Conner stood up and walked over to her chair, resting his hip on the arm as he leaned down over her. “Let me get this straight. You’ll observe me and my interpersonal relationships with my family but only interview me about the show?”
“Yes,” she said, tipping her head back to meet his eyes with her own.
“In exchange for being my mistress?” he asked.
She hesitated. She’d hoped to just have a relationship with him without the mistress arrangement, but it looked as if that was something Connor had to have.
Conner was reluctant to agree to anything with Nichole, but at this point she’d become such an obsession that he had no choice but to figure out a way to have her. He knew nothing else would satisfy him. He stood up and walked away from her chair.
Her apartment revealed a woman who had deep roots and connections to the people in her life. Every photo was genuine. No staged smiles, no fake emotions. He wanted to trust her, but the desire he felt for her made it harder for him to do it.
Was he giving her a free pass because he wanted her in his bed or was he seeing the signs of a woman he could truly trust? He just didn’t know, and he was afraid to make the wrong choice.
He had no problems acknowledging his own fears. He knew that he had weaknesses; if you pretended you didn’t, you were only fooling yourself and headed for a big fall.
He turned to look over his shoulder at her. She chewed her lower lip and stared pensively at him. He should just let go of the mistress thing, but he couldn’t. He wanted her to be his completely and only as his mistress would he have the freedom to make their every meeting about sex.
In his head it seemed like sex was the way to go. The one thing that would make a relationship with her manageable. Otherwise, he’d be tempted … hell, he already was tempted by everything about her. And he knew that he didn’t want to allow her to mean too much to him.
“You haven’t answered my question,” he said.
She shook her pretty head, the red hair brushing over her shoulders and her bangs falling forward to cover one eye before she tucked the hair back behind her ear again.
“I’ll do it,” she said, “but only if you agree to let me capture my own observations about your family and that dynamic. I think that will add a personal touch and that’s what my readers expect.”
He turned back to look at the wall of photos in her apartment. If he agreed to let her observe his family, he’d leave them all vulnerable. That wasn’t acceptable. How could he manage it?
He was so close to having Nichole and everything he wanted. And he was a damn smart man at the bargaining table, no matter who sat on the other side of it. He knew there had to be a way to make this work.
“How would you observe my family? With me present?” he asked.
“Yes, when we went to functions they were also attending. I assume you’d bring your …”
“Mistress,” he said. “If you can’t say it, how can you agree to be it?”
“I’m going to say girlfriend. We can both pretend it means mistress.”
“Don’t do that, Nichole,” he said. “Make sure you know that what we are going to have will be temporary. It’s stamped with an end date.”
She nibbled her lip again.
“You’re going to chew your lip raw,” he said.
She stopped. “You’re right. Why does it matter what I think about our arrangement?”
“Despite what you might think of me,” he said, “the last thing I want is to see you hurt.”
“That makes two of us,” she admitted.
“Good,” he said.
“So you’ll do it?”
He would be able to control the amount of access that Nichole had to his family. He didn’t know for sure if that would be sufficient, but in the end he knew he was going to agree to this. He would manage her and her access to his life. He’d been doing that with the media since he’d turned seventeen, so he wasn’t too worried about that.
“Yes,” he said.
“Okay … now what?”
He laughed at the way she said it.
“Well, we have to seal our deal.”
“In writing?”
“I don’t think so. That kind of document could end up in the wrong hands,” he said. “How about with a kiss?”
“A kiss … just one kiss?” she asked, standing up and walking over to him. “One kiss is never enough.”
“No, it’s not. So let’s say a kiss, but take whatever we get,” he said.
She nibbled her bottom lip again when he opened his arms to her. She just stood there staring at him and he wondered if now that he’d agreed she was going to back out.
“Second thoughts?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “And third and fourth thoughts. It all comes back to you and the story. I want you both. But a part of me is sure I’m going to regret this.”
He closed the gap between the two of them and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her gently, trying to reassure her, yet he honestly had no idea how this would turn out. He hoped by making her his mistress he’d be able to control the influence she had over his life and ensure that his emotions didn’t get engaged. But this was Nichole and nothing had gone according to plan since she’d shown up uninvited at his family’s Fourth of July party.
“I will do my best to make sure you have nothing to regret,” he said.
She tipped her head back and stared up at him with that pretty gaze of hers. “That’s the worst part. I know your intent isn’t to hurt me, just as mine isn’t to do any damage to you, but I’m not sure that as much as we are trying to make this a business arrangement that we’ll succeed.”
She had a point, but he’d made up his mind and she’d agreed to his terms. He wasn’t letting her go or giving her a chance to back out.
“We’ll both just have to do our best,” he said, lowering his head and taking the kiss he’d wanted all evening.
Nichole was glad to stop thinking and just enjoy Conner’s embrace. Tonight hadn’t gone exactly the way she thought it would but she’d gotten the one thing she’d set her mind on. Why, then, wasn’t she happier?
She was in Conner’s arms, enjoying his ravishing kiss, but her mind was reluctant to let her relax and just enjoy it.
“I can tell you’re still thinking,” he said. “I’m insulted that my kiss hasn’t distracted you.”
“You shouldn’t be. I’m just … oh, I don’t know. This is crazy. I spent my entire adult life building my career and trying very had to expose the truth, and I’ve just agreed to do something that feels like a back-alley deal.”
“There’s nothing back alley about it. It’s inevitable that you and I are going to have an affair. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel this kind of chemistry with every woman I meet.”
She had to admit that was true. “I guess that’s part of why I’m so shy about seeing this through. I know you said by making it a business agreement we could mitigate the possibility of both of us getting hurt, but I don’t know—”
“You