“When do we get to nap?” she asks as she sits up on the bed.
“After we call a moving company,” I say as I begin the hunt for my boxers.
I know I had them on when I came into this room last night, but after that I have no clue what happened to them.
“A what?” she asks, confused.
“A moving company. I don’t think either of our cars have enough space to move you in with me quickly,” I say as I spot my boxers and one of my socks right next to it.
“Are you serious?”
Turning to face her, I nod my head. “Zoe, I’m absolutely serious. I told you, you and my child will be taken care of. Not to mention, I want you near me every single waking moment.”
Eyes wide, she says, “I didn’t think of…”
“Of what, baby?”
“I don’t know… I’ve been so caught up in the moment, I didn’t think of the reality,” she says quietly.
Reaching out to her, I gather her up into my lap and hold her tightly to me.
“Zoe, do you have any real attachment to this place?” I ask seriously.
“No… not really… Bella is my only attachment here.”
“Good, she’s my attachment too. So it’s settled, you’re both moving in with me.”
Easing her onto her feet, I stand with her and let my hands run down her back before I grab her magnificent ass. “Have a good shower. I’ll go see what I can whip up for breakfast.”
Nodding her head as if she’s in a bit of daze, she wanders out of the bedroom after I give her little slap to her ass.
Seventeen
Zoe
With his hand on the small of my back, Bry guides me into the elevator that will take us up to the SpinToLove.com office. Monday came too quickly, and as the elevator doors slide to a close behind us, so has the reality of my situation.
Everything seems to slam into me at once. The entire weekend. What I’ve agreed to. The plans we’ve made. Right now, at this very moment, there’s a crew of men packing up my apartment to move me into his apartment.
What the fuck am I doing?
Phone gripped in one hand and coffee gripped in the other, my hands start to tremble.
Bry says my name, his voice thick with concern. “Zoe?”
I shake my head back and forth, trying to free myself of the panic clawing at my chest. The elevator may be lifting us up, but I feel as if I’m crashing down.
Bry repeats my name more firmly, and when I don’t respond he hits the stop button. Our ascent comes to a shaky halt, a bell rings, and then Bry is pinning me against the wall of the elevator.
“Zoe, look at me,” he demands.
I tip my head back, eyes landing on his face as he gently pries my coffee cup out of my hand.
“What’s wrong?”
Here, in the cage of his arms, I feel safe, and some of the panic begins to ebb away. But I know as soon as we separate, as soon as I don’t have the warm comfort of his presence, reality will come roaring back in again.
It’s like I’ve been drunk on sex all weekend and I’m finally starting to sober up.
“I don’t know if I can—” I start to answer him only to be cut off by a gruff, crackling voice coming through the speaker.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yes,” Bry responds irritably. “We just need a few minutes.”
“Alright, sir,” the crackling voice says, then Bry’s full attention is on me again.
“You don’t know if you can what?” he presses, his eyes boring into me.
There’s a fierceness there, but it’s coating over a layer of vulnerability I’ve come to recognize.
Shame simmers inside me, lighting my cheeks up with heat.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I admit.
At this moment I feel like both a coward and a liar.
I accepted his preposterous offer. I agreed to move in with him. I even encouraged him to get me pregnant. In the heat of the moment, I was convinced it was the right thing to do.
But now that we’re rejoining the real world, I’m having second thoughts.
So many things could go wrong… I’m putting myself in a position where I have to rely completely on him. We don’t even know each other. We’re basically two strangers giving in to our lust.
Does he even want a relationship?
Fuck, I never thought to ask until now.
All I know is that he wants to own me, he wants me to move in with him, and wants me to have his child…
How long can I go on knowing I’m something he’s bought?
Right now, I’m shiny and new… But in his eyes, am I disposable? Something he can throw away when he’s done playing with me? What if he tires of me? What if he eventually comes to resent me because, like me, he got caught up in the heat of the moment?