I don’t know what he’s thinking, until he tucks a finger under my chin, commanding my gaze. He’s staring at me in exasperation. “Ten grand is not a lot of money.”
“To me it is,” I fire back. Hell, for the past three years, I’ve been trying to pay off the loan but only seemed to be paying down the interest. I tried to get it from my ex’s parents but they were as useless as he was.
“It might be a lot of money to you right now, but it’s not a lot of money to me,” Darius counters gently, leaning on his arm, resting his head in his hand. “I can lose that much money in a minute on the stock market on any given day.”
Wow. What would that be like? I can’t even imagine, and I guess it makes me really proud of Darius, too. He’s not arrogant about his money, even though he loves having it. Being rich for him seems more of a fact than something he shoves in people’s faces.
He draws in a long, deep breath before speaking again. “Besides, it’s not your debt, anyway. Therefore, there’s no reason why you should care if I pay this off for you.”
I see the tightness in his eyes. There’s a determination there that I know well. I know there is no changing his mind. And I also know that if I say no now, he will likely use his connections to find out what bank holds the loan and will pay it off regardless of what I want, because that’s what Darius does. “I can’t take the money as a gift. It has to be a loan.”
“That’s absurd,” he says with a snort, frowning down at me. “I don’t need to loan you ten thousand dollars.”
His hair is dangling off his face, and right now, he looks like the carefree guy I fell in love with. So relaxed. So free. “Regardless of whether that might be true, it’s still my debt.”
“No,” he retorts, voice hard. “It’s a douchebag’s debt.”
I laugh softly. “Okay, I’ll give you that, but I gave that douchebag the money. This is the result of my bad choice.” Darius’s brows begin to furrow, so I give the one answer I know will get him on my side. “While I’m so grateful you want to swoop in and rescue me, I need to look at myself in the mirror every day and feel good about me. This has to be a loan; it just has to be.”
He hesitates. “Fine,” he eventually concedes. “It’s a loan without interest so you can pay it off, and it’s a ridiculous loan at that.”
I ignore that comment and sit up a little bit, looking him in the eye. “And since we’re on this topic about finances, this job you’re arranging for me, I want to be paid a fair amount, not an inflated amount that you feel I deserve.”
He shakes his head in frustration, drops back onto the bed, and shuts his eyes. Obviously I thwarted his plan. “You’re a strange woman,” he grumbles.
I know I should fire off a reply to that statement, but seeing him on his back, with his dress shirt open, I cannot speak. God, he’s such a man. In the years it’s been since I’ve seen Darius naked, his body has changed. He’s thicker, his muscles more defined, and I run my hand over his sculpted abs. With a guy like this in my bed, there’s no way I can keep my hands to myself.
He peeks open an eye and murmurs, “Already wanting more?”
I chuckle, sliding on top of him until I’m straddling his waist. “You say that like it’s a bad thing?”
“It is a bad thing.” He growls when I shift my hips, rubbing against his already hard length. “You’re making it incredibly difficult for me to remember why I shouldn’t be touching you.”
I grin, wiggling my hips in the way I know he likes. “Well, that’s because you should be touching me.”
He wraps his arms around me then, switching our position, sliding in between my thighs. Hovering over me, I’m not feeling the length of him, I’m feeling his fingers stroking my hot and wet sex. “Is this what you want, princess?”
I arch my back, heat flooding me. “Yes. I want you. Inside me.”
He leans his head into my neck and slides a finger in deep. “I am inside you.”
“That’s not what I meant.” But God, he feels so good.
“Oh, this isn’t what you want?” He slides another finger inside me, stroking slowly, dragging out my pleasure. His sexy chuckle brushes against my ear. “You seem to like the way I’m inside you.” He’s pumping his fingers now, the palm of his hand pressing against my clit. “Don’t you like how I touch you?”
“God, yes,” I gasp, clenching my teeth against the burn he’s igniting inside me. “Please…”
He’s staring into my eyes. I’m seeing a Darius I don’t know. He’s so confident, so strong, like a rock that is unmovable. He bites my lip, hard, and then states firmly, “If I wanted to fuck you, Taylor, I would.” He’s pumping harder now, faster, and I’m arching my back and pointing my toes, edging closer to orgasm. “But that’s not what I want to do. I want to do this…”
Then I’m flooded with heat, soaring high, and I can’t imagine ever returning. It’s not the sensation keeping me there, it’s him. It’s the way he handles my body. It’s the way he commands my soul. It’s the way he reads me, understands me.
But then I crash back to reality, breathless and weightless, and he’s chuckling, kissing my nose. “Any further complaints about how I handle your body?”
I lie like a boneless creature beneath whatever his heart desires. “Nope.”
Darius
The chime of the bell on the wooden door invites me inside the ice cream shop as I hold the door open for Taylor. I take a quick look around, ensuring there are no photographers who have followed us here before stepping away from the door. In preparation for tonight, I had my driver deliver casual clothes to me and collect us from the parking garage and there hadn’t been a pap in sight when we exited. The only thing we have to worry about here is cellphones, and being near closing time, the ice cream shop is empty, with only the employee at the back, cleaning the counter.