The Bacelor: Make A Sex Deal

There’s an alley between the bar and the building next door. It’s the perfect spot.”

“How do you know about the alley-” I raised my hand. “On second thought, I don’t want that answer.”

He laughed. “Listen, I’m not saying I haven’t been in an alley with your sister. I’m just saying I haven’t been in this alley with her.”

“My fucking ears are melting, Declan.”

“Go.” He pounded my shoulder with his fist. “Take what’s yours and don’t give her back to him.”

Oaklyn

I

stood at the sink, letting the water wash over my hands even though the soap was long gone. I just needed a moment to myself. To think. To recap the last thirty-ish minutes since I’d arrived at the bar.

Each of those minutes spent under the heavy gaze of Macon Spade.

He had certainly been laying it on thick. Asking all the right questions. Acting as though he were interested in everything in my life. Heck, maybe he was; I didn’t know.

I just didn’t have the heart to tell him he was wasting his time.

Especially when Hannah had been hovering around us, working her magic to make sure Macon saw all the best qualities in me, doing everything in her power so the two of us would click.

She was looking out for my best interests, and aside from being Mr. Sexual, Macon seemed like a really nice guy.

I was just relieved he hadn’t yet asked for my number, making me question if he was really going to take me on a date. Without those digits, I didn’t know how a meetup could go down. But if he happened to slide into my DMs or get my number from my best friend, I would come up with every excuse in the world not to hang out.

If the last two lessons had shown me anything, it was that Camden Dalton was the man I wanted to be with.

Oh God, I just loved everything about him. The way he dressed, the way he carried himself, the way he was so career-driven. When he looked at me, I felt it in every part of my body. When I got him to smile, his happiness and pleasure spread all the way through me. And then there were his looks-something that didn’t usually matter to me, but Camden was the handsomest man I’d ever seen.

I didn’t care that he was grumpy at times or that his communication wasn’t always the best or that he’d earned himself a reputation for being the biggest bachelor.

He was perfect for me.

But there were two serious problems. The first was that Hannah would never allow us to be together, and the second was that Camden didn’t feel the same way about me.

Even worse, he really wanted nothing to do with me.

Once lesson five ended and Camden moved on from me, I would have to find a way to endure the pain. To act as though I wasn’t feeling this excruciating level of hurt every time I was in his presence.

Somehow, someway, I’d survive.

I always did.

He wouldn’t be the first boy who broke my heart, and each time, I picked myself back up and moved on.

This time would be much harder. Much more devastating.

Unlike any of the ones before him.

Because Camden hadn’t just been in my life for a couple of weeks and these feelings hadn’t just been born; they’d lived inside me for quite some time. And I was going to give him something I’d never given to anyone else.

He’d told me I couldn’t do that without falling for him.

He was right.

It seemed impossible to wrap my head around a future where I’d mourn what we had-even though we had almost nothing-but it was inevitable.

And I’ll have to find a way to pick myself up again.

That was what I repeated in my head as I stared at my reflection in the mirror, my skin turning pruny from the water, and I focused on my eyes first.

Eyes that had gazed into Camden’s earlier tonight as his hand reached across the table to finger me.

And then I moved to my cheeks.

A set that flushed every time I thought of him.

And shifted to my lips.

A mouth that was dying to be kissed by him.

And finally, my teeth.

Ones that bit into my lip just to stop myself from telling him how I really felt.

Those words would get me nowhere.

All they would do was prove to him that I couldn’t handle the proposition, and I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.

But, damn, this was hard.

I turned off the water and glanced away from my reflection, wiping my hands on a paper towel. I made sure my skin was dry before I tossed the towel in the trash and headed for the door. My fingers circled the handle and pulled it toward me, my feet stumbling to a stop the moment I stepped out.

It was the sight before me that had completely knocked me off-balance.

One I hadn’t been prepared for.

Why was this tall, muscular, devilishly gorgeous man standing outside the women’s restroom?

“Hi,” I whispered to Camden, his eyes already fixed on mine. “Are you okay?” I tried to think of why he would be here. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“You.”

My heart began to pound. “Yeah?” I swallowed. “And why’s that?”

“I’m going to take you somewhere.”

I didn’t know what to do with my arms, but they felt so incredibly heavy as they hung at my sides, so I wrapped them around my stomach. “Right now?”

He nodded.

“Okay,” I replied.

“Do you trust me?”