Page 8 of So Wrong It Must Be Right

Touching herself. His gaze drifted to the hem of her skirt. She hadn’t changed out of the outfit she’d been wearing this morning, so she was still wearing what she’d had on as she’d gotten herself off over his words. Was she wearing the see-through underwear she’d described to him? Because he’d seen a hint of black lace this morning and . . .

His dick was so hard it hurt, and when he forced himself to look back up at her, she was staring, not at his face, but at his very obvious erection.

“Sorry, he’s not as business-minded as me,” Carter managed.

She inhaled sharply, her cheeks tinging pink. “I’m not sure my lady parts are as business-minded as I am, either.” She sounded a little breathless, and that was enough to think, remember, imagine.

I’m going to come. Fucking my fingers. Thinking of you.

“You should go.” His voice was rusty, unsteady, and anything but sure.

“Yes, yes I should.” She nodded, turned away, but her steps were slow. He wanted to stop her.

No.

“What if . . .” She trailed off, her what-if hanging in the air and his dick hanging on every word. No. No what-ifs. There could be no what-ifs. Maybe she was the fantasy he’d spent way too much online time with, but that didn’t mean anything said on a computer was real, honest.

“What if I said I wanted you to fuck me. Like, for real.” She stuttered a little over the wordfuck. And she kept her back to him.

But she didn’t leave or laugh or take it back. She just stood there. Waiting.

And he stood there not knowing how to answer, because the truth was if he stripped away her name and her job, he very much wanted to fuck her, and it was hard to think about her name and her job when she was in his living room sayingfuck.

“What if . . .” She turned, slowly, her shoulders straightening, her gaze zeroing in on his. “We . . . pretended the real us didn’t exist. Just this once. And lived out the fantasy us. Just this once.”

No, no, no. Bad idea. Terrible idea. She could even be playing him. She wanted his land, he knew that.

But the no in his mind didn’t form on his lips.

Chapter 3

It was a weird moment, both of them standing in the middle of his cozy, cluttered little house staring at each other. Her proposition hung in the air.

It was a crazy proposition. Wrong and crazy and so out of character and . . . yes, that was why she’d made it. There was power in stepping outside yourself. Power in fantasy.

She wanted some damn power.

“Just . . . just this once?”

“C and D.” Her voice was all sultry and smooth, and though her insides jittered, she was doing a pretty good job of seeming like the kind of woman who propositioned men with one-night stands any old time.

“And tomorrow when we’re back to being on opposites sides of the coin?”

“That’s Carter and Dinah. Trask and Gallagher. This is . . .” She was going to sayjust us, because this felt more real than the person she was at Gallagher’s, but that was probably her own weird baggage.

“You really think that’s possible?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m having a hard time caring right now.”

“It seemed pretty important to you this morning.”

“That was before I knew I was being set up for failure.” She probably shouldn’t have said that, but it was true. This morning she’d had a strength of purpose. Now . . . “So, what’s your answer?”

He paused, a silence that seemed to stretch out endlessly. But it wasn’t a no, so she waited. And maybe she was silently willing him topleaseagree. She wanted sex. Real sex. With him. To feel like something . . . something could go her way. Just because she wanted it to. Because she’d asked for it.

“My bedroom is the second door on the right.”

Oh God. They were going to do this. She was going to walk to his bedroom and he was going to fuck her. This man she only knew from emails and a brief interaction this morning. She had all the earmarks of being too stupid to live, but she walked down the hallway anyway.

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