“She told me about the girl,” Cat said.
I shrugged. “What girl?”
“The one you’re not over. From college.”
I felt my throat bob. Saying nothing, I took another sip of wine.
“So it’s true?” she added.
“Look, Cat, is it really necessary for us to know the ins and outs of every romantic detail from the past? This is an arrangement.” As soon as I said the wordarrangement—even a millisecond before—I felt my gut twist.Arrangementwasn’t the right word to describe us. Far from it, actually.
“Right. I’m just your little convenient fucktoy so you can get your rocks off and not worry about the media for a while.”
“That came out wrong,” I admitted.
“Well, then whatamI? Whatarewe? Other than a good fuck, that is.”
I scrubbed my hand over my jaw and tried to sort through my thoughts rapidly. “Where is this coming from?” I started. “I was really looking forward to coming back here and being with you today. I’m sorry that I have people from my past doing things like cleaning my house naked. I can’t help it if that’s what women want to do for me.”
She laughed, and it sounded a little maniacal. “Oh, well that’s perfect.Sorry I’m so awesome girls just drop their panties for me.I should have believed the first impression I had of you after our elevator encounter. You’re cocky, vain, and you’re never going to change, are you?”
I took a step toward her, putting my hand on the kitchen counter right next to her. I could feel the heat emanating from her body. I was about to speak, when she spoke first, her eyes glossed over.
“I feel like a fool,” she said. “A fool for getting into this whole thing with you, and now if we break up, It’s like, freaking fraud, which carries a five-year prison sentence.”
“What do you even see in me?” she added.
I rubbed my ten days of scruff. If there was any time for complete honesty, and transparency, it was now. “Ever since the moment I saw you in the elevator, I was drawn to you like amagnet. I can’t tell you exactly why. Although I do know that you intrigue me. A lot. You’re sexy and smart. You’ve got something that I’ve never been able to pull off.”
She cast her eyes down a moment, then brought them back up. “Do you really think that?”
I nodded.
“Look, Cat. Ever since I’ve played hockey, people don’t really think too much of me outside the sport. To them, I’m a dumb jock type. But you’re the antithesis of that. I know we were drunk—or high on life—or whatever, the day we got married. But it doesn’t change the fact that something in my core is drawn to you in a way I’ve never been drawn to everyone else. I told Jenny we’re an ‘arrangement,’ yes. But I don’t think it’s any of her business what’s going on in my heart. And, being totally honest, I don’t even get it myself. I know I love spending time with you, soaking up all the seconds I have until the summer, or whenever we decide to end this crazy arrangement. But arrangement’s a bad word. And I don’t want to think of the end right now.”
She angled her face away from me. I could tell she was uncomfortable, and I wasn’t sure why. I stepped into her and pressed my hips against her body, then used my forefinger to point her chin at me. Her big brown eyes were wide.
“That’swhat I see in you,” I reiterated, and I felt a rush of emotion flow through me.
The tension in the air grew thick. I swore I could hear her heart beating over the only noise in the house, the rumbling heater. Her head tilted just slightly, and her breath became audible and deep. I wondered if her body was throbbing from the inside out as much as mine was.
In the next blink of our eyes, our lips smashed together, and her arms wrapped tightly around my back. She moaned into my mouth, and my erection pressed up against her belly through my pants, aching to escape.
Her hand slipped under my shirt and she dragged it across my abs.
I tensed. “You’re cold,” I said.
Her eyes flickered up at me with intensity. “And you’re hot.”
I smirked.
“Your body, I mean.”
I smirked harder.
“I mean thetemperatureof your skin ... you know what, I’m just going to stop talking now.”
I threw my head back in laughter before I lifted her up onto the kitchen counter and kissed her again. The electricity between us was driving me insane. She held her legs out and I helped her wiggle out of her jeans, while her hands unbuttoned and unzipped mine. When she wrapped her legs around my midsection, my cock slipped out and rubbed her clit through the fabric of her panties.
