“You’d create a position just for me to stay?”
“Of course not,” he smiles. “Well, maybe I would. But I don’t have to. If I recall correctly, we’re now short a talent manager.”
“Randall’s job? You think I could do that?”
He gives me a look. “You’re a brilliant dancer, and I have no doubt that you’d be able to see talent in others. You’re brave, and fearless, and have the biggest heart of anyone I know. Those all seem like good qualities in a position that’s managing people.”
I crawl on top of him again, straddling his hips, and I feel his cock stir underneath me. “You’re crazy. And it’s perfect and I hate job hunting so yes, absolutely, I accept.”
He laughs through my kissing him. “Be careful, I might start to think that you actually like me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, trailing my kisses down onto his jaw. “I clearly hate you. These are hate kisses.” I flex my hips against his cock. “This was hate sex.”
He catches my face and pulls my mouth back to his, lips achingly soft and gentle. Again that stirring in my chest. I feel so full of this feeling that I know it’s going to burst out of me. “You sure you haven’t gotten hate and love confused?” He asks, kisses growing more intense. “I hear there’s a fine line between them.” He flips me over, pinning me to the bed and taking my mouth in a kiss that leaves me dizzy. “I know where my kisses are coming from, and it certainly isn’t hate.” He pulls back and looks me in the eyes, no trace of a joke anywhere on his face. “I love you, Libby.”
I feel like I’m cracking open, breaking with the force of this emotion, my voice unable to rise above a whisper. “I love you, too.”
He kisses me again and again and again until I’m breathless and aroused and ready for him to take me again. “I hope you know that I make an excellent breakfast.”
“Does that mean you’re spending the night?”
He laughs, rolling on a condom. “Tonight, and every night. Your place or mine, we’re going to be together.”
I groan as he pushes into me, filling me to the brim. “I like the sound of that.”
“I thought you might.”
And then there’s no more thinking, only sweet, sweet pleasure.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”
Julian grins at me. “I’m not making you do anything, little dancer. If you really don’t want to, we won’t.” He leans closer to me. “But we both know that you’ve wanted this for a while.”
“Damn you.”
He takes my hand and pulls me across the club. “As long as I get to fuck you first.”
I get distracted by the way the lights in the club bounce off my new ring. It’s only been on my finger a couple of days, and I’m still not used to it. His proposal was simple, just in bed after we had finished making love—because that night that’s what it was. He asked me if I’d marry him, and I’d said yes, and every hour since then I’ve thought about that moment, unable to keep the smile off my face. Now is no exception as the blue and purple club lights flare through the diamond and make it look even more stunning than it is already, beautiful and alien.
Above our heads, Cosette is dancing. I see the spotlights fall on her as she gets a tip, and I smile. She’s become the club favorite, and no one deserves it more than she does. But right now, I can’t think about that, because Julian is leading me to a stage at the edge of the club. A stage with a giant glass box.
Deep down, I know that he’s always been right. I love to be watched, and the idea of letting people do it is thrilling. The reality is a little terrifying. He’s been suggesting we go in the box for months, and I’ve always said no. But the past couple days I’ve been so happy that I said yes without really thinking, and now I’m here. Julian doesn’t lie, if I say I genuinely don’t want to go in, he won’t make me. But we’re here, the box is reserved for us, and there’s a little part of my brain that wonders if I’ll regret it if I walk away now?