NINETEEN
DYLAN
The look on her face when she finally let loose and exploded in my palm was worth every bit of extra effort I put in. She was so raw with her pleasure, clawing at me and begging me to keep going.
It was beyond fucking beautiful.
The thing was, I wasn’t getting Gwyn off for Mitchell. I wasn’t pleasuring her for any other reason than I couldn’t take it anymore, and I needed to feel her on some part of my body. After the dressing room, when I’d totally lost control of myself, I decided it was no longer about the money or Mitchell’s happiness. It was about showing Gwyn what her body was capable of and getting something for myself just once.
I knew it was wrong to want to keep her, but I couldn’t help myself. Gwyn was no longer Mitchell’s fiancée in my mind. In my mind, she was all mine.
Even her orgasm was mine, and as I sucked her release from my fingertips and tasted her sweetness, I knew I was no longer in this for any other reason than the fact that I was falling hard for Gwyneth Petrova.
I wasn’t sure what to do with that bit of information. I hadn’t wanted a woman for my own since the epic heartbreak that left me jaded and able to crush women beneath me.
With Gwyn, it was different. I didn’t think of what we did as cheating. She wasn’t in a relationship with Mitchell. He was already long gone.
She was good.
She was selfless and kind.
She was all the things I had ever wanted to have in my life and so much more wrapped in the perfect beautiful package.
I had started this entire thing for a paycheck, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I was only continuing it because I couldn’t stay away from her.
The thought of Mitchell walking in and seeing her and me together sickened me. It cheapened what I felt we had, which was so much more than I’d ever had with any other woman in my life.
It was time I had a talk with Mitchell.
It was time I walked away from Gwyn, so I could go back into her life under the right circumstances.
“Are you okay?” I asked once her body was no longer shaking.
She nodded, a shy smile lingering on her thoroughly kissed lips.
Reaching up, she covered her lips with her fingers and the engagement ring on her finger taunted me. Such things had never bothered me before, but for some reason, I wanted to slip the diamond off her finger and toss it away from us.
“Good,” I replied. “I know I should apologize for what just happened, but I’m not going to, and you shouldn’t feel bad either. Okay?”
I stepped away from her, giving her enough space to straighten her dress.
I hadn’t meant for that to happen. Mitchell had invited me to the party, but after what happened in the dressing room with her and then watching her all night as she glided around the party socializing with everyone there, I decided I could no longer keep my hands to myself.
Then I saw her in that elevator, looking at me with so much desire and want, and I knew. I just fucking knew it was time I tasted her.
“I’m not sorry,” she said, her voice broken and whispered.
I moved closer to her, cupping her cheek with my palm and feeling a tenderness toward her that I hadn’t felt toward a woman in many years. “I’ll never be sorry.”
And I wouldn’t.
Not ever.
But I knew in the back of my mind that shit wasn’t going to be okay. I needed to come clean; otherwise, I would lose her forever. Lies never paid the price for happiness, and I was living the biggest fucking lie known to man.
“I need to tell you something, Gwyn,” I said, sounding unsure of myself for the first time since the moment I found my ex cheating on me.
She covered my hand with hers, and her touch soothed old scars, giving me the strength I needed to push forward.
“You can tell me anything,” she said, and I was sure she meant it, but I knew the second I said the words, the possibility of her leaving me at that moment and never seeing me again was real.
I wasn’t sure I could handle that.
It hadn’t been a long while, but already I was strangely attached to Gwyn. It was something I had never experienced before.
“I’m not the person you think I am.” The words rushed from my lips.
Her brows pulled in confused. “You’re not?”
I shook my head. “I’m not.”
“Then who are you?” She grinned as if we were playing a sexy game, and I knew once I told her the truth, that grin would disappear almost immediately.
I knew I was making the right decision. Sure, I was giving up a lot of money by coming clean with her, but I was also hopefully gaining Gwyn, and she was worth so much more to me.
The only problem was, I had no idea where to start.
Did I just blurt it out?
Or did I start from the beginning?
I opened my mouth, and the words came out.
“My ex-girlfriend, she fucked me up really badly. It put me in a dark place.”
Her lips turned down into a sexy frown, and she cupped my face, smoothing her thumb over my cheek.
“I’m sorry. How long ago did it happen?”
“It was a long time ago, but it changed me. I’m not the man I used to be.”
“That’s okay,” she said, smiling up at me. “I think I like the man you are now.”
Her words left a sick feeling in my stomach and a heaviness in my heart.
“No. You don’t understand. I …”
But before I could finish and spill the beans, Mitchell was getting off the elevator beside us, and we jumped apart like two teenagers getting caught by their parents.
Why hadn’t I stayed still?
Why hadn’t I just let him catch us, so he would leave Gwyn to be mine?
That made more sense than telling her the truth.
At least then she would be free to start something with me. We could start fresh, and she would never have to know the real reason I came into her life.
“Hey, everything okay here?” Mitchell asked, his shoulders stiff, and his eyes drilling into mine.
He had seen me pull away from her, and I was sure he was wondering why I did that, as well.
“Everything is perfect. I was just coming back from Daddy’s office, and Dylan here was lost.” She spun the lie so effortlessly that I almost didn’t recognize her at that moment.
I nodded at her words, agreeing that what she had said was the truth.
“And now I’m going to get going,” I said, suddenly feeling like I needed to get out of the building and to somewhere quiet to think.
The night had been long and filled with excitement. I was sort of glad Mitchell had interrupted us and stopped me from making a huge mistake. I didn’t need to make any quick decisions like that. If I would keep Gwyn, I had to do it the right way.
It was time I went to the most important man in her life and came clean about who I was. It was time Mr. Petrova knew the kind of man he was letting his daughter marry. It was time he was aware of the snake working in his company. And once the smoke cleared and Gwyneth was free of Mitchell, I’d swoop in and make her mine.
All mine.