Page 52 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

I watched Rory's chest rise and fall with each breath. I bit my lip. This wasn't how I was supposed to be feeling. It was supposed to just be a one night stand! I had been so focused on getting him to want me that I never really thought about how I'd feel if it actually happened.

Emily had warned me that I couldn't handle this.

And she was right. She was always right.

Why did I never listen to her advice? Sex had never just been sex to me.

It was sensual and intimate and romantic.

It was all those things with Rory too. No.

It was better. He knew my body better than I did myself.

He had made me feel things I had never felt before.

Rory moaned in his sleep and turned toward me in the bed.

The smell of cinnamon mixed with his sweat was the most intoxicating aroma I had ever smelled in my life.

A part of me wanted to flee his room so I wouldn't have to look at him anymore.

But something was holding me back. If this really was the only time I'd ever be with him, I wanted to revel in it.

I wanted to remember the curve of his biceps and how soft his skin was and how his muscles felt pressed against me. Just the thought made me shudder.

I reached out and lightly touched the scruff along his jaw line. How long would one night stands be all he wanted? He'd eventually want more. Marriage, children, the big picture? He had to. I definitely wouldn't mind waking up to his beautiful face every morning.

I shook my head. What am I doing? Staying here in this moment was just going to make living with him harder. All he wanted was sex. He couldn't have made that any more clear. It didn't matter how I felt. I forced myself to quietly climb out of his bed.

I was able to find my shoes in the dark, but I had no idea where my thong and bra were. It didn't matter. I just needed to get out of there. I quickly went into the hallway and closed the door behind me.

***

The sounds of pots and pans banging woke me up. I slowly sat up and hugged my knees into my chest. I couldn't go out there and see him. It didn't matter what I tried to tell myself. I liked him and I wanted it to be more. But he was a player. There was nothing I could do to change that.

I slowly got out of bed and pulled on my silk robe. Now I had to act like everything was back to normal, even though it wasn't. I took a deep breath and walked out to the kitchen.

Rory had his back turned to me. He was wearing a pair of boxer briefs and cooking something at the stove. I wanted to go up behind him and wrap my arms around him. Instead I sat down at the counter.

"Hey!" I said. My voice sounded weird and high pitched.

Rory turned his head. "Good morning," he said with a smile and went back to cooking. He started whistling.

I put my elbow on the counter and rested my chin in my hand. "You seem awfully cheery this morning."

He ignored my comment and placed some eggs and toast on two plates and walked over to me. He placed one plate in front of me and sat down beside me. "Yeah, well." He shrugged. "Does great sex not put you in a good mood?"

I could feel my face blushing. "Great sex?"

He leaned toward me slightly. "Yeah, great sex."

"You're awfully cocky."

"Well you should have heard yourself screaming my name." He raised his eyebrow. His hazel eyes seemed to bore into mine.

I gulped and looked down at my plate. "I doubt you really thought it was great." I pushed the eggs around with my fork.

"What do you mean?"

For some reason I wanted to cry. I didn't want to flirt with him at breakfast like last night meant nothing.

I couldn't joke around about sex like he could.

It meant more to me than that. "Thanks for breakfast, Rory.

I'm going to eat in my room. I have a lot of work to do.

" The stool squeaked against the floor as I stood up.

"Keira." He grabbed my wrist. "I meant what I said. I had a lot of fun last night."

"Okay."

"Tell me what you meant." He rubbed his thumb against the inside of my wrist.

I wanted him to hold me like this forever. I looked up at him. "I thought you didn't sleep with girls you weren't attracted to."

"I never said I wasn't attracted to you, Keira."

"Yes you did. At your restaurant."

Rory dropped my hand and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh. Right. I actually just said that so that you'd let me live here."

My wrist tingled where he had touched me. "You lied to me?"

Rory laughed. "Like you haven't lied to me."

"I've never lied to you."

"Seriously?"

I sat back down in my stool. Maybe honesty was the best approach here. "Fine. I never wanted that pact, Rory. I only agreed because I was nervous. And I ramble when I'm nervous. You're so handsome." I held my breath. It was all out there now.

He laughed. "It's okay. I knew."

"Was it really that obvious?"

"When you started using all my advice on me, yeah. You made it pretty obvious. And before that, I had my suspicions. Like when you walked in on me in the bathroom."

I laughed. "That was an accident!"

He gave me his panty dropping smile.

"Rory, it was."

"Well, anyway," he said as he stood up. "It's good we got that out of our systems. Now we really can just be friends." He lightly slapped me on the back as he put his slice of toast in his mouth and walked back to his bedroom.

What?!

***

I wiped under my eyes with the back of my hand and pressed the number for Emily's apartment. The door buzzed open. I grabbed it and slowly made my way up the stairs.

As soon as Emily opened her door, her face fell. "Keira?" She stepped to the side so I could walk in.

"Is that the food?" Emily's husband, Jim, said as he walked into the room. "Oh, hey, Keira. Um, I'm just going to..." he pointed to something and left the room. He must have seen my face.

"What the hell did he do to you?" Emily sat down on the couch.

"He didn't do anything," I said as I took a seat next to her. "Last night was perfect. He's so perfect."

"No one's perfect, Keira."

"He is. He's everything I've been looking for."

"You always do this."

"Do what?"

"Build people up. He's not perfect. He's a player. He's probably slept with a hundred women. That's disgusting. You don't want to be with a guy like that."

I felt sick to my stomach. "I do." I dropped my voice so Jim wouldn't be able to hear me. "It was the best sex I've ever had."

"Well it should have been. He's had enough practice."

"Emily."

"Keira! You knew you could never do a one night stand. Why the hell did you sleep with him?"

"I couldn't help it. He's just so..."

"Womanizing?"

"No. Sexy."

"Okay, so you had a great night. Maybe you should just talk to him about it."

I started to cry again. What the hell is wrong with me? "I did. I told him I never wanted that stupid roommate pact. I even told him I thought he was really handsome."

"And?"

"He said he was glad we got it out of our systems. And that now we could really just be friends."

"Ouch."

"Yeah." I wiped away my tears again. "How am I supposed to live with him now? I'm going to have to listen to him having sex with other women every night. I can't do this!"

"I realize that this is not the right time to do this, but..."

"Don't you dare say it, Emily." I tried to pout but her facial expression made me laugh. She always did this.

"I can't resist." She smiled. "I told you so."

I laughed and tossed a pillow at her. "I really hate you sometimes."

There was a loud buzz, signaling that someone was downstairs waiting to be let in. Jim walked back into the room and pressed the button to let them into the building.

"Stay for lunch," Emily said and stood up. She grabbed three plates and began to set the table. "I'll be right back." She disappeared into the bathroom.

As soon as Emily closed the door, Jim walked over to me. "Why don't you just make him want you again?" he said in a low voice.

"Oh, geez, you were listening to us?" I asked. Jim had witnessed me being a complete mess more times than I wanted to remember. But he had never offered me advice before.

"Super thin walls." He shrugged.

I looked at the bathroom door. "Emily would surely tell me that is terrible advice."

"Yeah, well Emily's not a guy."

True. "So you mean, like, try to seduce him?"

"Try to turn the tables. Make him want you instead of the other way around."

"But that involves pretending like I don't like him."

"Guys like the chase. I don't know what else to tell you."

Emily came out of the bathroom and grabbed some glasses out of the cupboard. "What do you want to drink, Keira?

"Do you even have to ask?"

She laughed. "I'll open a bottle of wine."