Page 43 of Seduced By You

Slowly, I peeked over my shoulder even though I knew the identity of the man snuggled against me.

Kadon.

In my semiconscious state, I’d almost forgotten we’d slept in the same bed. How long had we spooned like this? All night? I couldn’t remember a thing. My last memory was staring at the ceiling and feeling like shit after Kadon’s confession that he’d devoured me by the bonfire not because it was me, but because he was a man and I was a woman. And not justa woman. A pretty woman. Anattractivewoman. We weren’t talking intellectually attractive here. Physically. The bullshit I’d heard my entire life from both the modeling world and the press that surrounded it.

Oh, she’s so pretty.

What a beauty you are, Annaleesa.

This picture will sell for thousands.

No, dear. Don’t talk. Smile for the camera.

Would you be interested in doing porn? We could make millions together.

The same even breathing pattern I’d listened to last night told me Kadon hadn’t woken up yet. Good. With any luck, I could slip out of bed and tuck myself away in the bathroom, and he’d be none the wiser of how we’d woken up with our bodies intertwined. I gently clasped his wrist and moved his hand to rest on his hip. One problem solved. He murmured but didn’t wake. The leg was trickier. I had visions of me whipping my leg out from underneath him and him ending up on the floor, like that scene fromFriendswith Chandler and Janice.

I moved my leg an inch. He made this adorable snuffling sound that tugged on my heartstrings, then he rolled over. As carefully as I could, I placed my feet on the floor and got up. Tiptoeing to the bathroom, I closed the door before switching on the light.

I stared at myself in the mirror, as I had last night after I’d made myself come by imagining Kadon in the shower with me. Except then, I’d felt this tinge of optimism that maybe, just maybe, there might be a spark ofsomethingbetween Kadon and me.

Now, a depressive weight sat across my shoulders. It showed in my eyes, too. They were dull, and sadder than yesterday.Pull yourself together, Leesa.Nothing had changed.Nothing had changed.Kadon was still my best friend, and I was his. In a couple of weeks, the memory of this weekend would fade, and we’d go back to the way things had always been between us. A relationship based on mutual respect and filled with a healthy dose of banter and sarcasm.

Except… the saying that you couldn’t miss what you’d never had wasn’t all that useful when you’d had it. Not that I’d had it. More’s the pity.

Jesus Christ, Leesa.I wished my damned mind had an off switch.

I grabbed a quick shower, taking care not to let my hair get wet. I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when Kadon knocked on the door.

“Lee, you in there?”

I turned off my electric toothbrush. “Yeah. Give me five minutes.”

“Hurry up. I need to pee.”

I smiled at my reflection.See? Everything is fine.Kadon was being his usual self. All this weekend needed now was for me to act the same way I always had.

“Do it out the window.”

His chuckle seeped through the door. “Tempting offer, but I’ll pass.”

“Then cross your legs. I won’t be long.”

I resumed brushing my teeth. Five minutes later, I opened the bathroom door and performed this over-the-top bow.

“Your throne awaits, sir.”

Kadon’s grin did funny things to my insides. New things. Yet his grin was the same one he’d always had. Part of me cursed those two kisses. They’d taken off the glasses I’d worn around him and put on a new set with lenses that saw a very different man from the one I’d met back in February. But another part of me, growing louder with each passing minute, yearned for him to take back everything he’d said last night. Fanciful longings that were destined to bring disappointment and heartbreak.

“About time.” He sidled past me and shut the door. I leaned against it and sighed. If I didn’t figure out a way to extinguish these feelings, I was in for an even rougher weekend than I’d feared. Once we returned to Saint Tropez, it’d be fine. Kadon would head off on his round-the-world tour of other Kingcaid Beach Club properties, and I’d take myself off to somewhere warm and sunny and figure out the future.

Yeah. I’d do that. Everything would be fine.

I quickly dressed in jeans and a purple T-shirt that set off my lavender hair. I’d dyed it after jacking in modeling as a two-fingered salute to the blonde my manager had forced me to keep, a color I’d grown to hate. My actual color was a boring mousy brown, and I hadn’t wanted to go back to that either.

Kadon emerged from the bathroom with damp hair and wearing only a towel around his waist. I swallowed a groan, my insides flip-flopping around as if all the bits had somehow untethered. I wouldn’t mind if he was purposely trying to torture me, but he wasn’t. He was only being himself, comfortable in my company, the way he’d always been.

While for me, the world had turned on its axis, and I hadn’t a clue how to right it again.

---