Page 17 of Love Contract

“So, where did you two meet?”

“We went to high school together,” I say shortly.

“High schoolsweethearts?” Angus crows.

I can’t stand him thinking that, so I snap, “No, not at all. We barely spoke in high school.”

I could probably tell you every single time.

The flash of dark eyes in a crowded hallway as we jostled together. That low, taunting voice by my ear: “Careful, Mahoney. That was second base…”

I try to banish Sullivan from my brain. All versions of him.

“Was he popular?” Angus says, like it’s obvious I wasn’t. “He must have been.”

“He and his brother practically ruled the school.”

With a guilty squirm, I remember when that stopped. The awful thing that happened…

Reese seemed to handle it okay. But Sullivan changed, from carelessly cruel to a darker kind of anger…

“How did you reconnect?”

Shit.Angus wants details, and I don’t have any to give. I don’t want to lie, but my bribe isn’t ready—this sauce needs ten more minutes at least.

I swallow hard, pulling the caramel off the heat.

“Actually, Angus, we nev?—“

He cuts across me, “I forgot to tell you, I need you to work this weekend. I really want to get going on this LA campus!”

Angus is a perpetual interrupter, his brain jumping around like a grasshopper. Never has the timing been worse.

I haven’t had a weekend off in two months.

Angus promised me I could see the film festival. I already bought tickets.

But, of course, he doesn’t remember that. Or he’s pretending not to.

Either way, I don’t have a choice. If Angus wants me working this weekend, I’m working.

All of a sudden, the vast, sparkling kitchen feels claustrophobic, and even the sprawling ocean view seems to shrink to the size of a postage stamp.

Am. Trapped.

“Thanks, Theo,” Angus says, without waiting for my agreement. “What were you saying?”

“I was saying, the food’s ready.”

I set the crepe in front of him, stuffed with lemon sauce and cream, drizzled with the not-quite-finished caramel.

Angus saws off a bite and places it on his tongue, eyes rolling back.

“Mmm!”he groans in orgasmic bliss.

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