“She hung up on me!”

Sean walks over and slides his hands around my waist. He leans in and kisses my neck. “We could go back to bed.”

“No, not yet. This is important Sean.” I clutch my temples, trying to ward off the headache that’s growing behind my eyes. It’s important because it frees him, I know it will. It’s the only connection that I can make. Sean acts like himself when he forgets, when he does things that he hasn’t done before. Sledding takes him back to before he was married, before his life turned to shit. I want to give him that, I want it so badly that I can’t imagine staying in this room all day, tormenting him with my touches. I want to scream.

Sean takes my wrists and pulls my hands away from my face. “I’ll take care of it. You go call down for extra blankets and a couple thermoses of hot cocoa.”

“But—”

“Do it,” he commands and swats my butt as he pushes me away.

“She isn’t going to listen to you either.” I sulk and walk to the phone next to the couch. Sean gives me a wicked grin before stepping out onto the balcony. He’s out there forever. When he steps back inside, he brushes the snow off his shoulders and smiles at me.

“Done. Grab your coat and let’s go.” As he walks toward the door, Sean strips off the damp sweater. I lean forward, staring at his chest. He smiles at me before pulling on another one—black this time. “Glad you like it.”

I do. He’s pure yummy when he’s half naked and smiling like he owns the world. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how he got Black to agree. She sounded like she wanted to bite my head off. “How’d you—?”

Sean pushes me toward the door. “Money talks, Avery. I hired that thug that drives you around, too. He’ll be here in a few minutes with sleds. I have to say this is the weirdest arrangement I’ve ever made. I just hired a guy to kick my ass if I get too handsy with you. Do I dock his pay if he takes too long to punch me? Or should I just aggravate the hell out of him the whole time?”

“Gabe hates you. That’s a really bad plan.”

Sean kisses my temple and adds, “Everyone hates me, babe. You’re a delightful exception.”

CHAPTER 7

Sean makes Gabe buy me a coat while we wait in the car. Every time I see the old guy’s eyes in the mirror, shame washes across my face. Gabe thinks I’m an idiot. He watches me sitting next to Sean and he sees right through me. Gabe knows how smitten I am with Sean. Gabe has a natural grimace etched onto his face. I think he might shoot Sean just for the hell of it.

Gabe parks the car and look over at Sean, like he shouldn’t leave us alone. “I’ll be fine,” I tell him.

Sean cuts me off, “She’ll be frozen if you don’t get her that coat.”

“Don’t steal my car,” Gabe mutters.

“I could buy a fleet of these, old man. You worries are for naught.” Sean grins at Gabe, and then gets the door slammed in his face.

“Well, isn’t he delightful?”

“For naught? Who do you think you are, Mr. Darcy?” The corner of my mouth twitches. I shake my head and look out the window.

“I heard you like surly men.”

“I like men who don’t piss off Gabe. I like men who keep their beautiful heads on their strapping shoulders.”

“You think he could take me?” Sean look surprised. Gabe is a brute, but Sean is younger.

“I think Gabe could whack you and toss you in the trunk, yeah. So stop trying to piss him off. The only reason he went inside is because he’s been yelling at me to wear a coat, too.”

“Awh, he likes you! Old man Gabe has a crush on my girl.” Sean smiles broadly.

I roll my eyes and laugh. “You’re so stupid.”

“Probably. Okay, definitely. Especially when it comes to you. You make me cray cray.”

A raw laugh bursts from my throat. I slap my hands over my mouth and turn to look at him. I start cracking up when I see the grin on his face. “Making you laugh is way too easy. Really, Avery. Class things up a little bit.” I continue to giggle and lean into him. “So, what are the odds that I get to keep you after this is over?”

I smile at him. I want to say yes, but I can’t. Not yet. Not to mention that I never thought I’d find someone this way. “I don’t know, Sean. What do we say when people ask how we met?”

“We tell them the truth—that we met on Deer Park Avenue when some jackass stole your car. No one needs to know anything else.”

“Aren’t you afraid they’ll find out?”

Sean gives me a strange look. “Who? The press? My Mom? Who are we talking about, Avery? It’s not like buying a hooker will ruin my reputation.”

The smile slips off my face. “There’s a fine line between fact and fiction. Don’t you wonder what side you’re asking that question from? I did things that I can’t undo. No matter what you do, you’ll never be the person who was bought and sold because she was broke. No one will condone that, like ever.”

“We don’t need anyone to condone anything, Avery. If you want to be with me, be with me.” I look up into his dazzling blue eyes.

“I wish it was that simple.”

“It is.”

“No, it isn’t. I need this job, but I don’t want it. I need money to live, but—”

“I’ll give you that—”

“But what does that make me, Sean? I go from being your hooker to being your—what—private call girl? I take money from you instead of Black? It doesn’t feel right.” It feels wrong. I glance out the window. I want a real relationship. I’m greedy, but I want things the way I want them. I want to work in an office and be able to pay my bills. I want to be able to go out on a date with Sean and not have to worry about whether or not I need to fuck the guy sitting next to us the following day. I want normal so badly, but my life is everything but normal.

“Avery…” Sean’s voice trails off before he says anything else. I look up and see why. Gabe is standing outside my door with a garment bag. He knocks, and opens the door.

“Miss Stanz, your coat.” He unzips the bag and takes the jacket off the hanger.

I smile when I see what he chose. It’s a bright blue ski jacket with a purple reflective stripe across the shoulders and down the arms. He holds it out and I slip into it. “It fits.” And it feels nice. I pull up the collar and snuggle into it. Damn it’s soft. I glance down at the price tag and my eyes bug out of my head. “I can’t wear this! It cost more than my car!”

“Mr. Ferro bought it. Yell at him.” Gabe leans in to say something, but thinks better of it. He takes the door handle and gestures for me to move inside.

After I sit next to Sean and Gabe closes the door, I smack Sean in the chest with the palms of my hands. “You bought me a $1200 coat? What the hell, Ferro?”

Sean laughs and shoves me back. Gabe makes a noise in the back of his throat, like a warning. Sean ignores him. “Yes, I told him to get you something that was so soft and purple that you couldn’t resist. It’s more blue than purple, though. You might want to get your eyes checked old man.” Sean glances at Gabe. Gabe holds the steering wheel tighter and grits his teeth.

I smack Sean’s arm, so he stops taunting Gabe. “Sean, you can’t buy me stuff like this.”

“But I want to.”

“But you can’t. It’s too much. You fixed my car and I didn’t say anything, but this—”

“Is hardly enough. I know. I’ll buy you more stuff.”

“Sean,” I warn.

“Avery.” He smiles back at me. He’s loving this.

I let out a rush of air and look at him out of the corner of my eye. “Arguing with you is pointless, isn’t it?” He nods. “You know I won’t wear it, right? I’ll still walk around most days with no jacket at all.”

“I understand.” He’s still smiling. He’s still wearing that smug grin.

“So this is a waste of money…”

“Nothing is a waste on you. Stop fussing and just say thank you.”

“No.” I pout and fold my arms over the chest of my puffy coat. I can’t find my boobs under this thing. I smack it down, trying to figure out where my folded arms should go.

Sean arches an eyebrow at me. “No? Did you tell me no?” He smiles and leans into me, pinning me to the seat with his body, as his hands find their way under my clothes to my skin—then he tickles me. His fingers move the perfect amount. It makes me wriggle and screech. I think Gabe is going to kill us when I slide off the seat and onto the floor, but he doesn’t say anything. In fact, he puts up the divider.

Sean pulls me back up onto the seat and slips his hand under the jacket and then under my shirt. His eyes are locked with mine as his hand slides up along my waist to my side. He slows as he nears the bottom of my breast and brushes bare skin. Sean’s eyes widen. “Where’s your bra, Miss Smith?”

“I don’t really know, Mr. Jones. I couldn’t find it this morning, so I didn’t wear one.”

A look of pure lust flashes in his eyes. It makes me squirm in my seat. His hand slips to the button on my jeans. “What about these?” His eyes flick to my waist and then lower. He wants to know if I’m wearing panties.

“What about them?”

“Are you wearing any?” Sean watches me, waiting for a response.

I give him a lopsided smile and say, “Why don’t you find out?”

Sean glances at the window and sees we have a ways to go. He leans into me, and slips the button through the hole. My jeans loosen and Sean presses his hand against my belly. His gaze is on mine, watching me, as his hand moves lower and lower. When he touches the V at the top of my legs, I close my eyes. Sean doesn’t ask. He just does it. His fingers slip between the delicate folds and inside of me. His hand works slowly, teasing me, moving in circles until I’m saying naughty things in his ear.