Page 52

Twenty-six
Henley
Okay. That wasn’t something I’d planned on.The rest of it—yes.
I planned it.
I planned to arrive early.
I went to Gilroy’s last night, knowing he would be there.
When I was certain he didn’t recognize me, I offered him something I knew he wouldn’t pass up. Couldn’t say no to.
Anonymous sex with a total stranger.
But I never planned to ask for more. And I for sure never intended to offer to pay for it. Last night was supposed to be a one-off. Two birds with one stone. I’m a twenty-five-year-old virgin who’s about to marry her gay best friend so he won’t lose his trust fund.
Well, at least I was.
After last night, I’m not sure what I am anymore.
“What did you say?” He says it quietly, brow lowered over green eyes that look sharp enough to cut.
“I—” I feel my fingers tighten around my purse, my feet dig into the pavement through the soles of my shoes. “I would… pay you.”
“You want to pay me money to fuck you?” He says slowly, one corner of his mouth kicked higher than the other in a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“That’s a crude way to put it, but yes.” I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “That is what I’m proposing.”
“How many times we talkin’ here?” He crosses his arms over his chest and tilts his chin. “Once? Twice—do I get paid by the hour or the orgasm?”
He’s angry. Being sarcastic. I touched a sore spot. But I push ahead with my spontaneous proposal anyway because at least he’s listening. At least he seems to have forgotten he was in the middle of kicking me out. “I’m serving a 10-week internship with the Boston City Library. I’d like to secure an ongoing arrangement.”
“Secure an ongoing arrangement?” He smirks at me, dropping his arms to cross the distance between us. “That doesn’t answer my question, does it, Daisy?” He stops in front of me, so close and so beautiful I can feel my heart stall in my chest. He leans in close I can smell him—axle grease and leather—feel the soft rasp of his unshaven jaw slide against my cheek as he whispers in my ear. “How many times do you want me to fuck you?”
I think about last night. The way he ordered me around. Jerked my skirt up over my hips. Shredded the lace of my panties like he couldn’t be bothered with the civility of simply moving them to the side.
“I don’t—” I shake my head, mouth suddenly dry. “I would be willing to allow you to set the terms of our agreement.”
“Is that so?” He pulls back just enough to nail me with a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Fair warning—you leave that shit to me, you’re gonna go back to New York, bankrupt and bow-legged. You ready for that, Daisy?”
Oh, god.
Some distant part of me is warning me to get out.
Get out now.
I got what I wanted. I scratched lose virginity to Conner Gilroy off my bucket list. Those fifteen minutes are enough to last me the rest of my life. Certainly, the next five years. But I stay where I am. I stand my ground. Because I’m greedy. Now that I’ve had him, I want more. As much as he’ll give me. Any way I can have him. For as long as I’m able.
“Yes.”
He smirks again, his face calling me a liar. “What would your fiancé have to say about the fact that you’re playing Pretty Woman with some dirty mechanic in Boston?”
“Nothing. He knows exactly where I am,” I tell him, the first full truth I’ve uttered since I stepped off the train at Boston Station. “And exactly what I came here to do.”