Page 45 of Always Knew It Was You

Luckily, she announces her orgasms too, as I collapse on top of her, more drained than I can ever remember being in my life.

“Jesus.” My breath is tight, and my pulse is still a little too quick. “Fuck me. That has never happened before.”

“Really?” At least I’m satisfied from the knowledge that she sounds just as breathless as me.

“Really.” I pull back to watch her deliciously disheveled face, which does funny things to my insides. And then I do something I’ve also never done after sex before. I lean down and kiss her, sweetly. “Thank you.”

When I pull back, she blinks stunned. Then she grins. “You’re welcome.”

I feel something growing inside me the longer I stare at her, and the alarm bells start ringing. This is going too far. It’s time to detach.

Despite my weakness, I immediately stand from the couch and then stare at the clothes in tatters on the floor. Her red dress is no more.

“Shame,” I murmur. But I can always just buy a new one. I zip up my pants as I pad to the cabinet in the corner, select a blanket, and return to throw it over her shivering body. I watch her eyes close and she snuggles under it.

“I’ll order some food,” I tell her.

“Mmm,” she murmurs. “I’ll just take a quick nap before we have to leave.”

“Leave? Where are we going?”

One eye opens. “I assume you’re taking me home?”

“Yes, but not today.”

Both eyes open this time and she frowns at me. “What do you mean not today?”

“Oh, I didn’t mention? We have a gala tomorrow evening here in LA. We’ll be attending it together.”

“That’s…” She struggles to sit up, clutching the blanket in front of her. “You should have told me that earlier. You can’t just spring that on me at the last minute. I have things to do tomorrow, Micah. School and work.”

I shrug. “Well, I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”

“Didn’t think my school and work would be a big deal?” She sounds insulted. “Micah, that’s my life! It might not seem like much to you, but it means everything to me. You can’t just fly me halfway around the country at the last minute and jeopardize my education as a result. You have to tell me these things ahead of time.”

I wait till she’s done, let a beat of silence pass, and then say, “My bad. You want me to add on an extra thousand dollars as compensation?”

Carly laughs darkly. “Of course, you would throw money at the problem. I knew it was only a matter of time before you shoved your wealth in my face.” She glares at me. “Why is it every time we have sex, you have to remind me of what an ass you are?”

Because if not, I might be tempted to let that blissful feeling take over and turn into something else.I chuckle, lean in, and tweak her nose. “Maybe to prove that you would still like me anyway.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CARLY

The next few hours are spent solving the mess that Micah has put me in while doing my best to ignore his presence.

I head to his bedroom to be away from him for a while, just until I calm down.

Because I have to calm down. As much as I want to wallow in my anger and sulk for the rest of this trip, I can’t afford to not do my part.

Micah has given me a way to solve my financial problems, and maybe even build a life away from my family. I’m not going to let anything get in the way of it, not even my pride.

Besides, it’s probably good that Micah is behaving like this, and showing me who he really is. The sex we just had was intense. It wasn’t like the other two times when it was just us having fun. This was… more. I can’t put my finger on exactly how, but it was unlike any other sexual encounter I’ve ever had. And paired up with an entire day spent with him buying me things and making me laugh, it was scarily easy to forget that all this was an elaborate ruse.

So his immediately being an asshole after sex allows me to maintain perspective and re-erect the much-needed emotional distance between us. I remind myself that Micah isn’t my boyfriend. He’s not even really my friend. He’s my business partner-slash-hook-up buddy. That’s it.

Realizing that makes it easier to let go of my anger. I only hold on to the lesson I learned today, a lesson I’m very familiar with thanks to my family.

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