Page 25 of Debts and Desires
“It’s what I agreed on.”
“You didn’t tell me!”
“Tellin’ ya now.” His attention went back to his plate.
The continued silence was deafening and my frustration bubbled up even more until finally I burst.
“Then I’ll just walk there.” I went to stand. He sat his fork down, eyes slowly meeting mine.
“If you walk out that door, our deal is off and I’m doublin’ what you owe for the tow and the labor.”
“So, I’m stuck here all day, every day until five, with no way to get a hold of anyone, no way to go anywhere, and with nothing to do? What am I supposed to do here besides clean? Just sit around and wait for your beck and call? Do you know how boring it is?” The silence that followed was so heavy that I swore it was weighing me down. I tried to ignore the way my heart hammered. “I can’t even trust you to hold up your part of the deal! You tricked me with the days and you know you did! And I gave you another day so we could talk to Tyler and you aren’t holding up your end!” I tried to ignore the lump in my throat. I tried to ignore the tears welling up as I stood there. “Is this how you treat all your house guests?” We stared at one another.
Finally, Carter spoke. “You’re my fuck toy, not my house guest. I don’t have to do shit for you outside of our agreement.” I felt my chest clench as anger boiled to the surface.
“You’re a real dick, you know that?”
His eyebrows raised, but he didn’t respond otherwise. My chair scraped loudly as I pushed it out and stormed up to the guest room, slamming the door. I leaned against it, sliding down as the tears began to fall. Why had I agreed to this? I was going to be stuck in this house for days on end, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. I felt sick.
11. NEGOTIATIONS
September 1
Day Five
TwoSeven Days to Go
Ihad already stopped crying, more angry at myself for causing a scene. Even if I was justified. But if I wanted this to work, I needed to buck up. I had a roof over my head, food to eat, the world’s cutest dog as company, plenty of space and time to play and write, and a man who fucked me day in and day out. I could overlook his grumpiness and my lack of orgasms for all that, right?
All of it except the orgasm part. We need those.
I started mentally tallying how many possible hours our agreement had been, according to Carter’s new guidelines. I stood, wiping my face, and grabbed my notebook.
There was a knock on my door maybe five minutes later.
“If you’re done throwin’ your temper tantrum, I want you in my room in twenty,” Carter said.
“Thought you didn’t want any tonight,” I scoffed. I was giving myself whiplash. But the man was so fucking infuriating!
“Changed my mind,” he said. “Twenty minutes, Emogen.” Iheard his footfalls retreat. Then there was a long silence. With an aggravated sigh, I closed my notebook and headed to the shower. Another thought popped into my mind.
Don’t be petty, Em.
Too fucking late.
I took my time, not caring that he said twenty minutes. He wasn’t the boss, despite what he thought. I knew what our agreement was, but that didn’t mean he got to be a massive tool about it. I was going to prove a point.
When I finally waltzed in Carter’s room wearing only my towel, he was already waiting. He sat on the edge of his bed, naked. I stopped, sucking in a breath at the sight of him. It was the first time, I realized, that I had seen him naked. He was chiseled, sculpted like the statues I’d seen in museums. It was hard not to gape.
Why did the world’s biggest sack of buttholes also have to be the hottest man alive?!
He had a tattoo on his left bicep, the word “sinner” etched in black and surrounded by flames. A second tattoo, a small rose with cursive letters, was on his right shoulder. And on his left pec was a quote in script that read, “This too shall pass.”
My gaze drifted down to his abs. They were hard and defined, leading to a patch of hair that led to his groin. He had a few scars on his body, but one in particular caught my eye. The scar was on his upper right thigh, almost like a cut. I wondered what caused it. Then my eyes followed the trail of dark hair to his dick and I swallowed. He was thick and large. My eyes lingered there longer than I cared to admit before I met his gaze.
“You’re late,” he growled and just like that, the allure of him vanished.
“Wanted to make sure everything was clean,” I said with a saccharine tone and smile. “I’m here now.”
