Page 18 of The P Arrangement

Me: I don’t really need money. I was just messing with you.

Me: Please don’t worry about what I was going to ask you last night.

Preston: I can’t help it. You don’t seem to understand how much I want you.

Fuck me. I swallowed and put the back of my hand to my hot cheek.

He needed to stop torturing me.

Me: You don’t need me. You have a perfectly lovely woman sitting across from you. I’m sure she would be happy to let you go down on her.

I needed to put an end to this.

Me: You should take her home and do that. And maybe I’ll take my date home and let him do it to me.

I hesitated before sending the last message because even picturing Preston with that other woman for a single second made me sick. And there was no way I was letting Clint anywhere near me.

But I wasn’t sure what kind of game Preston was playing. Was he flirting with me as foreplay before he took the other woman home? After all, he had brought her on a date, not me. Maybe after being with me for over ten years, he’d realized how much he’d missed sleeping around. Maybe he wanted both of us, and one woman was no longer enough for him. Or maybe it was the chase he missed. Maybe he only wanted me because he didn’t have me anymore.

Knowing I didn’t want to stick around to find out his response, I hit Send and shoved myself up from my chair.

Clint sat back, eyes going wide. “What’s wrong?”

“I need a minute,” I said, shoving my phone in my purse, which hung on the chair.

I didn’t want to see what Preston said back to me. I didn’t want to hear about him with someone else, nor did I want him to flirt with me when he wasn’t mine anymore.

I spun around and headed toward the restrooms. I just needed to get my head on straight.

NINE

PRESTON

Delaney flewby my table without a single glance in my direction.

Rising from my chair, I told the woman my mother had set me up with, “I apologize. I need to use the restroom.”

Anna blinked at my sudden announcement but smiled and said, “Okay.”

We’d been making polite conversation since we’d arrived, and it was apparent she wasn’t into me any more than I was into her.

Of course, she probably wasn’t messaging her ex under the table, telling him she wanted to go down on him, and I felt terrible about that. But being on a date with another female reminded me how much I only wanted one woman. And it wasn’t Anna.

I caught up to Delaney right as she reached the women’s restroom, and I pushed the door open over her head.

Spinning around, she gasped. “What are you—”

I shoved her inside and flipped the lock behind us as I hauled her body to mine. “What’s with the last message, Delaney?” Walking us toward the sink, I stopped when we reached the counter.

She stared back.

I wrapped my hand around the front of her throat. “Answer me.”

She swallowed under my palm. “You’re on a date. I don’t know if this is some kind of weird foreplay you’re doing before you take her home and—”

I spun her round to face the mirror and placed her hands on each side of the glass. Running my hand up her leg, I nuzzled her neck as I watched her reaction. “I don’t think you understand me. I don’t want her. I want you, Laney.”

She closed her eyes, and her mouth fell open as she took in more air.

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