Bad Boy (An Indecent Proposal) - J.C. Reed Page 0,21

even so bad.

Now that he had bailed me out, new thoughts emerged. Thoughts that were so scary, they confused me, and made me question everything I had found out about him.

Why did he bail me out? He had married me. His mission was already accomplished. Or was there more to it?

I stripped off my clothes and stepped into the shower. The water was hot, relaxing my sore muscles. I don’t know how long I stood under a stream of water, my body a shivering mess, my fixation on Chase taking root in my belly, embedding itself deep in my heart.

Chase was like poison.

Seeping into me, infecting me, leaving me with fragments of broken dreams—of hope that there might be more between us.

I was so absorbed in my thought, I didn’t hear the door opening.

The shower curtain was drawn aside, and I jumped back, a scream escaping my throat.

I turned and found Chase standing inches from me, watching me with a hungry look in his eyes.

“What the fuck, Chase,” I yelled. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

He grinned sheepishly. “I never said I was the quiet kind.”

“Quiet? More like creepy.” I turned the water faucet off and quickly covered my naked breasts with my hands. “Fucking hell,” I muttered to myself. “You’re like the devil.”

“I’ve heard he’s quite charming, so thank you for the compliment, though I hate to disappoint. I’m quite human.” He held out a white towel out of my reach. “Need this?”

I inched forward and grabbed it from him, then wrapped it around my body. My skin was on fire from his intense gaze. I looked up—fury blazing in my eyes.

“What the fuck are you doing here? This is my hotel room. I paid for it. You have no right to break in.”

“I didn’t break in…” Chase said and leaned against the wall, a smug expression on his face. “Not exactly.”

I frowned at his choice of words. “How did you get in?”

“With this.” His hand moved to his pocket, and he pulled out a key card. It looked exactly like the one I had. “I asked for a visitor card.”

“And they gave you one—no questions asked?” I asked incredulously, shaking my head.

“Well, they only had one question, who I was. I told them I’m your husband.” His eyes flickered with amusement. “I even offered to provide our marriage certificate as proof, but what can I say? They weren’t interested in seeing it.”

That was pure madness. I would file a complaint.

Heck, I’d ask for a refund.

“Unbelievable.” I shook my head again. “You still have no right to be here.”

“Relax, Laurie. I wasn’t planning on staying.”

“Damn right! You’re not.” I tightened the towel around my body before it accidentally slipped off, not missing the hooded glance he gave me. A pull settled between my legs. Chase’s lips twitched, and his eyebrows rose ever so slightly.

What the fuck was he so smug about?

I followed his line of vision, and to my mortification discovered that my left breast was exposed.

I yanked the towel higher, covering myself up as much as I could, as the heat traveled up my neck and face.

“No need to hide, Laurie. I’ve already…”

I rolled my eyes, irritated. “Yeah, I know you’ve already had me.”

“I wanted to say, I already told you how sexy you look, but you’re right, of course.”

The smug bastard.

Of course he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to remind me what had happened between us; what could still be between us if it weren’t for me discovering his betrayal.

Knots formed in my stomach.

Suddenly, the bathroom felt too cramped.

I needed to get out.

Pressing the towel against my body, I stepped out of the shower cabin, making sure not to get too close to him, and started to wring my dripping wet hair in front of my mirror, my gaze avoiding him.

“Well, I hope you got a good look, because you won’t get to touch me again,” I muttered.

My gaze brushed his in the mirror.

I had expected to see disappointment, maybe even anger, instead a flicker of amusement flickered in his eyes.

“Are you sure about that?” A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “As far as I remember, you were the one asking me to touch you. Maybe not so much to touch as to fuck you. I believe your exact words were ‘I want you to be my first’.”

As I stared at his reflection in the mirror my cheeks flamed. “For your information, I just wanted to get it over and done with.