She nodded.
“If at the end of our agreement you do consider leaving, would you at least allow me the chance to argue my case or renegotiate for you to stay?”
“Don’t want to lose your shirt?” she quipped, trying to lighten the tone.
His face looked sad. “I have been broke before. I’m more worried about you taking my heart than my money.”
She pondered his comment after he left their bed to go make them coffee. She headed into the shower. Maybe she wasn’t the only one seeing this as more than “just” a business deal. As stupid as it sounded, she did feel something for him.
Loren pulled strings with the place that did her nails and asked them to take care of them special on a Sunday even though they were normally closed. Landry paid extra for that, of course. She would be on her way there soon to pick up Tilly and take her for the rest of the day. Landry would meet them later at the club with Cris before the wedding.
As Landry stepped into the shower, she turned and their eyes met. Without thinking about it she was in his arms, kissing him, voraciously trying to devour him then and there.
He returned her kiss with equal passion, his cock stiff and pressing against her body. His large hands slid down her wet skin to her ass, holding her still so she wouldn’t wriggle free and sneak his cock between her legs.
“Later, love,” he hoarsely said as he held her. “Please don’t torture me yet. I’m too close to the edge.”
Her hands moved to his back, her fingers tracing his spine, his firm muscles. “Why is this so important to you? Why can’t we do it now and just pretend it’s the first time in front of Cris?”
“There have been enough omissions in my relationship with him and in yours also. A few more hours of torment are well worth it.” He rubbed his chin in her wet hair. “Believe me, love, you shall be fucked well and hard tonight.”
She wanted to be fucked well and hard right now. She tried to squirm against him, but he clamped his elbows against his side, trapping her arms around him. “Behave, love,” he playfully chastised.
“Easy for you to say. You didn’t go through a long dry spell.”
A little tension flowed out of his body. “You’re right.” He stepped forward until her back pressed against the wall. Then he dropped to his knees and looked up at her. “You’re absolutely right. I owe you this.” He pushed her thighs apart and lowered his mouth to her mons. His talented tongue swept along her clit, driving rational thought from her mind.
She held on to his shoulders for support, not realizing how hard she dug her nails into him, her legs trembling as he pressed two fingers inside her. It didn’t take him long to draw a hard, screaming orgasm out of her. Once he did he stood and pulled her into his arms, holding her as she laid her face against his chest and cried in his arms.
“Shh, love, it’s all right.” He gently maneuvered her until they stood under the spray, still holding her, soothing her. “Good?”
“Fuck. Good isn’t even on the same planet as that.”
He chuckled. “At least I know of one way to possibly keep you with me then. I shall make sure you stay well-satisfied in bed.”
She roughly laughed. “How do you know I’ll be any good in bed?”
“If what you did to me was any indication of how good you are, love, I have no doubts I will be more than satisfied.”
He finished showering first and returned to the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his hips.
When the doorbell rang a little after eight, it didn’t surprise him. Loren wasn’t due until eight-thirty, but he knew from the time he’d spent with her yesterday that she loved Tilly and after she’d recovered from her initial shock over the news, she was looking forward to the wedding.
Mug of coffee in hand, he walked to the front door and opened it.
Loren immediately walked in. “I know I’m early, but I—” She noticed his towel and blushed.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to get you out of the shower.”
He smiled as he closed the door behind her. “I was already out of the shower. Coffee?”
“Oh. Um, yeah.”
He smiled to himself as he led the way to the kitchen, knowing she studied his body as they walked.
He heard Tilly call from the bedroom. “Was that the doorbell?”
“Yes, love. Loren’s here.”
“Goddammit!”
He laughed as he sat at the table and crossed his legs. Loren’s blush deepened. “Don’t mind her,” he said. “She’s a nervous bride.”
Loren’s gaze had firmly fixed on his towel, which he knew was in danger of falling open and exposing him. He didn’t bother adjusting it.
Tilly bustled into the kitchen, wearing a bathrobe and with a towel wrapped around her damp hair. “Lor, I knew you’d do this to me, I—” Her mouth snapped shut when she spotted Landry sitting there. “Jesus Christ, would you please go put some clothes on! Loren, quit drooling over him.”
Loren had poured herself a mug of coffee. “Dammit, Tilly, you can’t ask me not to look.”
“He’s my fiancé. Let me get a ring on him before you start ogling him.”
Landry stood and pulled Tilly into his arms for a long, deep kiss. “I’m sorry, love. I was in here getting my coffee. Forgive me?”
She looked stunned by his kiss. “Uh huh.”
He smiled at her and gently chucked her on the chin. “I’ll go put on something less revealing.”
He walked out of the kitchen, chuckling all the way to the bedroom.
Behind him, he heard Loren say, “Jesus Christ, Tilly, the guy is fucking haaawwwt!”
“Will you shut up!”
He closed the bedroom door before he burst out laughing. It appeared he’d won the hardest battle—charming Tilly’s protective best friend.
When he emerged a few minutes later, dressed in jeans and a button-up shirt, he also realized Loren must have seen the red claw marks Tilly’s short but lethal nails had left on the back of his shoulders.
He only hoped those marks lasted until after he picked Cris up. What a mindfuck that would be.
Tilly now had her coffee and looked a little more composed. When Landry returned to the kitchen, she stood. “I’ll get dressed so we can go.”
“Can I have a kiss?”
She rolled her eyes, but she smiled and leaned in for another kiss. Before she pulled away, she nipped his lower lip. “Behave,” she warned him before heading to the bedroom.
He laughed as he watched her leave.
“She’ll be a handful,” Loren warned him from her seat at the table.
He turned to her. “I know. That’s what I’m hoping.”
“This is none of my business. Wait, fuck that, it is my business. She’s my best friend. What the hell will happen with Cris?”
He shrugged and took another sip of coffee. “That’s up to Cris. He’ll sleep in the guest room.
Or on the floor or in the garage if I tell him to. Maybe the backyard, if he does anything to piss her off.
If he doesn’t like it, he knows where the front door is.”
Loren studied him for a moment. “She didn’t exaggerate,” she finally said. “You really are out for blood.” Her expression hardened. “You fucking hurt her, I’ll kill you myself.”
He moved to the table and sat across from her. “Loren,” he softly said, “I’m going to tell you something with the full expectation that you’ll probably repeat it to her. Tilly is very special. Only a moron could miss that. I am many things, but I am not a moron. I already told her this morning that if she does try to leave at the end of our arrangement I will be lobbying very strongly for her to stay.”
She stared at him for a moment before speaking. “And not because of the money.”