Fiance Next Door

“I don’t have it.”

“Hm. Also, she told me a few things.”

My eyebrows crease. “What things?”

Aster waves her hand. “Oh, they’re not important. Anyway, she seems to know you well. You must have been with her a long time.”

I narrow my eyes at her as I go around my desk. “You’re jealous.”

It’s not a question but a fact. I can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice. Besides, why else would she mention Renee?

“I’m not,” Aster vehemently denies it. “I have no reason to be.”

Because she still thinks our marriage isn’t real?

“I’m just concerned about her. She said she didn’t have feelings for you, and yet it didn’t seem that way.”

I stand right in front of her. “Well, our relationship was purely physical.”

“Funny,” Aster says. “Renee said the same thing.”

“Because it’s the truth. We were just people who had sex with each other.”

“And rules and occasional conversations,” she adds. “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

I frown as I step forward. “Are you saying that we’re the same?”

“Aren’t we? Although you and Renee might have had something more.”

So she is jealous.

“We’re married, Aster,” I point out.

“We agreed to put our names on a piece of paper,” she says. “That’s all.”

There we go again.

“We had sex,” I remind her.

Don’t tell me she’s forgotten that.

“Once. How many times did you and Renee have sex? Ten? Twenty? I bet it’s at least that many, because – ”

Chapter Fifteen ~ Show And Not Tell

Aster

I’m unable to finish speaking because Mason’s lips are suddenly on mine. His hand grips the hair at the back of my head. His blunt nails graze my scalp.

For a moment, I get a sense of deja vu. This is just like that first kiss we shared, when he cut me off in the middle of what I was saying and took me completely by surprise. This one is fiercer, though. When Mason pulls away. I see the fire in his eyes. I give him a puzzled look.

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

“Shutting you up,” he answers.

So it is just like that first kiss, huh?

“So I can show you that you have no reason to be jealous of Renee,” he adds.

I frown. “I told you I’m not – ”

Mason cuts me off with another kiss.

“For starters, you’re more beautiful than she is,” he tells me after his mouth leaves mine. His gaze draws me in. “And smarter. And more talented.”

“Like I said, I’m not – ”

He kisses the tip of my nose. “I never took her to any gala or introduced her to anyone.”

I guess not. “Because your relationship was purely physical. I know.”

“But not this physical.” Mason kisses my ear.

That’s not what Renee said.

“Yeah, right,” I say.

“We’ve only had sex once, remember?”

Mason grins. “Well, that’s about to change, because I’m going to have sex with you now.”

That devilish grin, combined with the lust in his eyes and the drop of his voice to a lower notch, makes a lump form in my throat and renders me momentarily speechless.

He touches my cheek. “Right here in my office. Guess what? That’s something Renee and I never did.”

Mason kisses my lips once more. This time, he gently tugs on my upper lip as he pulls away.

“Because I never wanted her as much as I want you.”

My eyebrows furrow. Really?

His lips crash down on mine again, and this time, I cup his face and kiss him back.

Mason is right. Enough talk.

I feel him grin against my lips. Then he wraps his arm around me and pulls me against him. My soft belly collides into his rigid abdomen.

He cradles my jaw as he gives me fuller, firmer kisses. I part my lips and his tongue slips in. As soon as it touches mine, a shiver goes down my spine. Heat swirls in my breasts and gushes to my stomach where it sends butterflies fluttering.

I wrap my hands around Mason’s neck as our tongues play, moving back and forth as we move our heads from side to side. His hand caresses my back and slides down to grab my ass. A moan vibrates in my throat.

Mason clutches the hem of my shirt. He breaks the kiss to pull it over my head. Before I catch my breath, his lips are on mine again. I pull back a little so I can have some room to undo the buttons of his shirt. My fingers frantically work to the racing beat of my heart.

One button. Two buttons. Three…

Finally, they’re off. Mason takes off his shirt. Then he moves his mouth to my neck as he reaches for the waistband of my cotton pants. I run my hands across his sculpted bare back.

He pulls my pants and my underwear off. Then he hoists me onto the edge of his desk. The glass feels cold and hard against my skin.