Page 34 of The First Deal

“Hannah,” he gasped, grabbing me, but I snatched my arm away.

“She was there,” I whispered, then realisation dawned on me. “When I was in the shower, you went out into the hall, was that with her?”

“Yes,” he confessed. “She tried to seduce me, and I turned her down. Then we had an argument when I stood firm on my refusal. She wasn’t happy. But she’s over it now. I told her about you, kind of.”

He bit his lip and twisted his fingers. I had never seen him look so nervous. “I might have blurted out that you were important or something, and then a couple of days ago I told her how I felt about you, and how much your silence was breaking me.”

“You saw her?” I asked, eyes widening.

“She’s my best friend, and she’s over it all. She understands now, now that I’ve told her the truth. I’m just sorry that it took me so long to realise that I needed to. She respects me, and she wants me to be happy. If that is with you, then she will accept you too.”

“Is that what you want?”

Shane wet his lips, swallowed hard, and met my gaze. When he looked at me my heart raced. I wanted him. I wanted to move past all of this and claim him. But what the fuck did he want?

“I want you,” he said slowly. “But there is something that I don’t want.”

“Okay.” I blinked a few times. “And what exactly does that mean?”

He reached for me. I almost backed up, but then I leaned forward, close to him, allowing him to cup my cheek as he spoke. “I have one child, and that is enough for me. I don’t want more. I don’t want to take that option away from you, but I will if you choose a life with me. I will not budge on that. Ever.”

Releasing a relieved sigh, I tilted my head, my cheek pressing deeper into his palm. “I’m no one’s mother. And I never want to be. You’re not taking anything away from me, because I don’t want it.”

“What?” It was Shane’s turn to pull back, his hand dropping from my face as he spluttered. “You mean, you, what?”

I laughed. “Oh, Shane. Come and take what you want, it’s all yours.”

It took him too long to regain his composure and kiss me, so I threw myself at him, knocking his back into the window frame and dragging him inside. We hit the floor together with a loud thud, followed by a string of curses in between desperate kisses, and then he was rolling me on top of him, pressing his hard erection between my thighs, and groaning happily as I sucked on his lower lip.

Fuck me, I adored that lip.

“So, this is it then?” he asked, his huge hands gripping my hips and grinding my body against his as he spoke. “You and me?”

“You and me, Shane,” I promised.

8

Inseparable. That was what we had become, and I was more than happy to be spending all my free time lost in Shane Hudson—my super-hot, record-label-owning, billionaireboyfriend.

Tonight was a huge deal too, because I was going to be joining Shane at some fancy dinner that he attended every year at the start of December. It would be Shane’s first time attending with a woman, and it was going to be my first time meeting Violet.

“You look like you’re going to puke, Hannah,” Quinn said as I stood in the kitchen at Shane’s place sipping water as I leaned over the sink.

“I feel like I might,” I admitted, glancing up at her on the other side of the counter.

“Stay here with me instead then,” she suggested. “Dad can go alone; he usually does.”

“No, I should go. It’s just nerves, they’ll pass.” I hope.

Quinn stared at me like she didn’t believe that they’d pass at all. Then she disappeared to the guest apartment next door and came back holding an array of pill boxes. “Pick one, they’re all great for anxious feelings. Or I have this.” She dumped the boxes on the counter beside the sink and pulled a bottle from the pocket of her sweats. God, she looked comfy.

I stared at the bottle. “Won’t that stuff get me high? I can’t go to dinner high.”

Quinn laughed. “No, it won’t get you high, but it might calm you down. Look…” She squeezed a pipette and then dropped the liquid under her tongue. With her mouth closed she smiled at me.

I stared at her for a good minute, wondering if she was going to say anything else, and then she swallowed. “Hold it under your tongue for about ninety seconds and then swallow whatever is left. Trust me, it won’t do you any harm.”

Squinting at the bottle, I decided that I had nothing to lose. If it calmed me down even a fraction, I’d be happy, and if not then like Quinn said, no harm.

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