Page 48 of Seductive Scoundrel

“Please don’t ever tell me how you got so good at, well, everything,” she pants.

I chuckle. “Wouldn’t dream of it. I want to fuck you without a condom, and then finger you so I can feel myself inside you.”

“Yes, please,” she moans. “I’m on the pill, so sign me up for all of that right now.”

I kiss her tenderly while telling myself it’s no big deal.

It’s a very big deal and I’m starting to panic.

“Greedy girl. You’ll have to wait until I take you home.” Picking up the receiver, I tell Robert to get us to The Plaza in the next five minutes.

“You don’t sound like you just had sex, and I must look like I melted,” Mia complains.

“You look perfect,” I tell her, not adding that she also looks an awful lot like mine.

Jesus.

Since when did I get possessive? Gwynne could have fucked someone else right in front of my face and I wouldn’t have given a shit. She was a means to an end. But Mia is…more. Not only does she make me hard, but she also makes me laugh and want to have actual conversations that don’t involve sex words.

I help get her appearance back in order, adjusting the dress and smoothing her hair. “No one will be able to tell, not that I give a shit if they can.”

As we pull up to the venue, Mia gasps. “There’s an actual red carpet. I’m seriously going to be walking on a red carpet in New York City?”

I can’t help but smile. “You belong there, beautiful.”

And at that moment, I want to give her absolutely everything and make her face transform with awe every single day. I can give her the world and I want to – badly.

But Mia is not part of my life plan. No woman is.

“How do these events even make money if they spend so much on, well, everything?” she asks.

“Deep pockets, big egos with something to prove, and lots of taxable donation opportunities. Seats were three thousand each.”

“You live in a very strange world.”

“I agree. You can plan our next date.”

“No pressure, right?”

“I’ll have fun doing anything with you.”

It was a dumb thing to say, but genuine smiles make Mia knock-me-down gorgeous, and the uncharacteristic admission was worth it just to see her glow.

Robert opens the door and I get out first, turning back and offering Mia my hand. She exits smoothly with her knees locked together. When she takes my arm, something tells me she’s been to an event or two like this one before.

Elaborate ice sculptures and light displays greet us in the immaculate lobby, and there are more bedazzled and bejeweled people than I can count.

Within seconds, there’s a line-up of people waiting to talk to me. I might not be known in the press, but in the circles gracing our presence tonight, I’m a hot commodity.

When we’re talking to the mayor, Mia looks stunned that I include her in the conversation. But why wouldn’t I? She’s smart and charming, definitely not a woman meant to be arm candy. She’s gorgeous enough to be my ornament, but it’s suddenly not what I want – at all. I want to show her off, and don’t even recognize this compulsion in myself.

“Well, I’ve certainly never met an auditor quite like you,” Mayor Beckham tells Mia with a hearty chuckle after she finishes explaining her job. “Is that how you two met?”

“No, I would never mix business and personal,” I explain. “Mia and I met at Mike’s masquerade party.”

Mayor Beckham nods – he was there, too, and if memory serves, he was wrapped around a woman who was most definitely not Mrs. Beckham.

I politely end the conversation and direct Mia over to the bar so we can order wine as sustenance before our next rounds of conversations. When a waiter walks by with shrimp that smells garlicky and amazing, I pluck two off the tray and feed one to my sexy date.

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