A Private Affair - A.C. Arthur Page 0,48
sex.”
“You’re the hottest social media bachelor in the world. I read that in the Wall Street Journal. Your net worth is somewhere around twenty-three billion. You could have any woman you wanted—one who’s well-versed in the sex-without-commitment games—in your bed every night. Why would you need to go to a sex party?”
“No judgment. No recriminations. No questions. Half the time nobody even knows who I am for that matter. And believe it or not, I’ve only ever had sex at a party three times. Each time I brought the woman with me and asked if she were comfortable indulging. You are certainly blunt, Riley.”
“If we’re talking about this we might as well talk honestly, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. You’re right.”
She’d worn her hair down tonight, falling past her shoulders in a tumble of waves. It was a softer look than she normally displayed in public. He liked it.
“Sometimes I need to get away from the world I’ve created for myself. The world where they expect me to be the famous social media bachelor or billionaire entrepreneur. I’m not Tobias’s orphaned nephew. I’m just Chaz, a man who likes and knows pleasure.” It sounded so simple to him but he wondered what she thought about what she was hearing.
“Did you like being there?” he asked.
“I’ve never been to a sex party before.”
“I figured as much. My question was did you like it?”
She ran her palms down her thighs and cleared her throat. “Yes. I think I did. Not at first. When I walked into that room and saw that threesome, I wanted to curse you from here to hell and back for inviting me to such a place. But then I saw a man receiving his pleasure and a woman giving herself pleasure and I was...aroused. Never in a million years would I have thought something like that would turn me on.”
“You’re a passionate woman, Riley. You shouldn’t be ashamed of that.”
“I’m not ashamed of anything,” she countered.
But that wasn’t true. She was ashamed of their affair. Or she was afraid of anyone finding out about it. Either way, Chaz didn’t like it and he wondered how she was going to react when he finally told her his feelings about their arrangement had changed.
* * *
“Thank you for the vase.”
It was just before dawn. The sky was that amazing mixture of orange and pink, and she could see daylight peeking through the pale gray shades Chaz had lowered over the twenty-foot windows in his bedroom. The forest-green-and-white-striped comforter on his bed was warm even if it wasn’t something she would have purchased. But what Riley really liked about being in Chaz’s bed early on a Saturday morning was the feel of his strong arms wrapped around her, the warmth of his body against hers and the press of his heavy arousal against her ass.
“You’re welcome.” His breath was warm against the back of her neck. “I figured it would be nice if you had something calming to look at while you’re in the office. A dildo slash paperweight wouldn’t go over very well.”
She smiled, something she’d been doing a lot of lately, especially when she was with him.
“That was very thoughtful. I didn’t expect that from you.”
“Why? Because we’re only having an affair?”
Riley frowned, hating the way he said that word. Why? It was what they’d agreed on.
“Because you’re not what I expected.”
“You expected the billionaire bachelor who would sleep with you a couple times and move on?”
“Yes.” His words were exactly right. “But I think I also expected you to be sneaky and conniving like your uncle.”
“My uncle is neither of those things, and besides that, I’m not him. And we’re not that feud. Didn’t we already talk about this?”
“We did and you’re right. We’re not the feud but we’re not absolved of it, either. The remnants of your uncle stealing designs from the fashion house my grandfather started that allowed Tobias to get his start affect us whether we want it to or not.”
“What are you talking about? My uncle said the feud started over a woman and even when Ron had gotten the girl he’d still been horribly jealous and forced Uncle Tobias out of the company.”
She’d never heard the story that way before and didn’t really know if she believed it, but the fact still remained that there was definite animosity between their families and that was likely to always create friction between them.
They remained silent for the next few minutes, until she couldn’t stand it any longer.
“I