Page 18 of Craving Paradise

“Honestly, they are both as bad as each other,” I explain to her.

“I’ve got all night. If we have to stay in this Jacuzzi eating burgers and drinking beer, then consider this the best night of my life.” She smiles.

I like Ren.

She’s refreshingly different from any other women I’ve met before, and the best is I’m not trying to impress her or let her down gently. If I said tonight’s over, thanks for everything, she’d jump out of this Jacuzzi, wish me well, and that would be it.

“Fine, you’ve twisted my arm. It started with my high school sweetheart. She was the love of my life, or so I thought. She, my best friend, and I were inseparable growing up until we fell in love. We dated the last year of high school and throughout university. After graduation, I took her to Paris and proposed. She said no.”

Ren gasps.

“She had been fucking my best friend on and off for nearly the entire time we had been dating.”

“She did what?” Ren asks, raising her voice. “No. That’s horrible. I can’t believe they did that. I don’t get why people cheat. I understand a one-night mess up, but years of fucking someone behind your partner’s back and someone who is with you all the time. That’s a level of assholeness I don’t tolerate,” she says angrily.

It warms my heart that she heard the story and instantly thought it was a crock of bullshit, too, and I wasn’t crazy about cutting them out of my life.

“Okay, that’s a good enough excuse to be hesitant about women. I hope she hasn’t ruined you for all women. You do date?”

“I date. I’m honest with the women I sleep with that it’s for the night or for a bit of fun but never anything super serious.”

“And how’s that working for you?” she asks, amusement dancing across her mouth.

“I think I’ve created a challenge for women who want to change me,” I quip honestly.

“You’re dangling the biggest carrot in front of women with the whole I’m-not-looking-for-anything-serious chat.”

“Am I? I thought I was being honest.”

“In man logic, you are, but there are a lot of women who can’t read man logic. And I’m going to assume, sorry if I’m stereotyping, but the women you pick up are in that high-end caliber. The ones who went to private school, have a country estate, and daddy is still paying for everything. They probably studied art history at university.” She chuckles.

She’s spot on, which pulls another round of laughter from me.

“You’re hooking up with either gold diggers, estate chasers, or bored housewives.”

Not sure how I feel being called out like that. “Fine, I’ve fucked a couple of bored housewives during charity events. Those women don’t like the answer ‘no’. Plus, they’re happy to walk away from our rendezvous, never to speak to me again.”

“Mr. Fox, I’m absolutely scandalized by your comments,” she says, clutching her chest and pretending to feel faint.

“Please, I wouldn’t be surprised if their husbands come here. I’m doing the wives a service.”

“You’re probably right. I love how selfless you are. Helping the wee women folk with their hysteria,” she jokes.

I splash water on her face, which has her spluttering.

She then does it back to me, and the next thing I know, we’re creating an enormous mess, water going everywhere, but the two of us are laughing. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been silly like this. I reach out and pull her to me, stopping the carnage before we end up with an empty Jacuzzi. Her bare chest hits mine as my hands wrap around her arms. We both look like drowned rats as we stare at each other.

Something shifts between us, and she leans down and kisses me, but this kiss is tender and unexpected, and I’m not saying no. Her legs slide on either side of my hips, and honestly, I don’t know how my dick twitches to life, but he does. This woman is like pure Viagra. I’ve never been so turned on in my life. I let go of her arms, and she wraps them around my neck as we continue to kiss. Neither one of us wants to take it any further than this. Maybe because we have done everything else this evening other than kissing, and why it feels so good. My hand slides up her back, and my fingers tangle in her hair.

The sound of cutlery clanging pulls us apart, and Ren slips from beneath my grasp just as a waiter comes in with our food. He places it on the side of the Jacuzzi. His eyes slide over Ren’s naked form before he turns on his heel and leaves us to it. I didn’t like that. I felt like he took a liberty when his eyes fell on Ren, and he knew he shouldn’t have, but I leave it as Ren doesn’t say anything.

“These smell so good.” Ren moans as she pops a French fry into her mouth. She does it again each time she pops a fry.

This woman is trying to kill me.

We eat our burgers in between her pumping me for more information about my scandalous love life.

“What about your friends? You must see them have healthy relationships?” she asks between bites of her burger.

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