Page 33 of Start With A Slap

“Kinda left that out, yeah.”

“Well, I thought I’d surprise you. Could have been nice.”

“What were you gonna do, chloroform me until the plane landed?”

She heard snickering. And not just his. “Didn’t I tell you she was precious?”

What the...?Ivy’s jaw dropped. “Am I onspeakerphone?”

“Don’t be shy, love. Tell my board of advisors how you really feel.” This was followed by a burst of male laughter.

She mock-chortled along with them. “You have atinype?—”

He picked up the phone. “Cute. Now I’m just going to have to whip it out for them as well.”

“Don’t they know who I am to you?”

“Of course. You’re my feisty new assistant.”

“Oh, for crying out— I have a job! A good one! This would be a demotion, Sever, do you understand?”

“My assistants start at one fifty a year. Oh — I’m sorry, do you make more than that?”

“Well — No, but that’s not the point.” Then it hit her: “Are youpayingme this weekend?”

“Naturally.”

“What are you payingfor, exactly?”

“That’s entirely up to you.”

“Oh my god. Just when I think you couldn’t possibly get more despicable?—”

“Look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the pillow talk, petal, I do; but there’s a time and place?—”

“Pillow talk? This isn’t high school, Sever. Stop pretending that we’re sleeping together.”

“Point is, I’m in the middle of something slightly more important than your moods. Mind if we slug this out later?”

“Yes. I mind. My ‘moods’ are your problem because they are caused by you.”

He let out a burdened sigh. “Make it count. My people are waiting.”

“You somehow knew I loved Paris, didn’t you?” She paced on the balcony. “That’s why you started that wholeTeen BeatQ&A ‘what’s your favorite place on earth’ line of bullshit.”

“Right. I don’t know what any of that means. But I do know what kind of girl you really are,tigresse, and you’re the kind of girl who can’t say no to a weekend in the most romantic city in the world.”

“Romantic?” She grunted in frustration. “You are so full of?—”

“I’ll be home at six. You’re welcome to drop by.” He breathed in. “Wear something pink and... slinky.”

“Ugh!” She hung up in a fit of disgust.

All day at work,her mind see-sawed: To go or not to go?

What if she did go? She hadn’t been to Paris since her year abroad, and that was cut short by her mother’s illness. When she met Jason, she’d been saving for a trip with her cousin Mala, but new love shelves everything. Then Ivy learned about Jason’s disdain for Paris, and it had stayed on the shelf ever since, collecting dust.

She could insist on a hotel room far away from his. She could sleep through the flight, if he’d even be on it; she could still give him hell, it would just be in another city. Despite what he’d done the night before, she suspected that Sever would back off if she made it perfectly clear that sex was off the table.

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