Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Rae
Staring at the note that had been left on Brian’s door, Rae wasn’t sure how she felt.
Her reaction was really going to depend on how Brian reacted when he found out.
Behind her, she heard a golf cart coming up the road.
She sank back into the shadows as best she could, watching to see where it was going to pull up.
Going by the light on in Mitch and Domi’s villa, they’d already returned, but she didn’t think anyone else had.
Explaining to her friends why she was standing in front of Brian’s door rather than her own wouldn’t be easy. Maybe she could say she was drunk.
But she didn’t have to come up with anything.
The cart pulled up in front of Brian’s, and he got out of the front seat, saying something to make the pretty driver laugh.
Other than her, he was the only one in the cart.
Rae scowled before she smoothed the expression away from her face.
He was allowed to make other women laugh.
She certainly didn’t have any claim to him.
Though they had agreed to be together for the night.
Even though they’d already had sex, that didn’t mean the night was over.
Deep down, she knew he would never bring another woman back to his place, knowing that she was going to be there, but she still couldn’t stop that little tendril of doubt and jealousy. There was also a touch of worry.
How was he going to react to the note?
As he came up the walk, Rae stepped out of the shadows. She could see his reaction when he noticed her there, the way his shoulders relaxed, his chin coming up a touch.
“Forget you didn’t have a key?” he asked in a low voice that wouldn’t carry, obviously being extra cautious in case there was someone around they were unaware of.
“No, I just figured you’d realize this was the most likely place I’d be.
” That and as soon as he’d stepped out of the alcove, she’d felt the need for a little space.
A little perspective. She’d been sore, aching, and satisfied, feeling like no other Dom she’d scened with really got her the way Brian did.
Her nipples and clit were still tingling, even though he’d taken off the clamps and chain.
Things had gotten a little awkward at the end.
At least for her. But only because she’d wanted more than she had any right to ask for.
She’d wanted him to pull her in his lap and hold her.
The little hint of being taken care of when he’d been holding the bottle to her lips had satisfied an unexpected need inside her.
She was longing for… things. Things she couldn’t even define.
So, she’d run.
Because she’d needed to get her head on straight again.
She and Brian only worked for scenes. Occasional scenes. They’d never work as a couple. Definitely not for anything more than a night at a time.
Which was why she hadn’t known how to react to the note. Cry? Cheer? Worry? It was time to find out.
“Here.” She held out the note to him, trying not to appear as anxious as she felt.
“What’s this?” he asked as he took it from her, looking down at it with a frown, his eyes scanning over the contents.
“Layne left it on your door… about my villa.”
She knew the exact moment he got to the part about her not being able to return to the villa this week. His frown smoothed out into an expression of astonishment, his mouth dropping open.
Her stomach tightened. Asking him to let her sleep there for a night was one thing, but there was no way he was going to want to give up his whole week, right?
She wouldn’t even give him the one thing he really wanted, which was probably for the best. Because they really shouldn’t do more than one night together at most. That was the smarter move.
“Well, shit.” He shook his head. “Alright, well, let’s go in.”
Wait, that was it? Rae watched him as he stepped forward and pressed his key card against the door, waiting for… something. Something more. Something to indicate what he was thinking. Did he just assume she was going to find somewhere else to go?
Or was he assuming she would stay with him the whole week?
The second one! The little dreamer in her voice said.
Bad idea.
Though, seriously, she needed to be taking notes on this.
It was as improbable as the whole arriving at a hotel with a guy the heroine couldn’t stand, only to discover there was only one room still available and only one bed in the room.
Although, the problem with Brian wasn’t that she couldn’t stand him.
The problem was that they liked each other, were attracted to each other, but were just wrong for each other. Totally different scenario.
She could totally write an enemies-to-lovers where there actually were two rooms left, but then something happened in one of them, and the heroine needed to reluctantly seek out refuge in the hero’s room…
“Rae!” His stern voice snapped out her name, making her jump.
Crap. She was just standing there in front of Brian’s door, under the light in plain view, daydreaming. Rae jumped forward, scurrying in as Brian frowned at her from where he was standing in the middle of the room, hands on his hips.
“What were you doing?”
“Thinking.” Which wasn’t really a good explanation.
“Having ideas for one of my books. Sorry. I get really lost in thought sometimes when that happens.” She really hoped he didn’t ask her what kinds of ideas she was getting.
She wasn’t sure how he’d feel about her turning the circumstances of this week into a romance novel.
Would he understand that she was just fictionalizing and romanticizing the situation? She didn’t know.
He raised an eyebrow as he closed the door, tilting his head in consideration.
“For your books? Does that happen a lot?”
“Sometimes.” Rae shrugged one shoulder, coming deeper into the room, closer to him. “I get ideas all the time. Normally, I try to write them down somewhere, but if I think them through enough, I can usually remember until I can write them down.” She wasn’t too worried about forgetting this idea.
Rather than answering her, Brian turned away and walked over to the side of the room. He picked up the resort’s notepad and pen that were sitting there before returning to hand it to her.
“Here.”
Blinking in surprise, Rae took it from him. “Um, shouldn’t we talk about my villa—or lack thereof—and what we’re going to do?
“After you write down what you need to.” He gestured toward the small table.
Well, fine then. Fuzzy warmth filled her as she went to sit down and write.
Her friends had been mostly supportive of her writing endeavors.
They bought her books and even read them.
Her family… well, the reactions had been mixed.
Damian, her ex, had rolled his eyes every time she’d brought them up.
To be fair, he felt that way about the entire romance genre, not just her books.
That had definitely played into their breakup.
Having Brian react to her statement by immediately giving her what she needed was… well, she appreciated it as much as it made her want to kick him. Why did he have to be almost perfect?
Hmm. Almost Perfect. That would be a good name for a book.
Brian
Watching Rae write furiously on the notepad he’d provided her, Brian couldn’t help but smile.
He didn’t know anything about being a writer, but he’d read her books, even though they weren’t his usual genre.
Actually, they’d ended up expanding what he read because he went on to read some more romances from there and thoroughly enjoyed them.
He’d always been more of a sci-fi guy, but he’d never objected to some romance thrown in with his spaceships and aliens.
It turned out that he rather liked reading about kinky romance especially.
Granted, he wasn’t sure how he felt about seven-foot aliens with extra appendages on their dicks, but he’d given those books a try, too.
Thankfully, Rae wrote kinky contemporary romance with characters he’d found easy to relate to.
She didn’t have many, but he was looking forward to the next one.
Not that he’d tell her that. Since she didn’t talk about her writing much around the club, he wasn’t sure how she felt about people she knew reading her books.
But he didn’t want to stop, so as long as she didn’t know, then she couldn’t tell him to stop.
Letting her write also gave him some time to figure out what he was going to do.
Wandering over to the kitchenette, he got out two glasses and poured them both some water while he thought.
It had been one thing to invite her to stay for a night, but the whole week?
The problem was not that he wanted her out of his villa—the problem was how much he wanted her to stay.
On the other hand, were a few more nights really that big a deal?
Had he really thought that one night with her and POOF, he’d be ready to go scene with someone else?
He already knew that wasn’t going to be a thing.
Even if she didn’t stay in his room for the rest of the trip, he was having trouble picturing himself scening with anyone else.
Picturing her scening with someone else made him want to put his fist through the wall.
The obvious solution to both problems was for her to just stay the rest of the week. That way, he wouldn’t have to try to force himself to scene with someone he wasn’t interested in, and he wouldn’t have to see her scene with anyone else.
The downside was he wasn’t going to want the week to end. He already hadn’t wanted tonight to end. On the other hand, that was partly because there were more things he wanted to do with her. To her. Maybe that was the problem the last time, too.