Page 14 of The Pleasure Contract

He looked faintly disheveled and she had to clench down on that throbbing sensation inside her, which almost tipped her straight back over the edge.

How could he be even hotteraftershe’d sampled him? Now that he was less tailored and somehow far more dangerous? His shirt was untucked, his jacket no longer sitting quite so nicely on those shoulders of his, and he made her feel completely out of control.

More than that, she liked it.

He looked at her, his gaze dark and commanding, and appreciative, almost. As if she was a dessert and he wanted to indulge himself all over again.

This man made Bristol want things she’d never wanted in her life.

To be taken like this, instead of forced to endure endless theoretical musings about the biology of desire. To be wanted, desperately, without it having the faintest thing to do with her academic achievements or her intellect.

Sure, he wanted cocktail conversation. She understood that. But if she wasn’t mistaken, Bristol thought what Lachlan Drummond really wanted was to fuck.

And because he was famous and chased after wherever he went, he needed to go to great lengths to figure out how to get what he wanted without, as Indy had said, trawling around in bars.

Even the panel made more sense to her now, still tender from the way he’d pounded them both into oblivion. It wasn’t likeLachlan Drummondcould reveal himself on a dating app. He couldn’taskfor alley sex. It would end up on the front page of every tabloid on the planet.

Then again, maybe her sudden rush of understanding had more to do with all the orgasms she’d had.

But even thinking and analyzing connected to that blistering heat that still flared between them, it seemed. It was so bright it almost seemed like daylight, lighting her up there in a dark alley in the middle of the loud and careless city.

“Well?”

And Bristol couldn’t tell if that was a taunt or an invitation. Or some combination of the two.

Maybe she should have cared about that. But she didn’t.

“Well, what?” She tilted her head to one side and found herself smiling. “Are you looking for a performance review?”

And she was finding herself growing more and more addicted to that laugh of his, because he seemed so astonished that it was happening.

“I don’t need you to tell me how good I am. I know.”

“The kindest and most humble of billionaires,” she murmured. “You are truly a Renaissance man.”

“I don’t believe in false humility,” Lachlan said. “Especially not when you came so many times. But I do believe in contracts.”

Contracts.That word rebounded around inside her, a lot like a bucket of cold water. Bristol thought she ought to be outraged. She frowned at him, but it felt as if she was trying something on. Not as if it was in any way organic.

“I don’t need to sign a contract. I don’t want anything from you. I don’t want your money and I certainly don’t want to be your wife.” She shrugged. “The truth is, I don’t think I’m your type.”

“And that’s why I like you,” he agreed. And his eyes were really far bluer than was fair. “The thing is, Bristol, you want me. And there’s only one way you can have me.”

“I had you not five minutes ago. I’m good.”

“Will that be enough, do you think?”

And she would have recoiled if he’d sounded swaggery or full of himself. But he didn’t. The question sounded like a truth, and it echoed like a song.

Bristol sighed. “Contracts, then?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“That will severely inhibit the new career I was thinking of starting,” she told him, leaning into her frown. “I figured I’d wander about, having sex with famous men in alleyways, and selling the story to whoever would buy.”

“You can have sex with one famous man wherever you want,” he replied, leaning against the car of his. “And whenever I want. Which is going to be too much sex to worry about alleyways you might have known.”

“Right, right.” She ran her hands over her hair, pleased to find it was a mess. For some reason, it made her feel that much more beautiful. And somehow in control, that she could abandon herself so completely and then debatecontracts. As she stood there, she braided it loosely and tossed it over her shoulder. “That’s thehealthy sexual appetiteyou have a panel of your assistants discuss with a field of applicants.”