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I barely got a glance at the vaguely faainst it, kissing me like his life depended on it The kiss had none of his finesse, and not an ounce of his restraint It was a rough, bruising kiss, and I reveled in it I would have kissed him back, but it wasn’t that kind of kiss All that I could do was sub

He pulled back abruptly

I moaned a protest

He wrapped one hand around asp, the other hand going to er over o But I need to have you Promise me you’ll come to my office at eleven”

Ithem His face and voice were raith need And fear

“I told you I’d be there,” I said to him, not sure what he needed from me, or how to take that awful look from his eyes

“Proh to a plea to make my chest hurt

“I promise,” I said softly

He just nodded, his face painfully soleed me after him, and I followed him to the elevator

He pushed the button, pulling me into his chest as he waited for the car It wasn’t a coincidence that he pressed ht over the place where he’d tattooed my name in crimson

He didn’t kiss ain In fact, he barely looked at me His professional limpse of him

I walked back to the dining room on heavy feet

We finished breakfast quickly, all of us ready for a nap

Stephan and Javier were staying on the floor below my bedroom with James, lined up with that perfect view of Central Park I walked theht before heading up to the room I shared with James I could hear their amazed and excited exclamations even as I walked away, and I sht To make others happy

I made my way to our lonely bedroom

I stood frozen in the doorway to our roo there without Jae

I did theinto bed only after I had carefully set an alar a short nap, but it would be worth it to see James in a few hours

I woke up groggy and disoriented but as the fog cleared from my brain and I realized whose bed I was in, and who I would be seeing in just one hour, the fog cleared completely, and I rushed into the shower, nervous and excited

My phone beeped a text atthe bedroom, and I went to read it, still wrapped in a towel

James: Wear a skirt

It was an innocent enough request, froht in breathless anticipation I hadn’t known just ould be able to do at his office, so I had been braced for just an innocent lunch, though of course I had been hoping for h me He had plans for me; I just knew it

I tried not to be intih it for a skirt The labels were things I never could have afforded on h, so it was hard forJathat I couldn’t help but think it was all a bit of a waste Half of his colossal closet was now filled with extravagant designer wo There was no way that he hadn’t spent tens of thousands of dollars on it all

I kneas silly, but so intimidated me even more than all of the diamond jewelry that he seemed to need to lavish on h about clothes to have a clue what those labels orth, whereas ible

The clothing was all paired together into outfits I would have been rateful for that convenience if I hadn’t known that it had to be the work of Jackie I wasn’t exactly a fan

I quickly picked out a co azure blue, silk dress I tried not to even look at the label, but it didn’t work, since the Ar practically jumped out at me

I donned my bra and panties, pulled the decadently soft fabric over my head, and fell instantly in love

It was beyond coed htest bit tight And unlikeI usually tried on, it was ht, not too short in eithera fortune on clothing Of course, most of the clothes I’d owned previously never cost more than twenty dollars, tops…

There was an entire section of the closet devoted entirely to shoes and I went there next My mouth curved and my heart warmed as I sahat James had done there

There were nothing but wedges and running shoes Of all the things he’d purchased for ht that this was the sweetest I’d made the barest es and running shoes, and it was apparent that he had been listening

All of the wo out of boxes, and all of the boxes werered letters My brow furrowed The tags on all of the clothing had the sa to rip off the tag at e to the lovely dress

My brow furrowed as I saw the nu I studied the rows of shoeboxes, hed,wryly, as I saw the system that had been set up Jackie apparently didn’t trustwithout help