It is as if Harlow is just daring me to kick her out of here, like I said I would if things didn’t come together tonight.

She narrows her long-lashed eyes at me and shakes her head. “You are not going to blame me for this fiasco, Grayson.”

“And why shouldn’t I?”

“Well, for one thing, you refuse to learn about my life. For another, you won’t let me know anything about you. And you never want to spend time together. We can’t act like a couple if we’re barely more than strangers!”

She has a point, but the other option is to spend actual time with her.

Nope.

What I need to do now is cut my losses with Harlow, so I walk away, intending to get Rick on the phone to talk about some reasonable damage control now that our first attempt is clearly a bust. He already bought one mail-order bride from that website, and I am certain there are a hundred other women out there who are ready to sell themselves to someone who needs a wife as badly as I now do.

The replacement can take this one’s place with a whole hell of lot less trouble.

As I walk out of the study, I don’t look back. It is not only because I don’t care if Harlow is standing there gazing after me like she wants to kill me. It is mostly because I fear what I will do if I do look at her again. She has tempted me one too many times.

I decide to put off my call to Rick and go straight to my gym in the east wing instead. I grab clean workout clothes from the locker area and go to the rock-climbing wall. For the next hour, I use the grips to scale the wall, and then I hit the treadmill and weights, working off my frustration while brainstorming ways to approach this dilemma.

Hell, at least Harlow has been good for my exercise routine.

By the time I finish, I am drenched with sweat. I intend to go right up to my room and shower off, not only because of my damp skin, but because I also need to wash Harlow off and out of my life.

I am just leaving the gym when I encounter Jayne in the hallway. My employee gives me one of her no-bullshit looks from beneath her glasses and folds her hands in front of her Dolce and Gabbana suit.

“Before I head home, Mr. Royal, I need to inform you that Harlow is rather put out with you.”

“Is she?”

Jayne lowers her gaze even more, just like a bull about to charge. “May I suggest something?”

“I’ve got this covered, Jayne.”

I start heading toward the east-wing elevator bank, where the car will take me directly up to my suite, which covers the entirety of the third-floor.

Jayne calls after me. “You’ll find that I persuaded Harlow to wait for you near your elevator. From my own experience, I know that going to sleep angry is no way to go to sleep.”

“It’s how I go to sleep all the time, Jayne.”

I whip the shirt off my body and start drying myself off with it, then walk away from Jayne without another word. She is wise enough not to chase me down.

Hell, I should have told her that I have already decided to get someone else to take Harlow’s place and fool Jake Foreman. And, this time, I will be the one to choose my poison.

As I approach my elevator, Harlow is indeed waiting. She is wearing one of her thin, simple spring dresses with her hair down, just as if she was never in Chanel and diamonds at dinner tonight. It’s almost too bad I have to get rid of her, because she looks the part of a sweet girlfriend, even though she is anything but.

She glances at me, and I realize I have no shirt on. I’m pumped up and breathing heavy, and as she brushes her gaze over my body, I see something in her eyes flicker.

Lust. I recognize it from last night.

Goddammit, now I have no air in my lungs. Yes, I had a heavy workout, but that’s no excuse. Just looking at Harlow gets my adrenaline going and makes me feel as if I’ve sprinted ten miles.

I occupy myself by wiping my shirt over my chest. “Are you trying to make one last bid for the money you would’ve earned for posing as my girlfriend? Because if you’re here to negotiate, you have no leverage after what happened tonight. You’re easily replaced.”

She takes a step toward me. “But I do have leverage.”

I frown.

“Grayson,” she says, “there’s no one else who can get this job done but me.”

I clench the shirt in my hand.

“I have no issues creating a new Harlow Turner out of thin air.”

“Which will be more effort than it’s worth.” She takes another step closer. “As angry as I am with you, I don’t quit. We can pull this off, Grayson. If you let me go, you’re going to be even more screwed than you were before.”

During my silence, she runs another tentative yet hot gaze over my skin, getting me hotter. She licks her lips. Then, as if realizing what she just did, she averts her gaze.

She’s switched something on in me once again, and my mind clouds up with memories of what it was like to kiss her, what it was like to lose my mind as I went down on her.

My body is waking up, wanting, needing, craving the feel of her skin and the taste of her.

Goddammit, I don’t want to let her go, and that’s exactly why I should get her the fuck out of my sight. She drives me insane, but what the hell else can I do at this point? Losing her would likely be the end of me at Colossus, but the more I look at her, the more my cock swells with all the blood thundering to it.

But maybe...

Maybe there is a way to really get her out of my system while carrying through with this charade. Maybe I’ve been going about this the wrong way, and all I need to do is give in to my lust and frustration before I get her out.

Harlow glances at me as if she’s still gauging my reaction, but I notice that her gaze keeps slipping down to my bare chest.

She wants to give in too.

It feels as if there’s gravel in my throat as I say, “You do make some good points.”

“Thank you.” She seems a little bit surprised that I’m agreeing. “So am I staying?”

“Yes, you’re staying.”

She smiles, winding me up once again.

“Truly, Grayson — I’ll do whatever needs to be done to win Jake Foreman over, but you have to promise me that you’re going to be serious about this too. I know we’ve been butting heads since we met, but we can do this.”

We’ve done a lot more than just butt heads, and the thought of doing it again gets me stiff.

I take a slow step toward her this time, and her chest rises with a sharp inhale. Desire speeds through me at a breakneck pace, drilling straight into my gut as I drink her in — her golden curls spilling over her shoulders, her blue eyes wide with the awareness of my sweaty, bare skin. I remember how soft her hair was, and now I can imagine it trailing over my body as she kisses her way down me — my chest, my stomach, my belly...my aching cock.

“So we have to pretend to be a couple. I guess that means we should start catching up on our act now.”

“Okay. I’ll wait for you to put something on, and then maybe we can meet in the study or...”

I take another step closer, and her words fade away.

“That wasn’t what I meant by catching up, Harlow.”

I see the excitement in her eyes, and that excites me even more in return. It sends a shock of heat into my groin, and suddenly I’m right back to where I was the night before — needing her so badly that I can’t form a coherent thought.

As she takes a step away from me, I reach for her, wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing her in. When her gaze goes dizzy, I know I have her. And when I pull her up to me and crush my lips against hers, she sinks into my demanding kiss just as easily as she did last night.

I ravish her as she presses her hands against my chest, tightening her fingers, imprinting me with heat. Then I tease her by sucking off of her bottom lip.

“I can’t stop thinking about your lips on my cock, baby,” I whisper against her mouth hoarsely. ‘Ever since last night, I haven’t thought about anything but that.”

I feel her gasp against me just before I kiss her again, drinking her in, thirsty for this woman who tempts me beyond anything I’ve felt before.