Married by Contract Read online

  Nick hadn’t yet come, but he straightened up, pulling himself out while taking care with the condom.

  He picked her up and carried her over to the bed, staring down at her with an intensity she didn’t understand before he climbed on top of her. He pried her legs apart and bent them up toward her chest, and then he entered her again.

  She wasn’t any more in control in this position. She couldn’t really move—her body could only rock to Nick’s motion. She had to reach up to grab the headboard to give her some sort of stability, and she started to make embarrassing little grunts when he built up another fast, hard rhythm.

  It wasn’t long before she was on the cusp again, every nerve ending in her body firing intensely and every part of her feeling a pleasure deeper than she’d ever known.

  Then Nick started to talk, and it got even better.

  “That’s right, sweetheart…Let me make you feel so good…Just let go of what’s always held you back…You’re going to come again soon, even harder than before…Let me do this for you…You’re so good like this…You don’t always have to be in control.” His face was streaming with sweat, and his eyes her ravenous, so possessive and dominant, nothing at all like the Nick she’d always known.

  She wasn’t anything like the Jenn she’d always known, either. She was almost screaming now, helpless against the waves of pleasures that bombarded her. It went on for a long time, and when the height of the climax finally came, she was hoarse and blinded with tears.

  She knew Nick was coming too. She could hear his shout of release and feel the shuddering of his body against her. But she couldn’t see him, and she couldn’t move her body, even when he finally pulled out of her.

  He must have taken care of the condom, but she wasn’t aware of any of it. She lay in a heap on the bed, shivers of lingering pleasure still running through her.

  Then she felt Nick get back on the bed with her and pull her into his arms. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  She made a sound, but it wasn’t a word. She clung to him.

  “Did you pass out?” he asked, his tone both tender and breathless.

  “Maybe,” she managed to say.

  He gave a huff of amusement and hugged her tighter.

  It was several minutes before either one of them spoke again, but finally Jenn’s body was recovering—sore but deliciously relaxed—and her mind cleared enough to think again.

  Nick was stroking her hair when he asked, “Better now?”

  “Yeah. I’m good.”

  “You’re a lot better than good.”

  She felt an ache of tension in her chest, and it made her uncomfortable—as did the memory of how completely shameless and out of control she’d been just now. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”

  “I know. It was amazing. You are amazing.”

  “So are you.”

  He kissed her hair and then tilted her head up so he could kiss her lips. But the kisses just made her even more uncomfortable.

  She lay in silence for a few more minutes until the nerves finally propelled her to a sitting position. She groaned at the ache in her back and between her legs.

  “You okay?” Nick asked, his eyes looking at her closely.

  “Yeah. Sore.” She groaned again as she swung her feet over the side of the bed. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

  “You’ve got time.”

  “Yeah, but I need to get ready for that appointment.” She made herself stand up, and then she gathered up her clothes and took them to the bathroom. She took a very quick shower, trying to rub Nick off her body so she’d feel more like herself. Then she got dressed and studied herself in the mirror.

  She definitely looked like she’d just had sex.

  She wet a washcloth and patted down her face and neck again, but they were still far too flushed. She smoothed her hair and hoped she didn’t look as debauched as she felt.

  Nick was still in bed when she came back out. He looked hot and exhausted but with the same air of deep satisfaction she’d seen in herself.

  “You okay?” he asked, for the third time.

  “Yeah,” she replied, trying to sound casual. “Just need to get back to work.”

  “Okay.”

  She was sliding on her shoes when he got out of bed, completely naked. She looked at him questioningly.

  “Come here,” he murmured, pulling her into a hug.

  She burrowed against his familiar heat and strength for a minute, feeling better than she had the minute before.

  “You don’t have to be scared,” he said against her hair. “It’s okay to let go of control with me. You can trust me.”

  She had no idea how he’d read her mind so easily. “I know I can. I do trust you.”

  “I hope so.”

  She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she just smiled and grabbed her purse.

  As she was leaving the hotel, she had a suspicion that everyone she passed could easily see she’d just had the best sex of her life.

  Eight

  A week and a half later, Jenn was sitting in an expensive but generic hotel room in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, wishing Nick was here with her.

  He wasn’t, of course. She’d been out of town all week on a business trip, hitting three different cities in the upper Midwest while she was traveling. She made trips for work often enough, but she hadn’t been gone for so long since she and Nick had started sleeping together.

  It felt strange—and really lonely—to be away from him for so long.

  Her meetings had concluded by five-thirty, and she’d grabbed some dinner to bring up into the room, so she wouldn’t have to go back out. But now that she’d eaten and showered, she was bored and restless.

  She wanted to talk to someone. She wanted to talk to Nick.

  The obvious thing to do would be to call him up. He was probably home by now, fixing him something for dinner and watching TV. She didn’t, though. She still felt that jittering of nerves whenever she thought about Nick, and it worried her.

  She didn’t want to be too dependent on him. She didn’t want to be heartbroken when he left her after their five years were over.

  She’d done so well for so long in staying completely independent so no one could hurt her the way her father had. She wasn’t going to blow it now, just because she was getting a few soft feelings and having such good sex with Nick.

  So she stared at her phone but didn’t call him up. When she realized what she was doing, she made herself put down her phone and started to flip the channels on the television, although nothing remotely held her interest.

  She was still flipping twenty minutes later when her phone rang. She grabbed for it, her heart skipping a couple of times when she saw it was Nick.

  “Hey,” she said, trying not to sound like she was smiling as she answered it.

  “Hey. Am I interrupting anything?”

  “No. Work is done for the day, so I’m back in the hotel room.”

  “Oh good. How are things going?”

  “Pretty good. I think I’ve got some new buyers.” She was pleased with the results of her trip, and she tried to remember that was a lot more important than spending time with her fake husband.

  “I thought maybe I would have heard from you.” He sounded overly casual, which made her think he wasn’t.

  “Oh.” She swallowed. She hadn’t been calling him for her own mental health, but maybe he would think she was just being rude. Things had felt different between them since that day in the hotel room—the memory of which still gave her shivers of excitement. They hadn’t had sex since, partly because she’d been out of town but not entirely so. “It’s been pretty busy.”

  “Yeah. I figured.”

  “How is everything with you? Anything new on that case?”

  “No. Nothing.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked, hearing a kind of glumness to his tone that wasn’t normally there.

  “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  �
��Good. I’m fine too.”

  “Good.”

  Jenn realized it was a silly conversation, but she wasn’t quite sure how to change it back to something natural. “I’m glad you called,” she said at last. “I was just thinking about you.”

  “Really? What were you thinking about?”

  “Calling you.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I wasn’t sure what you’d be doing.”

  “I’m sitting on the couch, looking for something to watch.”

  “That’s what I’m doing too.” She sighed, wondering if she was somehow turning into an old married person, even if her marriage wasn’t a real one. “I’m just feeling kind of bored and blah. Maybe I should go out and do something.”

  “Why would you go out?”

  “I don’t know. Just for something to do.” She wondered if she had the energy. It would be different if Nick was here and she could do something with him. But entertaining her on business trips was far beyond the terms of their contract.

  “You know, I could fly out there if you want. It’s less than an hour flight from here.”

  She almost choked on surprise. It was like he’d actually read her mind. “Why would you fly out here?”

  “You said you were bored and lonely.”

  She hadn’t said she was lonely, but he must have read between the lines. “That would be crazy.”

  “Why? I’ve got nothing better to do.”

  “Nick, seriously. You don’t have to fly all the way out here just because I’m bored. I’m fine. If I get too bored, then I’ll just go out for a while. Maybe—”

  “Hold on a minute,” Nick interrupted. “I’ve got a call coming in about work.”

  “Okay,” she said quickly. “Go ahead and take it.”

  She sighed when he clicked over and she was left in the lonely hotel room again. She’d had the right instinct before. There was no reason why she had to sit here all evening. She could go out and see people. She could be the person she used to be, before she’d gotten married and things had gotten so complicated.

  She’d hauled herself out of bed and was changing into something cute when her phone rang again.

  Nick. “Hey, sorry about that.”

  “No, it’s fine,” she said, checking herself in the mirror and deciding she needed a little lipstick and mascara so she didn’t look like she’d rolled out of bed. She’d put on dark jeans and a green top that made her look like she had pretty good boobs. “Anything important?”

  “No. Nothing important.”

  She could hear he sounded disappointed. He was still worried about this case he was working on, and she really wished he was able to make some progress with it. It wasn’t his fault that this girl had run away from home, but he still felt responsible for not finding her. “I’m sorry. Maybe something will turn up.”

  “Maybe. What are you doing?”

  She’d been leaning over to fasten her shoes. “I was putting my shoes on. I actually decided to go out.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I don’t know. Just to get a drink or something. I’m sure I can find something.”

  “In Sioux Falls?”

  “It’s not that much of a nothing town. They have a few bars.”

  “You’re really going to go out drinking?”

  “Just to get a drink and see people. I feel restless. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing, really. Didn’t you used to pick up guys when you went out drinking?”

  “Occasionally. Not as much as you make it sound. And I’m obviously not going to pick up a guy tonight. You know that, right?”

  “Right.” She sighed in relief when he sounded sincere. Surely he trusted her at least that much.

  “I’m just going to go out and get a beer or something and then come back and tuck myself in like a good girl. You should do the same.”

  “Tuck myself in like a good girl?”

  She snorted. “Go out and get a drink with a friend to relax.”

  “Okay. Talk to you later.”

  She said goodbye and hung up, unable to stop herself from thinking that she would have loved it if he’d actually done something as crazy as fly out to see her. She had two more days before she headed back home. It felt like forever.

  She shrugged it off and grabbed her purse and the room key.

  She hadn’t changed as much as she feared. She still got by just fine on her own. She didn’t need a husband. She didn’t need Nick.

  ***

  Three hours later, she was in a cab on the way back to her hotel, a little bit worse for wear.

  She’d found a bar that had a good atmosphere, so she’d gone in to get a drink. She chatted with some folks and played a few games of pool and was propositioned more than once.

  Obviously, she would never take any of those guys up on it while she was married to Nick. She would never cheat on him, even if theirs wasn’t a normal marriage.

  But the most startling and upsetting thing was that she didn’t even want to. A couple of the guys who’d been interested in her had been good-looking and charming, but she wasn’t remotely interested in them. And she wouldn’t have been, even if she hadn’t been married.

  She didn’t want to be with anyone but Nick.

  That realization had been so disturbing that she’d drunk more than she’d intended in an attempt to drown it out. Her marriage to Nick was supposed to be easy and convenient for both of them.

  It wasn’t supposed to turn her whole life upside down.

  She drank too much to dull the reality of this conclusion, and she was definitely buzzed when the cab dropped her off at the front of the hotel.

  She took a deep breath and focused on walking as she entered the lobby.

  “Jenn,” a familiar voice came from near the windows.

  She stopped, blinked, and turned her head slowly to see Nick. She gasped, slightly delayed as her brain took a little time to catch up. “How did you get here?” she demanded.

  “I drove to the airport. There was a plane leaving in a half hour. I bought a ticket, got on it, and it flew me here.”

  She blinked again, her mind fuzzier than ever but something telling her that she shouldn’t let Nick know how fuzzy. “Wow. That was quick.”

  Nick looked a little tired—his eyelids heavy and his hair rumpled. But he narrowed his eyes as he studied her face. “How much did you have to drink?”

  “I had a little….a little bit to drink.”

  He chuckled. “I can see that. You didn’t do anything else besides drink, did you?”

  “I told you! I don’t do that anymore. Not that no one asked.”

  “I’m sure they did.” Nick’s gaze moved up and down her body. “What did you tell them?”

  Now that she’d processed that he was actually here, she couldn’t help but be glad about it. She smiled at him and patted him on the chest with her left hand. “I told them I was a married woman.”

  She kept patting him, staring at her wedding and engagement rings on her finger. It was so strange to notice them now—like it was the first time she was realizing how married she really was. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered.

  “Well, I am.” He put a supportive arm around her and moved her toward the elevator. “And I think you probably need to lie down.”

  “I don’t want to lie down. I want to…” She drifted off, having no idea what she was going to say. She stared at the elevator doors close, leaving them alone in the elevator.

  “You want to what?”

  “Lie down,” she concluded, realizing that was exactly what she wanted to do. She should have thought of it before.

  Nick chuckled again, and he drew her against him as the elevator descended to the eighth floor. She leaned on his chest, feeling comforted and satisfied at the feel of him against her.

  “You’re good to lean against,” she murmured, not realizing she was actually saying it out loud.

  He kissed the
top of her head. “You can lean against me any time.”

  When the elevator reached her floor, Nick led out her out and to her door. The hotel room was exactly as she left it, complete with her pajamas tossed on the floor.

  She leaned over to pick them up and almost fell down as she was hit with a wave of dizziness.

  “Picking up can wait until tomorrow morning,” Nick said, guiding her toward the bed.

  “I’m not tired. I feel…” She still felt dizzy, so she closed her eyes and moaned.

  “Are you going to be sick?”

  “I don’t think so. I need some water.”

  “I just gave you some.”

  Jenn opened her eyes and saw a bottle of water in her hand. She unscrewed the lid and took several gulps.

  Nick sat down beside her. “Why did you drink so much tonight, sweetheart?”

  “I wanted to.”

  “Why?”

  It felt like he was prying, like he was getting far too close to certain things in her head, in her heart, that he could never, ever know. “I wanted to have fun.”

  “Did you have fun?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re sure you didn’t drink so much because you were spooked?”

  She blinked. “Spooked?”

  “About us.” His eyes were sober now and meeting hers evenly.

  She gasped after a moment, once again delayed from her normal reaction time by her clouded mind. “I’m not spooked! Why should I be spooked?”

  “Because that’s how you get when things are good. You expect for them not to last.”

  Of course, their marriage wasn’t going to last—no matter how good it was at the moment. It was just for five years. She’d basically bought and paid for him. Of course, he was going to leave at the end of it.

  “I’m not spooked,” she insisted, with more confidence than was entirely warranted. “You’re spooked!”

  “I’m spooked?”

  “Yes. You flew all the way out here because you thought I was going out to screw some other guy. Now tell me you’re not spooked.” She nodded and then kept nodding because she couldn’t really stop.

  “I didn’t think you’d sleep with someone else. I just felt like…” He cleared his throat, as if he were reluctant to say this. “Like you needed me.”