Faking Ms. Right (Dirty Martini Running Club #1) - Claire Kingsley Page 0,70
on, hard, but that was beside the point.
For now, I texted Richard to update him on my guest list. Then I decided I was going to treat myself to a nice hot bath.
Shepherd came into the bedroom and paused, looking me up and down. “There you are.”
“Hey. I was just talking to my sister. She and Miranda will come to the party. And, you know, go along with everything.”
“Good.” His eyes were intense—predatory. I loved it when he looked at me like that. “What are you doing now?”
“I was thinking about taking a bath, but I could do something else.”
“No, take the bath.” He started cuffing the sleeves of his button-down shirt. “I want to watch.”
Nibbling my lip, I got up and darted into the bathroom, already thinking about ways to make this fun. Lying in the water did make my boobs look amazing. He came in and dimmed the lights while I started the bathwater.
I slowly peeled off my clothes while he watched.
Oh yes. This was fun.
Was this still fake? Was it just sex? I really didn’t know. And, for the moment at least, I was okay with that.
25
Shepherd
My focus shifted as soon as I got to the conference room—from work, to Everly. I’d been reading an email from my CFO, but as soon as I heard her voice, I stopped outside the door.
That sweet voice made me feel like I was unraveling. Suddenly all I could think about was the taste of her lips. The feel of her skin. The sting of her nails on my back. No one would suspect what the girl with the sunshine smile was capable of in the bedroom. I still had her bite marks on my chest.
I was an addict, and she was my secret dealer.
I’d never indulged with a woman the way I did with her. She bit and clawed at me and I fucking loved it. I couldn’t get enough. My body craved the powerful sensory stimulation. It wasn’t pain to me, so much as raw intensity. Every bite and scratch cut through my emotional paralysis and made me feel.
I worked hard to keep my personal life out of the public eye. The fact that the elusive business mogul Shepherd Calloway had a thing for pain in the bedroom would spread like wildfire in the gossip columns if it ever got out. Until Everly, I’d never trusted a woman with that. I didn’t like trusting people too far—it made me vulnerable.
But I’d trusted her with everything.
Her tone brought my attention back to reality. There was a sharpness to her voice. We had a meeting in about ten minutes, but she was talking to someone in the conference room. It sounded like Damian Fillsburg, head of sales.
“Mr. Calloway needs those figures by Monday.”
“By when?” Damian sounded distracted, like he was only half-listening to her.
“I’m standing right here, Damian,” she said. “So I’m sure you heard me say Monday. Just as it said in the email I sent.”
I peeked around the partially open door. Damian stood in front of her, eyes on his phone. She had her arms crossed around a stack of blue folders. I could practically feel the irritation coming off her. Not that I blamed her. Damian was fairly new and his arrogance was already grating on me.
He looked up as if only just now noticing she was there. “You can just fudge something for me, right? Make me look good for the boss-man?”
Everly pressed her lips together as she shook her head. “No, I can’t fudge something for you.”
“Everly, help a guy out here,” he said, tilting his head. He took a step closer. “How about this. Come to dinner with me on Friday and we can work on it together.”
A bolt of anger flashed through me. How dare he hit on my woman. I was about to step in and fire the fucker, but Everly didn’t miss a beat.
She clicked her tongue. “I’m sorry to hear that, Damian.”
“Sorry to hear what?”
“That Autumn broke up with you. Autumn was your girlfriend’s name, right? The one with pretty blond hair, wore a sundress to the company picnic? In fact, didn’t you propose to her a few months ago? It’s too bad it ended.”
“Wait, what? No. I mean, Autumn is her name, but we didn’t… What are you talking about?”
“Well, you just rather inappropriately asked me to dinner, which I assume means you and Autumn broke up. Or did I misunderstand what you were asking?”