Page 81 of The Deal with the Playboy

They are hoping we stay together, and I can’t let them down. I won’t.

I need to get my head out of my ass and stop living in a fantasy world where I would be something more to Jasper. That he would change his mind about me. He won’t, and I have to live with this for the rest of my life.

I prop my feet up on a pillow and tune into the mindless reality TV show. I feel as if I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’m going to set ground rules when I return before my feelings get too deep, before I make the mistake of falling in love with him.

Jasper

“Poppy didn’t come home last night,” I tell Atlas. I grab a cigar from my breast pocket and I light it up before puffing on it. We’re having a boys’ night out at a bar.

We haven’t had one in a long-ass time, and Trent couldn’t make it because he didn’t have a babysitter. The bar is dead and I’m ready to go home, but my home is not the same without Poppy. How long is she going to stay at the hotel?

I wasn’t worried about where she was because Michael informed me of her whereabouts. I have to keep tabs on her to make sure she’s okay. I’ve never been the type to worry about someone else’s well-being. I miss Poppy more than I’d like to admit. My feelings are spiraling out of control for her, and I don’t want to like her. It makes shit even more complicated, but I can’t help but want to be around her. She’s like a breath of fresh air.

Atlas sips his bourbon and casts me a curious glance. “Why didn’t she?”

An old blues song plays in the background, and the waiter sets my beer on the wooden bar. I want to drink something different other than the bourbon I always order. I need something that tastes like shit, because I feel shitty.

Atlas was always good at giving advice, and he has more experience when it comes to women. I don’t allow myself to get close to women emotionally to understand them. Women are like Rubik’s Cubes—I just can’t figure them out.

I puff on my cigar and blow smoke from the corner of my mouth then tap the ashes into the ashtray. “I proposed a business deal where we could be friends with benefits.”

He tilts his head to the side. “You wrote up a contract with your wife to be friends with benefits?” He shakes his head and pats me on the back. “It wasn’t smart, Jasper. No woman wants to feel like a business transaction.”

I didn’t think of it like that. It helps keep expectations out of the relationship.

It’s as crazy as it sounds.

“You’re still treating your relationships like business transactions.” He shakes his head again. “You fucked up big time. I wouldn’t be surprised if she divorced you.”

Ouch.

The thought of her leaving scares me. I don’t know why, but I have grown quite used to her presence.

He downs his bourbon and sets the glass on the table. “You need to go make things right with her.”

She already knows I have a crush on her, but the idea of pursuing a relationship without some kind of a deal in place makes me nervous. This is a big step for me, asking my wife to be something without a signed contract in place. It scares the shit out of me, actually. She likes me and I like her. I want to fuck her brains out while she tells me about her problems.

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Tell her how you feel. I know you like her.”

I don’t respond but absorb his words like a sponge. He’s right. I need to be honest with myself and her. And I already know how she feels, because she was hoping for something more.

I put the cigar out in the ashtray and leave the bar without another word. The drive to the hotel is daunting and I try to prepare what I want to say to her. How should I approach this situation? I can start by apologizing.

I knock on the door. Poppy opens it slowly, wearing nothing but a white robe and shower cap.

We stare at each other for several beats, and I stroll past her into the room. A reality show plays on the TV and her lavender scent floats in the air, making my dick hard.

She follows up behind me and I turn around to find her arms crossed. “I would ask you how you found me, but your stalking skills have no bounds.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have presented the contract to you. You’re more than a business transaction; you’re my wife. And we can have a relationship without a marriage contract.”

Shock colors her face and she rocks on her heels, trying to process what I’ve just blurted out. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I can’t do a real relationship as husband and wife, but we can be friends and have sex. I can offer you friendship. I can’t be the type of man you want me to be for you. I can’t give you hearts and roses, but I can give you the best sex of your life. I can’t give you love but I want you, Poppy.”

She blushes at my words and tucks her hair behind her ear, displaying a diamond earring. “I don’t want to feel like I’m nothing more than a transaction. I know we started out like one, but things are different. I like you, Jasper, a lot. Just don’t treat me like how you tre—”

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