could think of a logical, plausible way to approach this.

Blasé and flippant weren’t in her repertoire. Besides, Brock was too smart, too intuitive, and he’d see straight through her jocularity if she termed her proposal in joking terms.

---