Before I can make the decision to put my car in gear and leave, the front door to the mansion flies open, and Elliot Bishop marches out onto the covered porch.
I gulp a swallow as his gaze lasers in on my car.
I swear the man can see right through the windshield, not just at me, but into my fucking soul.
A shiver races down my spine and settles between my legs.
The fuck?
Yes, Elliot’s a very attractive man. Like a young George Clooney slash Clint Eastwood movie star attractive. But in that arrogant he-totally-knows-it-type-of-way. Something that was madeveryclear during our near moment all those months ago.
“Remember why you’re here,” I whisper to myself as I bravely push open my car door and step out on wobbly legs.
Elliot waits on the porch, arms folded over his sculpted chest. I know it’s a work of art beneath that thick flannel jacket because I ran into him without his shirt the last time I was here. It was a total accident. I’d gotten lost looking for the bathroom, and he was freshly out of the shower.
The tingling in my core grows stronger, the memory of Elliot caging me against the wall in the hallway, glistening water droplets on his tattooed chest close enough to lick. God how I wanted to drag my tongue along his hot skin. For a solid thirty-two seconds, I forgot I was his son’s girlfriend. I forgot my own name.
Get a fucking grip, Kayleigh.
For the briefest moment, I consider seducing Elliot Bishop. Maybe he’d be more inclined to repay the money his son stole from me if he was in a good, post-orgasm mood. I’d get to live out a dirty little fantasy I’ve kept secret all these months. And it would give me the slightest bit of malicious satisfaction knowing I had revenge sex with my ex’s dad, even if I never see the asshat again to rub it in his face.
You know this is why you’re on the naughty list, right?
But then the man opens his mouth and shatters the illusion.
“Why the fuck are you trespassing on my ranch?”
Elliot Bishop, I’m reminded, is a total jerk.
“There wasn’t a sign,” I point out, feeling a renewed sense of purpose as I climb the steps to the porch to join him.
“Wind blew it down then.”
“Not my problem, is it?” The quip slips out of my mouth before I can reign it in. Elliot’s expression remains hardened, but I catch the slightest lift of his eyebrow. Is that…amusement? Doubtful considering how much he hates me.
“What do you want, Ms. Kingston?”
A full-body shiver races through me, not just at the way he remembers my name, but the way it sounds rolling off his tongue.
“I know you don’t do the small talk thing?—”
“I don’t.”
“Right.” I swallow hard, determined to get through this without chickening out. I think of Alida, blissfully ignorant of my dilemma. After everything she’s already sacrificed for me since both our mother—lost to cancer—and our brother—killed in action—passed, I can’t put this on her too. This is my problem to fix. “Your son stole some money from me?—”
“You’re here about money? I should have fucking known.” The look of disgust on Elliot’s chiseled face makes me wither inside. It’s the same expression he wore when Adam demanded money from him earlier this year. As though the deadbeat was entitled to his father’s fortune simply for existing. If I had any sense left, I’d clamp my mouth shut, get back in my car, and drive away never to return. This is pointless.
The sex auction can’t be much worse than this.
Instead, I press on like the glutton for punishment I apparently am. “I’m here because your son stole from me, and I was hoping you?—”
“Not my problem, sweetheart.”
The nickname is an icy jab, which only irritates me. A small flame fans into a raging fire. I cling to this fresh sense of anger, as it’s the only thing keeping me from falling apart. I’m losing this battle. I’m also horribly embarrassed for being attracted to this arrogant asshole. But I refuse to face what any of this means until I’m back in the privacy of my car, driving away.
“Maybe if you’d raised a better son?—”
Elliot takes one deliberate step forward, not touching me, but definitely crowding my space and effectively silencing me in half a heartbeat.
