I reached for my phone again, started tapping out a text…and then deleted it all.
“It’s not like the High Council of Marriage Validity is going to be analyzing our texts,” I explained to the jade plant that I began inspecting.It had nothing to add.I frowned, contemplating the rug in the kitchen.“Unless they will be?”
I grabbed my phone and finally sent the message I’d started and deleted five times that day.
CLARA: Hope you’re doing okay.Let me know if I can help.Thinking of you.
This time when I set the phone down, I let out a big whoosh of air.It was innocent, neutral, thoughtful.It didn’t betray the fact that I’d been masturbatingnightlyto the memory of Nash’s kisses, imagining what might have happened if we’d not stopped the make-out session.Each time I thought about his hand scorching its way up the side of my body, venturing dangerously close to my breast, my thighs clenched.His eyes had shone with hunger, and that wasn’t something he could fake.That wasn’t for show.
Or was it?
I groaned, deciding to return to the task I’d abandoned from earlier: organizing my bedroom closet.As I situated myself in the mess of purses and sandals and leggings, my thoughts drifted back to Nash and to what felt like an impossible dilemma.
Our relationship was fake but the chemistry was real.
Too real.
Wednesday’s kisses proved it.And now I was reduced to using the shower head massager every night as I gasped his name into the steam, coming undone to memories of his hands tracing my curves, his tongue searching out mine, his powerful, commanding presence utterly consuming me.
My phone rang, jostling me out of my thoughts.I gasped, the phone slipping out of my hands in my rush to peer at the screen.Please be Nash.
It was Zoey, which was next best.
“Hello, my best friend,” I crooned as I answered the phone, putting it on speaker.“I’m so glad you called.I need a distraction.”
“Oooh, everything okay?”
I opened my mouth but paused before anything could spill out.Zoey knew about Nash, but hadn’t met him yet, and I couldn’t say what was truly eating at me due to the NDA.“I’ve just been focusing on some housework and getting some paperwork done.I don’t think I told you yet—I’m looking into going back to school!”
Zoey gasped.“Seriously?I know you’ve been wanting to since Mia started going somewhat regularly to daycare.But I thought funds were always the issue.Did you find a scholarship?”
I paused, wondering how to explain the sudden windfall without mentioning it directly.“Not exactly.But I have a very generous benefactor.”
Zoey gasped.“Wait, is this made possible by your new boyfriend?”
I giggled.She wasn’t completely wrong.It was Nash’s money that allowed my free time, even though he wasn’t exactly involved in the process.“You could say that.”
“That’s exciting.And kind of hot.This is mild sugar daddy territory.”
“Yeah, it kind of is.Except Iwantto have sex with him,” I teased, “I’m not just doing it for the money.”I was doing other things for the money, but we wouldn’t get into that now.Instead, I gave her a quick rundown of my application to the master’s program and how I’d been working on analyzing select properties for the green space portfolio that needed to accompany my application.
“It sounds awesome.Oh, and speaking ofnew boyfriends,”she said, something conspiratorial in her voice, “are you in the mood for some juicy gossip?Aboutyourself?”
My stomach dropped.“Uhhh, what do you mean?”
“You and your mysterious billionaire boyfriend made headlines, girlfriend!”The squeal accompanying her words told me maybe the gossip wasn’t all bad.“Haley Reeves posted about you!”
I stared at the messy contents of my closet for what felt like ten minutes.“Shedid?”
“Check your Instagram.Like, immediately.I just saw it when I was online.She tagged the restaurant that you and Nash went to earlier this week.Oh my God, does this mean you’re famous now?”
My hands trembled as I swiped through my phone to pull up Instagram and look at Haley’s account.There it was—a post from two hours ago with multiple photos.The main image was of Nash and me at our table, his hand covering mine.Another grainy photo showed us in the foyer, Nash's hands cupping my face just before our kiss.
The caption read: "Spotted: Billionaire developer Nash Nightingale and his mystery Cinderella having an intimate lunch at Axis this week.Sources say this is getting SERIOUS.Deep dive coming soon!#BillionaireDating #CinderellaStory #CoupleGoals"
"Oh my God," I breathed.
"Clara, you undersold him!"Zoey practically shrieked."When you said he was handsome, I was not prepared for that level of devastation.And the way he's looking at you in these photos?Girl, that man isgonefor you."
