When she finally spoke, her voice was steady. “I dated a guy named Shep. I really loved him. Or… I thought I did. He said all the right things about how he wanted to have a life with me. Marriage, kids, the white picket fence. All of it. I was a virgin and…”
Shep sounded like a thousand guys I knew. Not all of them are like that. But enough are that it must be hard to be a woman sometimes. I’d always believed in being upfront. It helped avoid any misunderstandings.
Gwen felt amazing in my arms. I stroked her arm softly, inhaling the scent of her.
Then she finished her story. “I was a virgin, and he evidentlyworkedon me for six months just to have the conquest. When I finally decided to be with him it was because he told me he wanted to get engaged. Gave me a ring and everything. I thoughtwe were in love. Turned out the ring was cubic zirconia. He’d paid twenty dollars for it from a drugstore.”
She rested her head against my chest. “Afterward, he strung me along for a few weeks, then dumped me when he got bored with the sex. So now honesty is critical for me.”
I wanted to kill the man who’d done that to her.
“That never should have happened,” I told her gruffly.
“Yeah. I know.”
We stayed like that until I lost track of time, the softness of her body lulling me to sleep. My heartrate slowed until it felt like it was thumping in unison with hers. The cold winter night felt far away. We were tucked in a warm cocoon, one that we had made together.
We never even got up to clean the kitchen.
Chapter 7
Gwen
I woke up in the arms of the sexiest man I’d ever known.
I had a brief moment to savor it before I realizedwhathad woken me up.
“We’re back, Gwen!” Emerald called from the living room. “Are you still asleep?”
Checking the time on my nightstand, I saw that we’d both slept later than usual. It was almost ten a.m.
Knox stirred awake as I hollered back, “I slept in late. I’ll be out in a minute!”
We stared at each other. I’d never even had a chance to tell him my parameters.
Quietly I whispered, “I don’t want them to know.”
Understanding flooded through him.
“Right. One night.”
I nodded. “Do you think you can fit through the window?”
Chapter 8
Knox
I glanced over at her bedroom window. It was big enough for me to slip out of. I was used to being stealthy. It came with the job. But I hadn’t had to sneak out of a woman’s window in years.
A stab of emotion shot through me, and I corrected my thoughts.
Stealth came with the job Iusedto have.
Now I was just a civilian.
Technically, I was a guy who worked at a sawmill in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.
A guy who had just fucked Eric’s house guest. The same Eric who was out in the living room right now.
