“We don’t even like each other. Us having sex a few times doesn’t warrant cutesy nicknames.”
“Cutesy?” he scoffed, truly looking offended. “Don’t get ittwisted,Princess. There’s nothing cute about it. I’m not calling you that affectionately. It’s purely in a condescending manner.”
“Because that makes it better?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged with a chuckle. “It does. So, get used to it.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re already making me regret this.”
“No, I’m not. If that was the case, you’d already be gone,” he countered with a cocky grin, and I couldn’t even deny his words because he was right. “Any more rules for me?”
“I think I covered the basics. If I think of any more, I’ll let you know.”
“Okay. And I have one of my own.”
“Just one?”
“Just one.”
“Shoot.”
He smirked. “You can’t fall in love with me.”
“Please,” I scoffed. “Using ‘you’ and ‘fall in love with me’ in the same sentence while referring tomeis highly offensive and the biggest stretch,” I said, mocking him.
Wesley snorted. “Touché, Princess.” He took a step toward me and held out his hand. “So…do we have a deal, then?”
I met his green-eyed gaze. I couldn’t believe I was doing this…but I took his offered hand and shook it. “Deal.”
His grin turned wolfish. “So, does it start right now, or…?”
I held his stare. “Yeah. Right now.”
“Good.”
He barely got that one word out before his lips crashed against mine, and in the next moment, he led me down the hall to his bedroom, kicking the door shut behind us.
Chapter 15
“I still can’t believehe owns a hotel and casino in Monte Carlo.” I shook my head.
Callie chuckled from where she sat across from me on her front porch swing. “I know. But if you ask him,hedoesn’t own it. Ashbourne Investments does.”
“And he owns Ashbourne Investments.” I rolled my eyes with a good-natured grin. “Leave it to Lucas to downplay something like that. He’s too humble for his own good sometimes.”
Callie had been in Monaco the last few days. Lucas had to close a deal on his new business venture there, and since it was her birthday, he asked her to go with him. Lucky bitch…affectionately, of course. Since I missed her birthday, I stopped by that night on my way home from work with some red velvet cake—her favorite—and a bottle of her favorite wine, both of which we were indulging in on the porch swing.
“How are things going with you two anyway?”
Callie grinned at my question, and I couldn’t help but smile in return when I saw it because I couldn’t remember thelast time I’d seen her so happy. “Good,” she said. “Reallygood.”
I felt a sudden spark of hope in her answer.
For months, I’d been not-so-secretly hoping Callie would decide to remain in Bayport once she finished with her mom’s estate. When she first came back, she was adamant aboutnotstaying, but with things between her and Lucas going as well as she said, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she was having a change of heart. But I didn’t want to ask, afraid of the question dredging up things she wasn’t ready to talk about yet. And because I wasn’t sure I was prepared to hear her answer, knowing I wouldn’t be able to hide my disappointment if she said she hadn’t changed her mind andwasn’tstaying.
“How about you?” Callie asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “How’s the dating game going? Anything exciting happening?”
“Oh, it’s, uh…it’sgoing. I guess…not really, but…”
