Page 125 of Fourth Point Of Contact

“For about ten seconds. I didn’t know what I was watching. I swear.”

The fierceness in his voice was comical. “I believe you. You don’t have to protest quite so hard.”

“I believe I do. I can’t have you believing that I would ever rent a movie like that.”

“What did you think you were getting?”

Red dots stained his cheeks as he rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Okay, confession time. In a moment of weakness, I signed up for a…subscription package. New DVDs delivered every week,” he said as if he was advertising it.

“And you can’t just rent it or watch it online like a normal person?”

“Like I said, it was a moment of weakness. And when I filled out the form, it asked if I had any kinks.” He shrugged, shaking his head. “Why not, right? I had no idea what was actually out there. I didn’t even know some of this shit was an actual turn-on to people. So, I checked the box that saidSend me anything!”

I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep from bursting out with laughter. “I have to know who this subscription is through.”

“I’m not letting you watch cow porn.”

“I don’t think you can stop me. And now that I know about it, I need to see it all!”

“You do not!”

“Yes, I do. In fact, I think this should be one of those things that when I go home, we should both subscribe, and then we can watch it together.”

“Christ,” he muttered. “I’m never going to live this down. For the rest of my life, I’ll be known as the Cow Porn King.”

“It does have a nice ring to it.”

He smirked at me as his fingers brushed over my left hand. “Speaking of rings, how long are you going to wear this thing?”

I hadn’t had the nerve to take it off yet. Not because I still wanted James, but because I wanted what the ring represented. Marriage, family, the American dream. It had all been washed away in the span of a few hours. But I didn’t want to tell Patrick that. He didn’t need to be inside my head right now.

“It’s pretty—the nicest piece of jewelry I’ve ever owned. I would be silly to want to remove it.”

“He broke your heart.”

“Maybe,” I said, flinging the covers off. I stood and walked over to my bag, pulling out clothes for the day.

“Piper—”

“Trust me. I’m not fawning over him, wishing he would take me back.”

“Then remove the ring.”

I didn’t want to, but I was here to convince his mother I was in love with her son, so I slipped the ring from my finger and tucked it into my bag. “Happy?”

He actually looked angry now, which I didn’t understand, but I wasn’t going to try to either. I had a job to do, and I had to keep it straight in my head that Patrick only wanted me for my ability to sway his mom. And sex. Yes, the sex was amazing, and I was thrilled to have it, but this would all be over in a week’s time.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

“Don’t take too long. Mom is eager to fill your stomach with food. God forbid she leave me alone and just go home.”

I smiled at him, though I really wanted to punch him in the face. He had no idea how freaking lucky he was, and that just pissed me off. I shut the door behind me and quickly showered, letting the warm water work its magic. By the time I finished, I felt marginally better, but I still needed something in my stomach to fight the acid burning in my gut.

“She’s just lovely,” his mom beamed as I eavesdropped from the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, Mom. She’s fucking perfect.”

“Language,” she hissed. “Did you have a fight with her?”

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