Page 118 of Morally Black Betrothal

There wasn’t really a point, I knew. It’s not like my underwear was going to be photographed at galas or recorded inPage Six, and it was the one thing Brendan hadn’t suggested we stop for.

But part of me wanted to see what someone who bought these clothes would wear underneath them. No doubt Brendan Black was used to taking these garments off the kinds of women who could afford them. What did he see when he did?

I doubted it was panties from Target.

“As I’m sure you know, the house just started producing lingerie,” the clerk informed me. “We have some of the new pieces for select customers. Follow me.”

He led me to the far end of the store, where there was a bare, rococo-style table set up for samples. He pulled out a drawer, then set pieces of black lingerie for me to look at on the tabletop.

A few bras, some panties of different shapes. Even a matching garter belt with stockings. All constructed of lace so fine I could see through it.

If I had learned anything today, it was that true luxury wasn’t loud—it was in the details. Luxe fabrics, perfect fits, truecraftsmanship. Each piece was a work of art sewn in an atelier somewhere in Europe, designed to last a lifetime if it was cared for properly, not just a few months before it would fall apart.

“She’ll take all of them.”

Brendan appeared behind me. His hand slipped around my waist, and he pulled me back to nuzzle my neck.

Something inside me sagged with relief at the renewed contact.

“Are you trying to torture me right now?”

I sucked in a breath as he pressed a kiss under my ear. Were there more people filming us right now? I was too absorbed in his touch to look around and see.

“Wrap them up,” Brendan ordered the clerk. “Now.”

“Right away, sir.” The clerk was completely unfazed, as if Brendan hadn’t just chosen intimate underthings for me. “I’ll add them to your bill.”

“Good. You can try those on at home, angel. Just for me.”

My skin prickled at the idea of doing just that. Maybe in the bedroom I hadn’t seen but still imagined Brendan relaxing in every night. It was all too easy to see the fire in his eyes as I walked through the door, modeling for him. Enjoying his regard. Knowing he thought I was perfect, if just for him. I’d never been much of a flirt, never the sex kitten type, but even the idea of undoing Brendan Black made me want to Google “How to do a striptease.”

It was confidence. Yesterday, I’d felt like nothing, and today, for the last several hours, he’d made me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. It might have been an act, but it still had the same effect.

He made me feel like I could do anything.

And that was a dangerous thing indeed.

Stop it, I told myself as he took my hand and led me back to the front of the store so he could pay.

It’s a business arrangement, I chanted mentally, despite the fact that fingers toyed with mine while he signed the bill.

He. Doesn’t. Want. You,I insisted when he tucked me under his shoulder and rubbed my hip like I belonged to him.

Okay, maybe that last one wasn’t completely true. He wanted to sleep with me. He’d been quite direct about wanting to mix business with pleasure.

And why shouldn’t you?a voice that sounded suspiciously like my sister’s demanded in the back of my mind.He’s hot. You’re hot. And it’s been how long since you got laid? What’s the problem if you’re two consenting adults?

The problem, I had to remind myself, was that I didn’t have casual sex, and definitely never with my boss. Once my body went to those vulnerable spaces, my mind inevitably followed. The more intense the sexual attraction, the more intense my heart tended to get too. And based on my body’s response to Brendan Black, there was no way I’d be able to keep things compartmentalized when it came to him.

I was already struggling as it was. He was giving me ten million dollars to be a professional. I couldn’t afford to screw this up by falling for a man who had no intention of loving me back.

Brendan’s phone rang, and he stepped away again while the clerk finished wrapping up my new things.

“Mr. Black seems to be very fond of you,” he said once Brendan was out of earshot.

“I’m very fond of him as well,” I replied, somewhat stiffly.

Then I decided on something else. At every store, Brendan had casually name-dropped Blackguard to make sure the clerks always knew their place, but my name hadn’t come up once.