The Cinderella Arrangement (9 page)

“Luke’s a private person, but I’m glad he’s going to this support group with you. He needs it. Don’t tell him I said that,” he added.

“No, of course not.” Guilt squirmed inside me. Even his friends could see how his father was tormenting him.

“He’s always been my best mate, but he’s never been very happy. It’s hard when you have a dad like his.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be talking to Brandon like this, but I couldn’t resist. “Maybe it runs in the family,” I said, thinking of his mother’s suicide.

He shrugged. “I’m just glad he has someone who has gone through the same thing. By the way, I’m sorry if I came off standoffish when we first met. The girls he usually dates are only with him for the money, but you’re not like any of the ones he’s been with.”

The guilty feeling in my stomach doubled and I half-heartedly returned his beaming smile.

I am with him for the money—sort of.

I didn’t like lying to him, and I battled an overwhelming urge to confess and tell him the whole truth. My fingers moved around the glass mug.
Luke would be upset.
I stamped down on my impulse and looked down. For the first time, I felt guilty about this whole arrangement. How many people would I have to lie to? I hoped that they weren’t as nice as Brandon.

“What’s his father like?”

“I’ve only seen him a few times. He seemed polite. Maybe cold. That’s normal, though.  I know everything about him through what Luke has told me, and he has told me some terrible things. It’s not just him. It’s the cousins and his uncle. They all want a piece of Luke’s inheritance and they’ll do anything to get it.”

My fingers were white around the handle of the mug. “Can’t he get power of attorney over his father?”

Brandon shook his head.

What a mess,
I thought. Part of me wondered whether it would be such a horrible thing if Luke’s father wrote him out of his will. Sure, he’d lose his inheritance, but didn’t he have a great deal of money in his bank account already? Didn’t he have millions of dollars worth of property? How many millions does one need, anyways? At least he’d be out of his father’s influence for good, and he would never have to stress about his family trying to usurp his inheritance.

“Would it be the worst thing in the world if he lost it? Wouldn’t it be good to be out of his father’s hair once and for all?”

He stared at me with a shocked expression as if I had suggested that we boil Luke’s head. “What—give up his legacy? Are you mad?”

I shrugged. “It’s just—I would be happy with a million dollars. Why does anyone need that much money?”

“It’s not about the money.”

Bullshit.
I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s totally about the money. Look, I understand. Losing that kind of money would make anyone crazy.”

“It’s his inheritance. He deserves it. He’s earned it. It might go to people who don’t deserve it, who aren’t even affiliated with the company at all.”

Despite his assurances to the opposite, I still didn’t think Luke would be as motivated if his inheritance was a few thousand dollars. How does one earn five billion dollars?
You can’t.
Mr. Pardini could do whatever he wanted with his money. Still, it was an asshole move to shove your only son out, especially when he had worked so hard his whole life for his father’s approval.

Hell, who am I kidding? He deserves it.
Luke toiled his whole life expecting to take his father’s mantle. To have it ripped out of his hands when this line of work was the only one he knew would be downright cruel.

At that moment, Luke rejoined us at the table and I was tight-lipped, avoiding his gaze. The waitress brought us three steaming pies surrounded by mashed potatoes and a moat of gravy and I soon forgot everything I worried about. Brandon laughed at me as I sighed in ecstasy with each bite. The steak and ale pie was dripping with decadence; the meat was slow-cooked for hours so it fell apart and melted in my mouth. The gravy mingling with the mustard seed potatoes was delicious, and I devoured it, burning my tongue. After we finished, we sat for a while and enjoyed the peace of a warm, full belly. Brandon patted his stomach and stood up to leave.

“I should get going.”

“I hope I see you again,” I said, shaking his hand.

“Likewise.”

Luke stepped forward to grasp Brandon in a one-armed hug and then he turned as Brandon left the pub.

I couldn’t read his face. “Luke, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to say—”

“Don’t be sorry. That was brilliant, even if it was mortifying.”

My cheeks flushed at his praise and they burned even brighter when he smiled at me.

* * *

L
uke's arm
dropped from my side the moment the elevator doors closed. He stepped a mile back and focused his gaze on everywhere but me. It was as though I was invisible.

I thought that he believed he could ignore me into nonexistence. After the almost-sex in our hotel room, Luke avoided staying too long around me. For hours I'd stay in the room, alone. It wasn’t
too
terrible. The money I earned was used to travel across England. I visited York Minster Abbey and marveled at the Gothic splendor, even climbing the abbey’s spiral staircase. It was amazing, but I wished I had someone—
anyone
to experience it with.

On the weekends, Luke and I went out together on fake dates. We kissed in front of paparazzi, we made out in park benches, and we took trains to Bath, Oxford, to the Lake District. The sexual tension between us was as taut as a tightrope, trembling, ready to snap. It all felt so damn real, but every time we returned to the hotel, Luke was distant. He separated himself from me the moment we stepped inside as though he couldn’t wait to be rid of me.

There was an aching hole inside my chest. I no longer enjoyed going out with him—he made me feel even lonelier than I did when I walked alone. It sucked. 

I closed my eyes. “Luke?”

“Hm?”

“I can’t take this anymore.”

The elevator lights beamed with the sixth floor.

Luke looked at me with a puzzled expression. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t go on kissing you every day and acting like it means nothing.”

“Jessica, we made an agreement—”

"Then we almost had sex. I haven’t been able to think of anything else."

A heavy weight settled on my shoulder. His abdomen bumped into my back and I tried to stamp down the swell inside my heart. His fingers brushed aside the strands of hair on my naked skin, and just that was enough to make the heat between my legs blaze into a forest fire.

“Do you think I want to push you away? I'm trying to protect us."

The bell chimed. Seventh floor.

"Maybe I don't want to be protected."

"You're making this harder than it needs to be. I want you, too. More than you realize. But we can't."

"Says who?"

I turned around, and he looked at me with a lopsided smirk. "Damn it."

He bent his head. His hands fell on my head and his lips seared against mine in a slow, long kiss. I moaned into him and his tongue slipped inside, flicking my tongue as if his head was between my legs. As I imagined that, my hands slid around his back and clenched over his ass.

“Is this what you want?” he asked in a heated whisper when he broke the kiss.

“Don’t toy with me.”

“I’m not toying with you.”

I couldn't think while he touched my breast.

"I was just trying to keep my distance.”

He didn’t seem to care about distance anymore. I gasped as his fingers found the waist of my jeans and groped for the zipper. My heart bashed against my ribs as Luke unzipped my pants, his back to the elevator doors. The cold air stung my skin as my pants fell.

“Luke! They might record—we’re in an elevator.”

“So?"

"Maybe we should wait 'till we get—"

"You want me to stop?"

His hands paused their tracing of my cotton panties. He cupped my pussy, the heat of his palm burning my body. Then he reached forward with his middle finger to stroke my clit. It was a very light touch, but it was enough to send a spasm through me. Then he slowly parted my panties aside, which were soaking wet with my arousal. He dipped into me, watching my face transform with a satisfied smirk.

“Luke.”

“That’s it,” he whispered. “I want to get you off.”

There were two fingers inside me now, pumping inside my wet walls. The sounds echoed through the small elevator as Luke fucked me with his fingers.

Another chime of the bell. Eight floor.

I didn't care that anyone could walk in. My walls clenched around his thrusting fingers, and I seized Luke’s head. He crushed his lips against mine as I buried my tongue in his mouth. My moans interrupted his frenzied kissing, but he kept the same steady rhythm, his fingers curling into the spot that made me groan. My pussy contracted in pleasure, and I felt my stomach clench as Luke pushed me toward my breaking point. I cried out and felt my core contracting around his fingers as he plunged them in hard one last time.

My back hit the wall as Luke pushed me, grinding his hardness into my naked thigh as heat seared up my spine. A smile staggered across Luke's face as I came on his fingers.

"I could fuck you right now."

I imagined him taking me by the waist, my hands flat against the stainless steel walls.

Bing
.

The elevator chimed, and the door opened to the top floor. The lust didn't leave Luke's eyes as he dropped his hands from me and stepped back.

* * *

L
uke paced the hotel suite
. “Did anyone call?”

“You asked me that. No.”

Things between us were tense lately, mostly due to Luke's refusal to bend the rules. 

Just fuck me already.

“Why hasn’t he called?”

I watched him, my eyes flicking from the toned skin peeking out from his shirt to his eyes. I didn’t know what to tell him. “He’ll call. Maybe he’s busy.” I knew that my assurances meant nothing to him, but I didn’t know what else to do.

Luke looked at me with heat in his gaze as he ripped off his shirt and threw it on the floor. “He’s busy harassing the nurses, I’m sure. This is just another way for him to screw with me.”

A loud ringing filled the hotel suite and Luke stood shock still. It was coming from the office.
Wow, that’s creepy.
He stared at me

“Well, answer it!” I yelled as the second ring jarred the air.

He sprinted toward it and I followed swiftly, hanging near the door, which Luke left ajar.
Should I stay here?

“Luke Pardini."

I peeked inside and saw Luke hunched over the desk, shirtless, looking as though he wanted to throw up. He saw me watching and pressed the speakerphone button.

“
Hello, Luke,
” said a wizened, male voice. “
I see you’ve been very busy this past few weeks. A new girlfriend and a drunken brawl already?
”

“Hi Dad,” he said grimly. “I wasn’t drunk. Someone was in a fight and—”

“
I’m not interested in hearing your excuses. I’m more interested in the girl. She doesn’t look like the tarts you usually date.
”

I yanked my necklace chain against my skin.

“Well, her name is Jessica.” Luke gave me a worried look. “She has a BA in English—”

“
Useless degree. What else?”

A ripple of anger went through me.
Useless?
Well, I had heard it before.

“She—um, she volunteers at a soup kitchen every week and wants a job in editing.”

“
How quaint.
”

I was astounded at how demeaning he could sound in the few words he spoke.

The speaker of the phone let out a garbled sigh. “
Luke, I called because I’m removing you from VP of Acquisitions for a few weeks.
”

Luke’s shout of rage was enough the make the walls tremble. “You’re what?”

“
I can’t afford to get any more bad press on the company. You know that you’re a magnet for it, right? I don’t know why you like to make my life so difficult.
”

“Dad, you can’t believe everything you read in the press!”