“Fulfilling the contract,” I said as I slipped two fingers inside her and stroked more intensely. She writhed against my hand as I massaged the center of her pleasure with my thumb.
“Dax, Dax! Oh God,” she cried as I held her wrists and pushed her closer and closer to the edge. I felt her body begin to tense and then she tightened around my fingers and let out a loud cry as she thrust her hips up and I pushed my fingers deeper as she climaxed on them. I could feel the rolling waves of orgasm pulsing inside her as she moaned and writhed under my hand. I held steady as she descended from the height of orgasm and waited until she turned and opened her eyes before I let go of her wrists and pulled my hand out of her panties.
“Oh my God, what was that?” she exhaled.
“If I have to explain it to you, it would probably lose something in the translation,” I grinned as I propped myself up on my elbow.
“Very funny, smart ass,” she laughed as she looked up at me. Her face was pink and sweaty, her hair was spread out on the duvet in a tangled mess, and the bottom half of her dress had been reduced to a wrinkled bit of fabric pushed up around her waist. She looked beautiful and I wanted her.
“Feeling better now?” I asked as I pushed myself up off of the bed and straightened my shirt.
“Wait, aren’t we going to…” she trailed off.
“No, I agreed to sex with you once a week,” I said smiling warmly. “The contract didn’t specify how that would happen or exactly who would do what to whom.”
“But you…” she said stopping short.
“I’m good,” I said turning and heading toward the door. “I’m glad we got this all straightened out. Thank you for having dinner with me, Payton.”
“Fuck you, Connor,” she shot back as I exited the room closing the door behind me.
Payton Halas Lasky might have won the battle, but she had no idea how committed I was to winning the war.
Chapter Twenty
Payton
I woke up the next morning as the sun rose over the lake, shining through the large windows. I smiled as I stretched out between the soft sheets and felt the warmth of the sun’s rays on my face — and then the memories of the night before came flooding in and I felt a wave of humiliation and shame wash over me.
Dax approached the sexual part of the contract as if it was a favor. He’d given me an enormous amount of pleasure, but after he’d left my room, I’d felt empty. I’d rolled the dice with the inclusion of sex in the contract thinking that it would be something I could control. I assumed that Dax would chase after me the way men usually did, a
nd that I’d take what I wanted, when I wanted it. I hadn’t anticipated this change up, and the fact that Dax now clearly held the upper hand was more than a little uncomfortable. If I was honest, it was maddening.
I got out of bed, pulled on a robe over my nightgown, and padded down the hall to the kitchen to try to find a cup of coffee and some breakfast before I formulated my plan for the day. I found Dax, dressed and ready for the office, standing at the counter, waiting for the coffee pot to finish brewing. There was a distinct chill in the kitchen, and I didn’t feel the need to do anything to elevate the temperature.
“Good morning,” he said, sounding somewhat surprised to see me.
“Morning,” I replied as I opened the fridge and surveyed the contents, trying to decide what I wanted for breakfast.
“If you’re hungry, I can whip us up some eggs and sausage,” he offered as he pulled the pot from the machine and filled his mug.
“I don’t usually eat a big breakfast,” I said stubbornly, refusing his olive branch. “Coffee and toast is fine.”
“There’s bread in the box next to the stove,” he offered. “And I think there are a couple of kinds of jam in the fridge. If you have a preference, leave a note and someone will pick it up this afternoon.”
“I’m sure what you have is just fine,” I said, closing the fridge and looking up to find Dax standing on the other side of the door holding out a mug full of steaming coffee. I accepted it, nodding instead of speaking before turning and walking out to the living room.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured as he began fixing his breakfast. Having to face him before I had time to prepare myself made me feel even more humiliated and angry.
I wanted him to apologize for the way he’d treated me, but I knew from the smug look on his face that I wasn’t going to get what I wanted. Now I felt trapped between the contractual demands I’d made for sex, and the realization that Dax wasn’t going to give in to my demands the way I’d anticipated.
As I thought more about it, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted or how I envisioned what I’d bargained for. I took my coffee into the living room and sunk down on the sofa staring out the window at the vastness of the lake as I tried to make sense of things.
The more I thought about it, the closer I came to the truth. When I finally hit on it, I felt my face burn with shame as I realized I’d expected Dax Connor to fall head over heels for me while I kept him at a safe distance.
Now I realized he wasn’t going to fall, but I had no idea how I was going to back out of the part of the contract I’d so stubbornly negotiated.
“Son of a bitch!” I swore as I took a big sip of the hot liquid in my cup and felt it burn my tongue. Angry at everything, but mostly at myself, I muttered, “Damn you, Dax Connor!”