:)

Heeeey

Chapter 19

"So," he starts after messing around on his phone. Masen sits down next to me, the mattress dipping under his weight. His cologne invades every one of my senses.

I almost want to take a deeper breath to savor it. But I don't.

"I think it's about time you tell me about this fire of yours. What the hell are you up to, because when you first mentioned it, your eyes looked like they'd come alive again."

My heart thumps, and thumps nauseatingly loud inside my head.

"I…" I sigh, shifting on the bed. All my attention is going to my hands, glaring as my eyes meet the wedding set that's been etched into my ring finger.

"Yes?" Masen's voice is a low rumble.

"I w—wanted to fight fire with fire…give him a taste of his own medicine." I almost choke on the words. They leave a bitter aftertaste on my tongue. I can't believe I'm saying this out loud.

"You want to have an affair?" Masen asks softly. "A public affair?"

I watch him blink a few times before I talk again, trying to regain focus.

"No, not like that." I shake my head, but Masen just looks more confused. Until he doesn't. I watch him put the pieces of the puzzle together. When he does, jade eyes widen, and his mouth drops open, an adorable and uncharacteristic noise leaving his lips. I've rendered him speechless.

"You…" he starts. "Y—you want to make a tape." His statement hits the nail right on the head.

The heat in my cheeks gives him all the answers he needs. I can hear Masen take in a breath but I refuse to look at him. I feel too delusional to face him.

The silence is deafening. It seems like the party in the next room has ended, too. At least that nauseating display of Alistair being a shit husband has stopped.

"It would be a fake tape," I continue. "You know…suggestive?" I've seen enough movies and browsed enough photographers' portfolios to realize that it's possible to imply full nudity and fake intimacy in just a few shots.

"What exactly would that give you?" Masen asks, frowning. "A death threat? Some more bruises?" When he arches a brow and inspects my wrist, moving away my bracelets, he's got that intense look on his face again. That anger. But it's not directed at me.

"What exactly would that give you?" Masen asks. He's frowning, his voice somber. "A death treat? Some more bruises?" His eyes narrow, fingertips softly pushing my bracelets out of the way—tracing my bruises. The anger in his eyes is back, burning brightly. But I know it's not directed at me.

"Yeah, it's stupid." I shrug.

"Don't you think it's a bit ironic, darlin'?" His voice drops, his face relaxing under my gaze.

"What is?"

"That the guy he hired to keep tabs on the wife ends up saving her from him?" God, his voice like this is so erotic, this room is too much of a plush bubble. It sends thoughts into my head that I haven't entertained in ages.

"Do you really think I need saving, Masen?"

"I think you need someone on your side. A push in the right direction…someone in your corner, always." He shrugs as if what he's saying is nothing major.

I feel a tear burning a hole into the corner of my eye.

"Hey," he whispers, his thumb reaching out. "Don't cry over him, he doesn't deserve your tears."

"They're not for him," I admit, not daring to move. Masen is touching me and I don't flinch. I don't run. No, I lean in like a once-feral kitten who has finally learned not all people are bad. His touch warms me—body and soul.

"I…" he sighs, pulling away. But I don't let him, covering the back of his hand with my palm, basking in the heat of his skin on mine.

Baby steps. For years I've loathed the touch of a man. And now? God, I wish he'd touch me more.

"You're in my corner, then?" I ask quietly, unable to look away.

"I'll be in all four of your corners if you'd let me." His voice is gravely and sexy and all dark masculine energy engulfs me. I welcome it, with both hands.

Then I do something else I thought I'd forgotten how to do. I flirt.

"What if I want you in other places, too?"

He laughs, full and beautifully.

"Like in a fake tape with you?"

My heart skips a beat as I try to not go there in my mind.

"How about you buy me dinner, first?"

Another laugh. Masen looks so young like this— careless, gloriously handsome. As if the shadows have lifted. I hadn't even noticed we were moving closer, that his hand is still on my cheek and his eyes sparkle and show me flecks of gold from up close like this.

"Okay," he breathes. "Room service?"

I nod without question.

"Great," he smiles. "It's a date."

Instead of running for the hills, I embrace this feeling.

"Wait," I say suddenly. "I…"

"Yes?"

"I don't want to be here…in his place, with you. I don't want that."

"You want me to leave, Mrs. Anderson?" Masen moves back, and it honestly aches. My heart aches as he calls me that.

"No," I say too quickly. "It's the hotel I want gone, not you. I don't want the environment tainting this." I wave between the two of us, making him smile.

"This?" Masen asks, eyes smoldering.

I decide to be brave. For once. This is not staged—or suggestive. It feels real.

I arch a cocky brow: "I don't want a date in the place where I just heard my husband fuck his misstress through the fucking wall."

Masen licks his lips.

"Well, fuck," he chuckles, his eyes crinkling by the corners. "There's not a lot of places we could go. You do know that you're in the public eye, right? Do you really want to take that chance? Alistair's got this town in his pocket."

"We can't be seen like…together, but we can be seen together. You know?" I rattle off. "We're supposed to be together."

"Fair point."

"I still have my apartment."

My heart beats ferociously. I can't believe I'm doing this. It feels like cheating even though I haven't done anything wrong. This isn't an affair.

"Okay."

I swear no man has ever looked so beautiful.