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“Did I get laid? No. I drank too much and made an ass of myself on the dance floor, but no getting tail for this guy.”

“So is that a no to swimming?” I ask, pleased he wasn’t with a woman or women.

When Granger was here, we ran a check of Maddox and the women and men he surrounds himself with.

For as wealthy and powerful as he is, he doesn’t have many male friends. I find that to be interesting. Maddox seems like a man’s man. I didn’t find it the least interesting that he is into threesomes. Or that the women think it’s something to be proud of posting on social media scandalous pictures of them with the playboy billionaire.

“Does a shower count?” His blue-green eyes twinkle.

“You know it doesn’t.”

He stretches his long legs in front of him and stares at the view with his hands tented over his mouth. “What made last night different from the last time we went for a swim?”

“Do you have to ask?” I also stare at the view, grateful the city lights aren’t showing the obvious, that I’m blushing up to my hairline. It’s the downfall of having pale skin.

“Enlighten me, Blaise. And use the dirty words. They turn me on when you say them.”

He’s blunt, holding nothing back. I give it to him in kind.

“You touching me through the satin. Your mouth on my pussy through the silk. You getting me off with your tongue and your mouth, licking up my slit. Sucking on my clit. Me coming hard on your face.”

He groans. Utters a husky, “Fuuucck. You are hot. Do you, baby, want to get off again?”

I do, but can I keep what’s happening between us strictly physical? I feel safe with Maddox. He melts my panties with looks alone. If I can do this, I could get over my revulsion of skin on skin. I could someday have a “normal” relationship.

“No falling for one another? No asking for more? What we have will be a friends-with-benefits arrangement only, right?”

“Right.”

No hesitation. No questions. Just one word from him, said with conviction.

“I would like for you to touch me again, but do you mind if we have a do-over? Get to know one another better before we move at lightning speed?”

“Forget how I made you come on my face? How you licked your pussy juices off the glove? How sexy you are whimpering and moaning into my mouth with every stroke from my tongue?”

“Yes,” I squeak, squeezing my thighs together.

“I won’t forget anytime soon, Blaise. And what you want, I’ll give, baby. You control the pace. Are we good?”

More than good. This is my chance to give Maddox the truth.

“There’s something I should tell you. With what I tell, you might decide you would rather cut your ties now, and I’ll gladly agree to annulling the marriage.”

Tucking my leg under me, I sit straight in the armchair, finding comfort in the cool satin wrapped around my body.

“The morning of my grandfather’s death, Rylan and his security team found a note taped on my bedroom window from who we assume is my kidnapper. That same morning, my great-uncle tells me I’m written out of my grandfather’s will. I”—I puff out a breath, missing my grandfather dearly—“I think my kidnapper has inside knowledge of my grandfather’s plan of leaving me without protection and security.”

“The private estate in Montana. The bodyguards. Living life away from the world until you die if you wanted to. That’s what his billions would have given you.”

“Yes.”

“Then why not sell me the car for an inflated price? I would have paid whatever price you asked for.”

“I thought of that, but the money doesn’t take care of the other issue—time and security. Marriage to you buys me time for my cousins and my team to find my kidnapper. Marriage to you also gives me access to your secured penthouse and security team.”

I don’t tell him his vigilante act has the power to make my kidnapper have second thoughts about hurting me; otherwise, Maddox will rain down hell on him.

“Being out of the limelight also gives me time to figure out how I can make money to survive on my own.”