Page 51 of Savage Temptation

“You’re mad.”

“No—”

“I hear it in your voice.”

“Look, I’m just…I’m just…frustrated.”

“You are an amazing woman that has a lot to offer a man. I just don’t want to see you wasting your time with someone who doesn’t deserve you.”

“Just because the guys you’re with aren’t worth the drinks you buy them doesn’t mean that Atticus isn’t. “

“Tess—”

“Don’t Tess me. And stop trying to give me romantic advice. I’d rather not end up in another prison.”

“Fine. I hope you have fun.”

The line goes dead.

Her words of caution were not meant to wound. Yet I’m shaking, tears streaming down my face.

I’m not worried about Ashley being hurt or angry as we’d danced this dance before and will likely do so again. We tell each other things the other doesn’t want to hear, get all pouty, then say,‘I told you so’when we’re right.

And what she’s saying is perfectly logical, but this time, I know she’ll never be smug about it. There won’t be an‘I told you so’.When my world shatters, and it will, she’ll be at my door with a carton of Ben & Jerry’s, Cindy in tow, ready for a chick flick marathon.

Maybe I can extend my time with Atticus. Renegotiate. Ask for sixty days.

It would extend paradise, and I can’t say that Atticus would mind. But he’s a busy man, and while I’m putting the whole of my heart into this, into us, he sees the arrangement as convenient. An itch he finally gets to scratch. Something to pass the time while he’s busy negotiating multi-million dollar deals for his Playground.

Fuck—I’m an idiot.

Maybe when this ends, I can convince Atticus to leave me with a virtual reality set and a skin that looks like him, so I can continue to fool myself for all of eternity.

I mean, that’s notthatpathetic, right?

My phone buzzes with a text from Atticus.

Atticus:With as much as I’m rushing them, I might be free in an hour. I need to see you.

Oh,geez…

Tears flood my eyes because I was careless enough to fall hard for someone who’s been dubbed my multiple outlets:The World’s Number One Bachelor.It’s not that I ever thought I could tame him. I just believed I could outrun these feelings.

But I’m in this until the end. I still have twenty-four more days, and who knows, maybe I’ll see him as an ogre before we part.

I doubt it.

I enter into the text box to send him my reply.

Tessa:Can’t wait!

CHAPTER15

ATTICUS

Note to Self:Do not ever, under any circumstance, announce a deal without the full terms solidified.

One fucking signature was all they were on the hook for. I grew lax when I should have had my lawyers on it, hounding them each day for the return of the contract.