“Do you have plans this afternoon?” he asks, kissing the back of my neck. His question wakes me from the moment, reminding me that there’s someone else who will be expecting me tonight.

“Blake, there’s something I need to tell you,” I confess, closing my eyes to brace myself for what may come. Maybe this will go over better than I think, but it could also go terribly wrong. I’ve put myself in his shoes, and I know that the female jealousy within me would be boiling over. The thought of anyone touching him, in any way, makes me bat shit crazy.

He pauses for a second then continues kissing me. “I’m listening.”

How am I supposed to tell him that my hot, powerful, extremely successful boss is taking me out tonight with his mouth assaulting my skin like this? Things with Blake start to feel less and less like a benefits-only relationship and more and more like the semblance of a real relationship when he does this. It’s in the way he kisses me. The way he looks at me—like he was last night when I finally opened my eyes. It’s in the little ways he’s changed over the last couple weeks.

If he asks me not to go, if he tells me this thing between us means something, I won’t go. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my time with Pierce if I knew it bothered Blake. If I knew there was a chance for us.

“I was invited to attend a benefit tonight . . . for work.” Watching him, I don’t see any reaction, but that’s not the part that’s going to bother him.

“Not working at Charlie’s?” he murmurs between showering my neck with kisses.

“No, I took the night off.” I stop, tilting my head to give him better access. “Someone invited me to, umm, go.” That stills him immediately.

His head comes up, his eyes cold—like they were when I first met him. He doesn’t say anything. He just stares. If I could take those words back, put this whole scene on rewind, I would.

“When he asked, I said yes because there really wasn’t any reason to say no.”

He loosens his arms but doesn’t completely pull them away from me. My whole world spins waiting for him to say something. This was a mistake; I feel it already.

“What do you mean when you say you’re going with him?” he finally asks. He’s got the same angry edge to his voice he had the night I left him in the bar. This time, there are more feelings to be destroyed.

I swallow the giant lump wedged in my throat. “I’m going to get dressed up, and he’s going to pick me up. We’re going to the event, and then he’ll bring me back home.”

“Are you going to fuck him?” The edge in his voice and harshness of his words propel me forward, wanting to be out of his arms.

“I’m not like that,” I seethe, quickly standing from his lap.

“Really?” he shouts. “What are we doing then? We’re fucking, and, from what I remember, it wasn’t that hard to get you under me.”

My blood boils. “Do you think I just fuck any guy who comes my way?” I pause, wrapping my hands into tight fists at my side to keep from hitting him. “That’s the problem with this whole stupid arrangement. You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

He dares to come closer. “I’ve memorized every fucking inch of your body, and that’s all I need to know for what we have.”

My fingernails dig into my skin. I can’t take it anymore. The way he looks at me like I’m nothing. With nothing else to add, I stalk back to my bedroom, throwing the door open with enough force to send it into the wall. I need to put space between us.

“Lila, I’m not done with you!” he yells.

“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize we even started,” I remark, not bothering to look back. Without warning, his body is flush against mine, pushing us both forward.

When we reach the wall on the opposite side of the room, he spins me around and pins my arms above my head. He’s pissed, and I only have myself to thank for that. “Do you feel that?” he asks, grinding his hard cock against my stomach. “That’s what you do to me.”

Tears pool in my eyes. I gaze up at the ceiling, begging them not to fall. “I need more than that, Blake. I can’t keep doing this.”

“What do you want from me?”

“If you ask me to stay, I’ll stay, but don’t do it just because you want to fuck me. Or because you don’t want anyone else to have me.” Just voicing the last part makes me question how exactly I got here.

“I’ve given you everything I promised.”

I wiggle against him, but it’s no use. He’s too strong, too determined. “What if I told you I’m falling?”

“You don’t mean it.”

My chest heaves against his. Hearts beat fast. “Yes, I do.”

“Shit,” he mumbles, letting go of me.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen!”

“You didn’t stop it either.” He starts walking away, his hair gripped in his long fingers. A fool could see he’s struggling against himself. I follow behind him, practically falling into his back when he halts suddenly. “Don’t,” he warns.

“I’m going. Unless you ask me to stay . . . unless you can promise me more, I’m going.”

He smiles sadistically, lifting my chin to gain better access to my lips. He kisses me once, hungrily, darting his tongue between my lips just long enough to get a little taste. My mind races with the possibilities; they’re all I have left. “Don’t you dare forget that when you’re out with your date tonight.”

Without another word, he pulls away, heading straight out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him. If he’s jealous, it doesn’t have the effect that Dana said it would.

He didn’t ask me to stay.

He didn’t beg me not to go.

I thought what we have might mean something more to him, like it does for me.

I think every girl hopes she’ll get her chance to tame a bad boy, to bring a soulless creature out of the darkness, but Blake isn’t my salvation. There’s not a part of him that’s mine . . . there never was.

I sink back down into my chair and cross my arms on the table. I stare . . . forever, thinking about what I should do next, what this means.

Butterflies multiply in my stomach as the hours tick by. Time brings me closer to Pierce and further from Blake.

He’s been gone a couple hours . . . since we had our argument this morning. What if he disappears again? And when he comes back, will we go back to being enemies under the same roof?

I don’t want that. I just want to be us. Kisses. Painting. Lemon drops.

I think about him constantly. The fact that this might all be over before it even really started is hard to swallow. I can’t live with what could have been; I’d promised myself I would stop doing that the minute I stepped on the plane. He’s just so hard to let go.

I’m lost in my wakeful nightmare when a knock sounds at my door.

When I’d told Dana about the invite, she’d offered to come over and help me with my hair and make-up. There was no way I was going to decline because getting all that done in Chicago would have cost a small fortune. And there was no way in hell I was going to use Pierce’s credit card.

I fake a smile and open the door. “Hey.” My eyes immediately focus on the small suitcase she lugs with her. “Did you bring the whole bathroom?”

“Almost,” she replies, rolling it in front of her. “Take this. I’m going to grab the dress from my car.”

I grab the handle from between her fingers and watch as she retreats down the narrow hallway. “Need any help?”

“Got it!” she yells back.

The suitcase must weigh at least twenty pounds, which scares the hell out of me. What could she possibly put on me that weighs this much? Twelve pairs of shoes? Eight curling irons? Four cases of make-up?

After rolling it to my room, I go back to the door to wait for her. She mentioned this dress she has for me—something she wore to an event a couple years back. This event is a big deal . . . for my career, for my future. And if Pierce Stanley is going, it’s a big deal in general—a who’s who of the Chicago scene. I’m trying to be excited. If for nothing else, what it could do for my career.