My heart thumps in my chest, but not because I’m out of breath from the hike. “How much fun it would or wouldn’t be isn’t the problem.”
“Then tell me what you’re worried about, and I can fix it for you.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” His eyes twinkle with his promise. He truly thinks he can solve any of my reservations around us having sex.
“If we fuck, are you going to fall in love with me?” he asks.
“No.” I’m not capable of loving anyone.
“Are you going to get emotionally attached?”
I shrug. “I don’t think so.”
He scrunches his mouth until it’s pursed together as he thinks. “You won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m an ass, you’ve said so yourself. And once we fuck, I’ll pick up my asshole game so you can’t possibly grow attached. Problem solved.”
“I’d prefer nice, sexless Sebastian to asshole Sebastian who I get to fuck all the time.”
He shakes his head. “That’s the wrong choice. Being with asshole Sebastian is totally worth the mind-blowing orgasms I could give you.”
I laugh. “I can give myself mind-blowing orgasms, thank you very much. I just need a friend.”
His eyebrows raise. “A friend who is fake married to you to protect you from something that you won’t tell me about?”
I nod. “Exactly.”
“You should be glad I like you, Mills. I wouldn’t be fake married with no benefits to just anyone.”
“Mills? You’re giving me a nickname now?”
“I could go back to calling you Mrs. King.”
“Nope, I like Mills.”
He holds out his hand to help me up. Reluctantly, I take it.
He pulls me up, and our bodies near.
“How about we make a deal?” he asks, his breath hot against my neck. I like this kind of hotness.
“I thought we already had a deal and a bet?”
His eyes darken. “We don’t have an arrangement.”
I laugh.
“You finish this hike with me, and I’ll give you a kiss when we reach the top.”
“I don’t get anything out of that deal.”
He grabs my hips and jerks me tight to him until our lips are hovering just over each other’s. I stare into his deep eyes, and I’ve never wanted to kiss him more.
“Are you sure about that? I think you get a romantic kiss overlooking a waterfall in Hawaii on the only honeymoon you may ever take. You get to remember how it feels to be kissed by a man who truly wants you. You get to know how it feels to be desired desperately. And you’ll be reminded that you are a sexual creature who deserves to have the best sex of her life. Then you’ll realize that you do want to be married after all, not because you need a man, but because you deserve to be fucked like a queen every damn day. That’s what you’ll get.”