Page 28 of Bad Boy Done Wrong
He waited, his eyes eating her up as she approached him, completely naked, feeling beautiful and sexy under his gaze. At the last minute, she pivoted toward the bathroom, just out of his reach. He caught up to her and swatted her ass. She let out a small squeak of surprise before he scooped her up, tossing her up and over his shoulder. He was definitely bad in the best sense of the word.
Much later, they made their way to the kitchen. They both guzzled water and then helped themselves to the waiting coffee. They’d turned sex into an Olympic sport and had to rehydrate regularly.
“Take a seat,” he said before turning to get breakfast stuff out of the refrigerator.
She did, bringing her coffee with her. “What’re you making?”
“Omelets.”
So, okay, eating breakfast together every morning was kind of domestic and relationshipy, but she couldn’t help herself. He was such a good cook. And hewantedto cook for her. She couldn’t be so rude as to let all of his culinary efforts go to waste.
She sipped her coffee and thought about her parents’ upcoming fiftieth anniversary celebration. Yesterday her mom had warned her that Edward was bringing his twenty-year-old fiancée. Her mom had offered not to invite him when they’d first started planning the event, but Carrie had said it was fine. She planned to be polite and work around him. Besides, it would’ve made things awkward for her parents on this special occasion. Edward and his parents had shared most special events with their family—Christmas Eve parties, Fourth of July, summer vacations. She’d missed him last Christmas while she’d been at her friend Claire’s wedding and had skipped the summer activities, but this renewal ceremony was a big deal, so she sucked it up. It wasn’t every day your parents celebrated fifty years together.
Too bad things hadn’t worked out with her and Edward like everybody had hoped. She’d told her parents they’d broken up because Edward had strayed. She’d left out the kinky sex he’d sought elsewhere to keep her “pure.” God, she loathed Edward, the cheating liar. He’d deprived her of passion while he’d been doing all sorts of depraved sex stuff with…whoever. Thank God he’d been religious about using a condom. She’d had a thorough STD screening, anyway, once she’d realized what he’d been doing.
But now that she knew he’d be there with a young fiancée at his side, she had cold feet. The renewal ceremony was technically past the agreed upon two weeks for her and Zach, but she’d dearly love to show up there with her sexy badass boyfriend to show Edward she’d moved on and was doing just fine.
The delicious scent of breakfast cooking—omelet with ham and green peppers—reached her a short while later. It would be hard to miss out on all of Zach’s delicious breakfast food once their two weeks were up, but that was the deal. Maybe she could keep it going just a little longer.
She took a deep breath before saying as casually as she could manage, “I know our two weeks will be up next Saturday, but would you mind if we extended it by one day?”
Zach turned from the stove to look at her. His dark hair was still damp from the shower with comb lines from where she’d combed it. So hot. He let her do whatever she wanted to him. “Why?”
She hated to ask, but it would make things so much easier with her ex. “Next Sunday is my parents’ fiftieth anniversary. They’re renewing their vows in a ceremony on the beach and…” She winced, hating to bring up Edward.
“And?” he prompted.
She sighed. “My ex Edward will be there. His parents are close friends of my parents. I was hoping you’d go as my date.”
“Your parents invited him, knowing he hurt you?” His voice, gruff and curt, told her what he thought of that. She warmed, knowing he was on her side.
“They offered not to invite him, but I didn’t want to make things awkward. Edward’s family has always joined ours for special occasions.”
His lips formed a flat line, studying her for a long moment.
“I admit I don’t have the most honorable of intentions. I want to make him jealous and show you off.”
His lips curled in a slow sexy smile. “Nice.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“Yeah.” He turned back to the stove.
She shifted uncomfortably, imagining Edward saying something unkind and Zach striking back or maybe even kicking his ass! He had that alpha thing going on. She didn’t want any kind of testosterone showdown on her account. Not that Zach was in love with her. They both knew this two-week one-day fling was about sex.
“Uh, Zach, please don’t say anything to him, okay? No matter what he says, let me handle him.”
He didn’t reply. Just kept cooking barefoot in his sexy blue T-shirt and faded jeans.
“I mean it,” she said firmly.
He shifted the omelet to a plate and crossed to her, setting it in front of her. “If you could handle him, you wouldn’t need me there.”
“Forget it,” she muttered, annoyed at how well he could read her. She didn’tneedhim there, but shereallywanted him there. She could feel Zach’s eyes on her as he continued to stand by her side.
“Carrie.” His tone was surprisingly gentle.
She didn’t reply, just sliced into a corner of her omelet. She didn’t want him to feel sorry for her and she definitely didn’t want to share about Edward’s stupid fiancée because she was afraid she’d end up all teary. That could’ve been her and, even though she’d turned him down when itwasher, it still stung. Edward and this other woman couldn’t have been together very long. Edward tooksix yearsto propose to her and then not until after she’d dumped him. His proposal was a last-ditch effort to get her back. She took a small bite of omelet and groaned. Effing delicious.
