The Pleasure Contract, Caitlin Crews [epub e ink reader txt] 📗

“You’d better come in, I guess,” she said as she shoved the door open with her shoulder, which was not exactly the profession of joy and delight he’d imagined repeatedly over the course of this long week without her.

He followed her as she led him up three sets of stairs to that minuscule apartment he remembered too well. It had gotten no bigger since he’d last seen it.

Inside, she flicked on the lights. She tossed her bag on the counter that separated the tiny kitchen from the tiny living room, kicked off her shoes, and only then turned to face him. With her arms crossed and a look on her face that did not make that wire of hope inside him gleam.

Lachlan stayed where he was, with his back almost against the door, because he was entirely too tense. And he thought that if he moved any closer to her, he’d take it upon himself to remind her just why it was they were perfect for each other.

Over and over again.

Which he was guessing she would not welcome in her current mood.

“You look murderous,” she pointed out. “Is that how this is going to go?”

“I’m not my parents,” he managed to bite out.

She had the grace to look shamed by that. “That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry.”

But that didn’t make it any better. “You can’t really believe that I go around telling people I love them. Maybe you do believe that, but I don’t. I’ve never said that to a woman before in my life.”

Her smile was almost...bland, and he knew that meant she was getting ready to strike. “I understand that when you say things like that, Lachlan, it’s meant as a very great compliment. And I appreciate that, I do. But I’m not particularly interested in winning the grand prize here.”

Somehow, as he’d driven back down from Vermont with his sister’s words in his head, and spent this whole week imagining how this would go, it had never been...this.

“Bristol—”

“You don’t love me,” she said, very distinctly, and there was nothing bland about her now. “You can’t. We’ve never really been together, have we? You hired me and it’s not the same thing. Which you should know, because that’s why you do it.”

“That might be how it started, but it’s not where we are now.”

“Maybe it’s not where you are now.” She shook her head. “But then, you’re not the one who’s had a role to play this whole time.”

He didn’t like that. Especially when he’d been so sure she was the one who hadn’t been acting at all. He ran a hand over his face and tried to get his bearings. “Where were you this past week?”

Her eyes narrowed. “In Ohio. With my parents, not that it’s any of your business. Note that I’m not asking what you were up to.”

“You could. I went up to my sister’s place in Vermont, then came back to the city. To wait for you.”

“I didn’t ask, Lachlan.” And he could hear the edge in her voice. The way it raked over him. “Because that exceeds the limits of our arrangement, remember? It’s not supposed to be personal.”

“Then let’s change it.”

“You’re proving my point.”

It would take him two steps, maybe three, to cross the room and get his hands on her, but he didn’t do it. Because her fists were on her hips, her eyes were blazing, and even though he had the presence of mind to understand that this was not going well for him, he couldn’t help but find this version of Bristol even more beautiful. He’d never seen it before.

And as he thought that, he realized he’d never heard her voice raised before, either. Surely he shouldn’t find that...exhilarating.

Confusing, maybe, but he couldn’t deny that underneath the uncertainty there was nothing but adrenaline.

And that same need that had gripped him from the first moment he’d seen her on that video.

“I don’t understand your point,” he said when he was sure he could sound far more calm and rational than he felt. “Why is it so impossible that I might have fallen in love with you? I liked you from the start. It’s why I—”

“Hired me? Yes, I know.” She looked around the small space as if she was trying to conjure up an answer from the walls. “And I took your offer because I had no idea what else to do with myself.”

He tamped down on his own temper. “I’m not often a last resort. I’ll admit, I almost enjoy the novelty.”

“I’m an academic, not an escort,” Bristol shot back at him. “Though I have a lot more respect for escorts than I did before. I don’t know how they do it because I’m not built for it.”

“The flattery might kill me.”

“Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with what you do or the women you do it with. I’m not sorry I tried it.” She blew out a breath. “But it’s obviously not where my talents lie.”

“Then don’t do it anymore,” Lachlan gritted out. “This is a perfect opportunity to shift into something else.”

“You mean renegotiate?” But she was shaking her head as she asked that question, which he supposed was an answer. If not the one he wanted. “I mean, congratulations, Lachlan. You’re not bored for once in one of these relationships. The relationships you make sure can only and ever be boring, according to your very strict rules.”

“They were boring because they weren’t you.”

Again, she shook her head, something a little too angry to be pity on her face. But it was close enough to sting.

“If it wasn’t me, it would eventually be someone else,” Bristol said. Dismissively. “Because you’re not actually in love. How could you be? You make all the rules. You have staff to make sure there’s always distance between you and the woman currently playing the part of your girlfriend. All the conversations we have are about you. All the sex we have is about you.”

That blow landed. Hard.

“You might