looked even better naked.
“You’re up early,” I said, striving to break the awkwardness that had sprung up between us.
“I’m an early riser. Plus, I’m dealing with jet lag.”
I nodded and tried to take a sip of coffee, but it was still too hot to drink so I set it aside. “I really do have to get going.”
A grin appeared on his lips. “Do you?”
“Yes, I do.” I cleared my throat. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Last night. It was…well it was…”
“Go on.”
“I’m glad it was you. For my first Rex experience.”
His gaze darkened. Hadrian took a step toward me, crowding my space, breathing my air. He wrapped his arms around my waist and hauled me against him and I felt his erection.
A pulse of desire drummed between my thighs.
As much as I wanted Hadrian one last time, I knew it would be a mistake.
“I didn’t know it was your first event. What’s your real name?”
“I’m still not going to tell you that,” I said, pushing against his chest, trying to get free.
“I noticed you wear colored contacts. Why?”
“It’s part of my persona,” I lied. “It fits the look of a Rex girl.”
“Show me your real eyes.”
“No.”
He released me, his gaze intense. “I’ll walk you back to The Mansion.”
“Thanks, but I don’t need—”
“Eden,” he growled.
“Fine,” I muttered. “Can we go now, please?” Without waiting for him to reply, I turned and marched out of the kitchen and waited by the front door.
Hadrian was slower, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He sat on the couch to put on his socks and formal shoes.
The silence between us was making me antsy, but I had nothing to say to him. I’d fucked him for money and the next morning he’d just poured me coffee and acted like we were some domestic picture of normalcy.
We weren’t.
I was glad I wasn’t allowed to tell Hadrian my name. Then I’d become real and this would no longer be a fantasy.
We had to remain a fantasy. That’s what The Rex sold: the perfect evening, with the perfect girl and no strings attached—unattainable to all but the most wealthy and coercive of men.
Hadrian got up from the couch and walked to me. Grasping my hand in his, he reached for the doorknob.
The morning was quiet, and the air was fragrant with the perfume of the manicured gardens.
I attempted to tug my hand free of Hadrian’s grasp, but he was having none of it.
“Stop fighting me,” he commanded, tightening his fingers around mine. His grip wasn’t painful, but strong. There was no getting away from him.
We wandered leisurely through the maze, past the glass gazebo that had been the stage of the most erotic performance I’d ever witnessed. I was immediately transported to the previous night, watching writhing bodies find their pleasures. And then I’d found my own pleasure, many times, under Hadrian’s relentless, unyielding demands.
I shook off the sensual trance. The closer The Mansion loomed, the more despondent I grew. I couldn’t understand my own reaction. It wasn’t shame or even regret that fluttered in my chest. No. It was something else.
Something I didn’t dare give a name.
He opened the back door of The Mansion and allowed me to step inside first. It was dark and quiet. Either the house was so large that sound didn’t travel from one room to the next, or everyone was still asleep.
“You can leave me here,” I said. “I know the way to the kitchen.”
Hadrian paused a moment and then slowly released my hand.
I thought if he was no longer touching me, the intense physical chemistry between us would disappear, but it went nowhere.
Before I could think anything of it, I stood up on my tiptoes and brushed a kiss to the corner of his mouth and whispered, “Thank you for last night.”
I didn’t wait to see his reaction. I turned and bolted down the hallway, refusing to look behind me.
When I got to the swinging door of the kitchen, I pushed against it and went in. There was a buffet of hot dishes lined up on the long granite counter tops. Girls in different states of dress sat in groups of twos and threes, chatting and drinking their coffees.
Genevieve was nowhere to be found and I breathed a sigh of relief, not yet ready to face the Madame to give her my report on the evening.
I went through the kitchen, dodging girls with plates and mugs, and made my way into the dining room.
Tiffany and Julia sat at the corner