Chapter 4
AJ
Studying makeup tutorials on YouTube all week hadn’t been easy. I had braved probably a dozen videos’ worth of nasally teens welcoming me to their channel and urging me to “smash that like button,” but in the end it was all worth it.
Because what a killer smoky eye.
“Damn, should I do this every day?” I muttered to myself seriously despite already knowing that the answer was no. I definitely didn’t have the time or the energy to do this every day, but it was still an extremely valid question because holy hell, did I feel sexy.
Like super confident, it’s-not-just-the-lighting, should-I-make-a-sex-tape kind of sexy.
I definitely wasn’t going to make a sex tape.
That said, I did take about a dozen selfies and then opt to put my lingerie on ASAP. I had originally planned to complete the look after getting into Caspar’s room, but now I couldn’t wait any longer. I needed to see the full get-up.
So unzipping my garment bag, I lifted out the lacy black set, hanging it on the bathroom door before stripping off my clothes with my bottom lip trapped between my teeth, because admittedly, it felt a little weird to be getting fully naked in my boss’s hotel room.
For all the personal boundaries we crossed on a daily basis, this was definitely a first.
And it felt especially weird since he’d just revealed the size of his dick to me.
Though in fairness, you could’ve guessed it was that big. Also, he’s six-foot-four, so it’s just proportionate to his height, I thought before pausing half a second, wrinkling my nose and whisper yelling, “Stop thinking about this!”
Which I promptly did.
It helped that I got briefly confused as to how the hell garters even worked.
I’d definitely never put them on before, but once I figured it all out and everything was all fastened and fixed, I couldn’t help but stare again in the mirror, asking myself—while fully knowing the answer—why I didn’t do this every day.
I felt like a full-on bombshell with the absurd amount of volume in my hair and my boobs so spectacularly pushed up in the balconette cups of my bra.
And of course, there was the lacy black garter just absolutely killing it.
It accentuated the pinch of my waist and the flare of my hips, and I was so in love with the way it looked that I truly couldn’t wait any longer for Caspar to see me.
So hastily, I threw all my clothes back on over my lingerie, grabbing my luggage and my phone and shooting Adam a text as I headed out the door to Caspar’s.
ME: All done! You can head up now
ADAM: That was actually pretty fast.
ME: Well it was really just makeup. The hair was all set
ADAM: Right. I meant to compliment the hair this morning.
ADAM: You clean up slightly better than expected
ME: And you snored the whole plane ride but I didn’t say anything
I snorted, rolling my luggage down the hall as I watched him start typing then stop.
It was a total lie what I’d said, but it made me smile to imagine Adam staring into the distance of that bar, wondering for the first time in his thirty-two years if he was in fact a snorer. Even he knew that the girls he slept with were too eager for a second date to ever tell him if he did.
Of course, he did not.
It would’ve been a useful imperfection in terms of keeping that ego in check, but alas, God said nah.
“Okay, three twenty-two… three-twenty-two…” I whispered to myself as I closed in on Caspar’s room number on the third floor.
My heart skipped a beat when I finally got to it and upon letting myself in, I smiled.
Straight ahead, on the table next to the window, I could see Caspar’s trusty MacBook accompanied by a single lowball and the bottle of his favorite Japanese whiskey that I’d had waiting in the room when he checked in yesterday.
It gave me a clear picture of his first night in the room—wearing just his sweats while sipping on a nightcap and editing next to a view of the glimmering water.
Biting my lip, I pictured the way my fiancé looked at me after a few glasses of whiskey. I pictured that glazed but mischievous look in his eyes as I stripped down again. And as I slipped on a little black robe, I relived the last time Caspar had fucked me like he meant it.
Almost a year ago, admittedly, but that didn’t stop my neck from getting all hot at the memory.
Of his hands in my hair. His panting hot breath on my skin.
I was so starved for passion that all it took were those thoughts to get me quickly hot and bothered.
God, just get here already, I willed my fiancé, pouring myself a bit of his whiskey as I gazed again in the mirror.
Taking a sip, I let the warmth trickle down my throat then spread in my chest, my eyes following the sensation and my lips curling into a smile, because God, I was so ready for this.
I looked and felt like walking sex and at this point, I was just so damned eager to be touched and appreciated and looked at by Caspar the way I used to be. I literally couldn’t wait.
And luckily, I didn’t have to much longer.
Because within another few minutes, I heard footsteps approaching the door. Quickly, I put my glass down and leaned myself against the table, biting my bottom lip with both excitement because I could hear Caspar on the other side of the door, fumbling adorably with the key card.
“Goddammit,” he chuckled to himself, which made a full grin burst onto my lips.
But then I heard a breathy voice follow.
“Cas, hurry… please…”
I froze.
A chill fell over my body as the blood promptly drained from my face, but before I could even think to move or cover up, the lock gave a click and the door flew wide open to present me with an undeniable image.
Caspar’s face attached to the mouth of some girl.
And that girl’s hand shoved down his already-unzipped pants.
My stomach lurched as I felt my eyes light on fire. They stung with tears of betrayal that soon became disgust as she noticed me first.
“Omigodwhatthefuck!” she screeched, ripping away from Caspar and gaping open-mouthed at me.
My wet eyes burned into her. She was a short blonde wearing a band tee and her blue and green-streaked hair in two buns at the side of her head.
Blood roaring in my ears, I stared at her then Caspar, whose eyes were the size of saucers as he gaped at me, visibly trying to think of his next move.
“AJ,” he breathed out in shock.
And as our entire relationship flashed before my eyes, I prayed to God he’d have something better to say than what I sensed was coming.
But he didn’t.
“AJ, it’s not what it looks like,” he blurted.
God.
“So her hand wasn’t wrapped around your dick just now?” I hissed, marching forward and pushing furiously past him as he tried to hold me back.
“Goddammit, AJ, just let me explain—”
I flung his arms off me. “Do it then,” I seethed. Panting hard, I stopped firmly in front of him and stared. “Do it. Right now in one sentence or don’t bother,” I demanded, pausing exactly one-and-a-half seconds.
But all he did was stare in defeat.
So with a curl of the lip, I took off.
“AJ—what the fuck!” Caspar yelled as I furiously chucked my ring behind me.
I had no idea where it went. Didn’t even hear it land. All I heard was my blood roaring louder as I felt Caspar catch my arm, jerking me so hard I burst into tears as I used all my might to shove him the hell off and run.
And before I knew what was happening, I was sprinting down the hall, hugging my robe shut with my cheeks wet and my vision blurry. I could hear Caspar bursting out of the room to come after me, and my pulse spiked as he yelled my name.
But the next thing I knew, I was alone in the elevator and shortly after that, I was pounding on a door.
Adam’s.
Desperately, I called his name, my voice cracking and my heart racing as I rapped my knuckles over and over against the door till I heard his muffled confusion on the other side.
“Jesus, what the hell—”
And when the door finally swung open, I caught the split second of his irritation before he blinked at me in surprise.
“AJ, what…?”
He took one look at me then hauled me into the room, his eyes intense and moving all over my tear-streaked face, searching me for two hard seconds before he glared out at the empty hall and shut the door.
And only once it was shut did I hear the sound of the shower running.
I blinked, suddenly dazed and disoriented.
By Caspar. This moment.
By Adam staring at me as we stood a foot apart in his hotel room, silent besides the sound of the soft pitter-patter coming from the bathroom.
His white button-down was undone and as my wet eyes locked on the deep-cut line between his chest, I remembered that he was about to shower. That he had plans to get to.
Fuck.
Suddenly, I regretted this but at the same time I knew I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I was barefoot and crying in a little robe that barely covered my ass, and if that weren’t shitty enough, I had a cheating asshole chasing me down.
So staring at Adam, I mustered up the words to explain myself.
“He was with someone,” I blurted, watching the confused look in Adam’s eyes immediately flicker into something hot. And angry. “He came in kissing some girl,” I went on breathlessly. “I told him to explain and he had nothing, but he wouldn’t let me go, so I ran and now—”
I cut off when Adam’s hot stare dropped to my arm. And when I spotted the flash of rage in his eyes, I looked down myself to see what was there.
Caspar’s angry handprint wrapped around my wrist.
“Adam—don’t!”
I jumped in front of him as he lunged for the door, gasping as I felt the sheer weight of his muscle crashing against my front.
Grabbing hold of what I could, I flew backward, and before I knew what was happening, my face was inches from Adam’s—my body sandwiched between him and the door, and my hands pressed flat against his bare chest.
Holy fuck.
My heart leapt in my throat as I looked up at him.