Page 21 of Indecent Proposal

Jesus, clearly I was completely sex deprived. I really had to get myself under control, for crying out loud.

“Of course I trust you,” I said, trying to stay on track and hoping that my heated face wouldn’t give me away. “But I think I’m also allowed to worry about what I’ve gotten you into. These people have resources, whoever they are. And I’m still not even paying you.” I held up a finger. “Yet. I will be compensating you.”

Vaughn looked at me like he wanted to say something, something dirty and naughty, and I hoped that he would. Maybe even one of those lines that you heard in porn all the time—well, I’m sure you could pay me another way—but coming from him, I wouldn’t care if it was a bit cliché. I wanted to hear it anyway. I wanted to have confirmation that we would be doing something more. That he might even want to fuck me.

But instead, Vaughn said, “I’ve been in warzones, and my job is to protect people from whoever they’re up against. This isn’t the first time I’ve taken on some pretty well-funded and well-trained people and it won’t be the last. It’s why we’re so expensive. We’re the best of the best. I can handle this. All you have to worry about is answering my questions and giving me as much information as possible.”

I nodded. I still worried that he was going to be in over his head, but instead of merely being irritated, I found myself also hopeful—hopeful that he might actually be justified in his opinion and that he’d actually be able to pull this off.

Vaughn put his hand over mine where it was resting on the table and I nearly jumped to my feet. I couldn’t have him touching me right now, not when I was still so keyed up from what we’d just done. But I could tell he was trying to reassure me, and I didn’t want him to think that things were weird now between us.

“Hey.” Vaughn’s voice was gentle. “I know that we don’t exactly get along, but I’m going to keep you safe, okay? I’m going to take care of this.”

He must’ve mistaken my arousal for fear, I realized. I nodded, unsure how to correct him. “I trust you,” I said, which was as close as I could get without embarrassing myself.

Vaughn stood up. “All right, let’s look at what you need. I’ll be gone for a couple days again, but I can’t give you a solid timeline on when I’ll be back. Things might change. You don’t have to worry until it’s been a week, though.”

“That’s comforting,” I said dryly.

I didn’t know what to call the air between us now. It was off, but not in a bad way. Tense didn’t cover it. It was… charged, but also in a way it was more comfortable. I didn’t feel more relaxed, not at all, but I did feel like whatever discomfort had been there before had vanished. Now it was charged because of a whole different reason.

The reason being I wanted Vaughn to spank me again, preferably while his cock was inside of me.Get your mind out of the gutter, girl!

Vaughn made sure I had enough food, lectured me again about the cameras and the rules. I put on a sweet smile and nodded along like I wasn’t going to break these again the moment he was gone—and answered all of his questions about Richard’s life and job that he asked me.

I didn’t quite know what he was getting at, but he seemed to have a theory. There was a pointedness to his questions about Richard that there hadn’t been when he’d interrogated me the first time. He dug deeper into our relationship, in ways that felt intimately personal and invasive, and I finally hit my limit.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, trying not to snap and failing. “That he was bad in bed? Because he was, for the record.”

Vaughn snorted, but I saw him glance up and down my body, like he was thinking about what that meant for me. What he could do to change that.

I flashed hot all over. Iwantedhim to change that. I’d never had anything but mediocre sex in my life and I wanted Vaughn to give me what I was craving, what I had only wanted as an abstract until now. I wanted more of what he’d given me with the spanking.

But it wasn’t going to happen right now, that was for sure. I had to push him. And I was more than willing to do that.

“Look,” Vaughn said, adopting a patient tone. “I know that I might be asking you questions that seem odd, but they’re helping me understand what kind of person Richard was. Something that might seem like an insignificant detail to you could end up being important. And I have the feeling that I’m going to need to do some guesswork on what he was doing and what his actions were. That means I need to know who he was in all aspects of his life, so I can guess accurately.”

That made sense. I scrubbed at my face and deflated a bit. “I’m sorry. The man’s dead and I cared about him and I’m acting like—I feel like such an asshole. He’s dead! What does all that petty stuff between us matter?”

Vaughn looked at me for a long moment. Then he said, “Were you ever able to talk to anyone about your relationship? What it was really like?”

I dropped my hand. “What?”

“Did you have anyone you could confide in about your unhappiness?”

My unhappiness. I wanted to protest that I hadn’t been that unhappy—but then I realized it would be a lie. Ihadbeen unhappy. I just hadn’t wanted to label it that way because it had felt like if I did… I would be dramatic. Exaggerating. How could it really be that bad, after all? I wasn’t being abused, or cheated on, or anything else.

“No,” I admitted. “Everyone—my friends and his—were always telling me how great he was. How lucky I was. Not in a way to make me feel pressured. They all thought that I was happy. It was them trying to show how happy they were for me. But it was… clear, to me, that everyone… that they thought he was such a catch. I felt like nobody would listen if I told them the truth. That I’d sound ungrateful for what I had.”

“You’re not supposed to be grateful in a relationship, Claire,” Vaughn said softly. “You’re supposed to be happy and content.”

I laughed, the sound bursting out of me, edged in bitterness and a trace of tears. “Yeah. True.”

“So let me get this straight. This is the first time you’re able to be honest about how disappointed you were in your relationship. And you’re beating yourself up for it?” To my surprise, Vaughn sounded entirely sincere. There wasn’t a smirk on his face or in his tone. “The woman who has no problem sassing me is suddenly feeling guilt about expressing genuine—and valid—upset?”

“Well when you put it like that,” I grumbled.

Vaughn shrugged. “I know the timing isn’t great. I wouldn’t say any of those things publicly, if I were you, yeah. Maybe don’t go making an Instagram post over it. But I’m not judging, Claire. You can say these things to me. I’m not going to criticize you. Frankly, I agree with you. I think you deserved better.”

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