Page 54 of Tempting Kat
“Buy anything you want. Anything you need,” he repeats, still holding the card out to me.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, my voice smaller than I intended.
His dark eyes hold mine. “Because I want to. Because I can. Because seeing you happy does something to me that I can't fucking explain.”
I tentatively reach out and take the card from his fingers.
“I'll pay you back,” I tell him, clutching the card like it might burn me. “Once I get my shit together and?—”
“Don't fucking insult me,” Conrad growls, standing up to his full height, still gloriously naked and apparently not giving a single fuck about it. “You're not paying me back. That's not how this works.”
I blink up at him, feeling small and vulnerable in the massive bed. “But?—”
“No buts. Spend the damn money, Katarina.” He crosses his arms over his chest, muscles flexing in a way that makes my mouth go dry. “And if you don't spend it, I will. Then you'll be bitching that I bought you the wrong shit anyway, so this way you at least get to pick out everything yourself.”
I open my mouth to argue, then close it again. The man has a point.
“Fine,” I mutter, finally pocketing the card. “But I'm not going overboard.”
Conrad snorts. “Buy whatever the fuck you want. I don't care if you max it out.”
I roll my eyes. “What's the limit on this thing anyway?”
His lips quirk up in a smirk. “There isn't one.”
“I guess it's the least you could do since you've been obsessively stalking me for six months,” I mutter, turning the black card over in my hands.
“I prefer to call it ' observation,'” he says, not even trying to deny it.
“Right. Because that's so much better.” I snort, a sudden thought hitting me that makes me laugh. “You know, it's almost like we've been casually dating for six months without me even knowing it.”
Conrad's eyes gleam. “Well, consider our casual dating now over,” he says, running a hand through his hair. “It's full-on dating or whatever the fuck you want to call it.”
My mouth drops open. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” He doesn't even have the decency to look uncertain. “This is happening. You and me.”
I clutch the sheet tighter around me, suddenly feeling exposed despite having this man's cum inside me just hours ago. “You can't just decide that.”
“I just did.” He checks his watch—because of course he's still wearing a watch while being completely naked. “Now, Henry should be here soon with a few things for you to wear so we can go to breakfast and then we'll go shopping.”
“Why the fuck does Henry have women's clothes?” I ask because that man hasn’t said more than ten words to me the few times he’s driven me home.
“Because I told him to pick some things up for you,” Conrad says it like it's the most reasonable thing in the world. “Something to get you through breakfast until we can get your clothes replaced.”
I narrow my eyes. “If Henry brings me tweed or tartan, I'm knocking all of the shit in this suite over.”
Conrad actually laughs at that, a deep rumble that does something weird to my insides. “Duly noted,” he says, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “But I'm not concerned. Henry has excellent taste.”
I roll my eyes, but I'm secretly relieved. The thought of having to put on my beer-soaked clothes from last night is enough to make me consider Conrad's offer seriously.
“Fine,” I concede, sliding out of bed and wrapping the sheet around me toga-style. “I'll go to breakfast, but I absolutely do not need you breathing down my neck as I shop.” I toss my hair over my shoulder. “So you can go do whatever you do to make money for black cards, and you'll leave me alone.”
The amusement fades from Conrad's face, replaced by something I can't read. He steps closer, his naked body just inches from my sheet-covered one, and searches my face with an intensity that makes my breath catch.
“Is that what you want?” he asks, his voice low. “To be left alone?”
There's something in his tone that makes me hesitate. A vulnerability I didn't expect from a man who spanked me and then ordered me around like he owned me just hours ago.
