Page 42 of Indecent Proposal

“They’re comfy,” I said with a shrug. “And I look good in them.”

He replied with a noncommittal grunt that made me grin.

That was the whole thing about this… thing between us, wasn’t it? He was learning my weaknesses. But I was learning his, as well. He liked it when I orgasmed while he had his cock inside of me. He liked it when I was a little sassy and made him earn my submission. And he liked it when I wore his clothes, whether he’d outwardly admit it, or not.

I plopped down next to him on the couch. “So, what are we watching?”

“I was thinking something a bit mindless,” he said, pointing to one of the movies on his screen. “Action or spy movie okay?”

“Yeah, I like explosions.” I paused, giving him an impish look. “And I, uh, always had a bit of a thing for—you know when the guy’s really good at what he does? Like he disarms the bombs, kicks the bad guy’s ass, and neutralizes all the threats—”

Vaughn glanced at me with a sexy smirk. “You have a competency kink.”

“Maybe,” I admitted, which was probably why I was so damn attracted to him.

Vaughn chuckled a bit too knowingly, picked a movie, and hit play, then set the laptop on the small coffee table in front of the sofa so we could both easily watch the show.

At first, I reallydidtry to pay attention to the movie. I wasn’t a teenager just discovering sex for the first time. I could relax and watch a feature film with a man and not jump his bones every second. So, I focused on the storyline, and on the warmth of Vaughn next to me.

After a while, he put his arm around my shoulders and I let myself snuggle in closer. When he shifted and leaned against the side of the couch, I tucked myself up against his side, as if it were the most natural thing to do. Honestly, I felt… comfortable and content.

When was the last time I’d curled up on the couch with Richard and just watched a show? It had felt like he’d been all work, work, work. When he wasn’t holed up at the office, our lives had consisted of attending corporate functions, socializing with his friends and colleagues, or taking me to some fancy dinner.

I’d never cared about going out, or being seen, or hitting up this or that person’s cocktail gathering. All those superficial things had mattered to Richard, with the excuse that he had to do it for work, or for networking, but to be fair—if he’d asked me to relax and watch a movie with him, would I have been able to?

The line between what he had never asked of me, and what I wouldn’t have wanted to do with him, felt so blurred.

But maybe it didn’t matter. I was doing it now, with Vaughn, and I was enjoying the moment. I felt no need to break the silence. I was hyperaware of his body, the firmness and warmth of him, the smell of him, but I didn’t feel awkward or on alert. I just liked… being next to him.

Vaughn had already established that he wasn’t someone who really liked people—which explained his gruff and somewhat grumpy personality when he had to deal with the human race—which, admittedly, I was beginning to find more amusing, than annoying. But only now did I really think about how that meant he was probably very quiet on his own time, enjoying pastimes that didn’t require a lot of social engagement.

“Do you do this often?” I asked softly, when there was a lull of action in the movie. “Come up here just to watch a movie and get away from everything?”

“I do more than watch a movie,” Vaughn replied, but for once his voice wasn’t cocky or smug. It didn’t feel like he was correcting me, just sharing. “I do some hiking, a little fishing. I read. I sleep in.”

God, that sounded nice. I could feel myself relaxing into him even more just imagining that. “I’d like to get out and really see what’s around here.”

“Trust me, this place isn’t usually a prison.” Vaughn sounded almost sad, like he really was frustrated that I had to stay in this cabin the entire time.

I glanced up at him. “Maybe you could show me what it’s like when it’s not,” I suggested, feeling bold.

A barely perceptible smile touched his lips, something softer and more intimate than any smile he’d given me before. “Sure, if you’re up for it.”

“I am,” I said, feeling as though we’d just made some kind of tentative pact between us, one that went beyond him just finding out what had happened to Richard, and who was after me now.

We focused back on the movie, and the more I paid attention to the plot, I started to think about what the spy/mercenary in the movie was doing. The expert reloading of the gun and hitting his target just about every time. The way he could take a hit and keep on going. How he could outsmart the bad guys and used ingenuity to evade or capture them.

“Can you do any of that?” I asked.

Vaughn glanced at me with what I now considered his trademark smirk. “I can do a lot more than all of that.”

I rolled my eyes. “I think your humility is what I like best about you.”

He chuckled, his fingers lazily sifting through my hair. “Face it, sweetheart, you like my cockiness, because you know I can deliver.”

“Mmm,” I said, refusing to admit that he was right, and give him that satisfaction.

I knew that Vaughn could handle himself, having been trained in the military. He’d literallyfeltthat bullet coming for me. He was a security expert for a reason, but I hadn’t seen him in action, exactly, and the idea of witnessing him doing all these things on screen instead of the actor and stunt doubles…I shivered at the thought, because it was sexy as hell.

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