Page 75 of Cruel Paradise

“Onlynow?Isn’t it way past their bedtime?”

I stop short.Damn it.This whole “secrecy clause” of the contract is really fucking me over with Phoebe. Maybe I should have tried to negotiate a “best friends only” carve-out exception under the NDA section of the contract.

I’ll have to remember that for next time my rich, mob boss employer propositions me for clandestine sex.

“Um, yeah—there was a whole thing today. The kids were being followed by this guy and they were really freaked out, so I left work early to go check on them.”

“Hold up. Start from the beginning. A guy was following the kids?”

“It’s nothing. Just some sleazy tabloid reporter trying to dig up dirt on Ruslan. I handled it. Or rather, Ruslan handled—”

“Ruslan?” Phoebe practically shrieks. “Whoa. Hold on again. Rewind and start from therealbeginning.”

I chuckle. “He insisted on coming home with me and dealing with the reporter himself.”

“Wait—did he meet the kids?”

“Yes.”

There’s a beat of silence. “And?”

I groan. “He wasgreatwith them, Pheebs. He was nice and patient and downrightsweet.You should have seen it. Josh was trying to play it cool, but you could see how totally in awe he was. And the girls! Reagan was so interested and Caroline’s half in love with him already.”

“Girl’s got taste. And lemme guess: you’re sitting there thinking, ‘Just put a couple more babies in me and we’ll be a better-looking version of the Brady Bunch.’ Am I right or am I right?”

“Oh, God!” I wince as Phoebe laughs sympathetically. “I can’t believe I’m already messing this up. The one rule of this contract is no feelings and I’m breaking it to bits already!”

“Contract?”

I freeze.Fuck. Me.“Oh, you know, the unspoken fuck buddies contract you enter into when you agree to start having sex without strings.”

Smooth, Em. Real smooth.

She seems to accept that. “Well, hon, you’re only human. Plus, let’s face it: you’ve totally outgrown casual sex. That stuff is fine and dandy when you’re in your early twenties. But you lost your sister and inherited three children. Life made you grow up fast. You need more than just sex now; you need connection. Support. Why else do you think the dry streak lasted so damn long?”

I close my eyes and wince. Truth hurts. Best friend truth hurts twice as bad sometimes. And Phoebe has never been one for pulling punches.

“I guess I just thought I was safe from this kind of thing. He was—is—a freaking brute. An asshole—abosshole, you know? I didn’t think there was any chance I’d actually start, you know…”

“Fantasizing about carrying his babies and baking cupcakes in his kitchen while you’re booty-ass naked beneath your sunflower-print apron?”

I groan loudly.

“Oh, stop being so hard on yourself,” Phoebe scolds. “I mean, he’s drop-dead gorgeous. Now that you’ve confirmed he has a heart, it makes sense that you’d fall in love with the man.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa—whoa!No one said anything about love. That is not where I’m at. I’m feelingsomethingfor Ruslan, but it’s definitely not love.”

“Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

I know she’s teasing, but panic bubbles up inside me all the same. Love is not an option for me. Especially not with Ruslan Oryolov.

Sure, I felt a little somethin’-somethin’ when I saw him with the kids today, but that was just natural. Biological. It wasappreciationmore than, you know, theLword.

He’s my boss. And my fuck buddy. That is all he is.

It has to be.

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