Page 66 of Clause & Effect
He looks so innocent.
But I know now from firsthand experience there’s nothing innocent about him.
My stomach does another round of summersaults when I think about just how opposite he is, how he touched me, working my body and dammit…even my soul. He’s not clueless and that for women it’s a divine connection between the two, learn how to make me feel something with my heart while touching my body and I’m yours. I try my best not to sigh out loud.
Because that was pure sin.
The best kind.
Crap.
This is the kind of man that will be hard to get over—if ever. If this ends in tears and heartbreak, I’ll have to go on a datingsabbatical for some time. This is the kind of guy that can take you years to shake. I’m already mentally preparing myself for the worst-case scenario because that’s what I’ve had to do my entire life. Prepare for the worst, and never get my hopes up even when the best is staring at me straight in the face. It’s always too good to be true—always.
Don’t go there, Charlie, I tell myself trying to stop the panic that washes over me when I think about how I signed a clause that clearly stated this could only be a twenty-four hour thing… no matter what he’s said, or how he’s behaved I signed his clause.
Willingly.
I’m not just under this man, I’m under his contract.
And the only good advice my mother ever gave me about men was this— when he tells you who he is, you better believe it.
Still.
Watching him now, like this—peaceful, relaxed, satiated, I can’t help but hope he felt something more too.
“I can feel you thinking,” his voice is like soft velvet. “It’s exhausting, don’t you think?”
His eyes open and his blue gaze beams brightly against the dark sky. I should be embarrassed being caught, staring at him so blatantly, like a besotted schoolgirl or a psychopath ready to draw ‘I heart Stetson’ all over my papers but I’m not.
“You must have made the girls in high school crazy,” I say the first thing that comes to my brain. “I cannot even begin to imagine the trail of heartbreak and tears.”
He gives me a wolfish smile. “We had some good times.”
My ears perk up. “We?”
“Jayson and I went to school together,” he says like that explain everything somehow.
My eyes narrow as I try to dig for more. “I take it Jayson has a big role in the family business?”
“Yes,” his voice is soft, a tad hesitant. “But his role is a little unique.”
Compared to what? I mean really. They’re heirs to Santa’s throne, so if he’s the heir than that makes Jayson, what? The spare?
“More unique than Santa or the elves?” I arch a brow. “I find that hard, extremely hard, to believe.” I suddenly find myself straining to think of any sort of lore about Santa I could be missing and come up completely empty.
He has the audacity to smile while I think.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a job.” He finally says.
I burst out laughing. “Sure, okay, yeah, just a job. That’s like Batman saying it’s just a cape!”
“Did you just compare me to Batman?”
“No.” I grumble. “I was using him as an example.”
“My favorite superhero.”
“Focus.” I snap my fingers. “It’s not just a job, it’s mythical, all of this, so it’s more than that, meaning I’m not satisfied with ‘oh Jayson’s unique in this business’.”
