Page 43 of Temporary Vows

“Payment received.” If not for the slight huskiness in his voice, I would have never thought the kiss had any effect on him. “Don’t let me catch you in a place like this ever again.”

He releases me then steps back, his warning clinging to the air like smog.

He doesn’t wait for my response. He turns and walks away, unhurried, like he hasn’t just rearranged my entire body with his kiss.

Without looking back, he heads to the door, opens it, and he’s gone. Just like that.

I collapse against the wall, my heart pounding.

I feel like I just stepped into the wrong side of an alternate universe.

And that kiss…

That wasn’t just a kiss. It was a line being crossed.

I’m not sure I can find my way back. Or if I want to.

Chapter 10

Dorian

Iturn on the shower.

The cold water hits hard, immediate, pouring over my head and shoulders.

It runs down the planes of my chest, over the ridges of muscle, slick and unforgiving, turning my skin numb.

I tip my head forward, palms braced against the wall, jaw clenched, and let it keep coming—let it strip everything back to sensation.

But it doesn’t fix anything.

It doesn’t cleanse Elodie Harper from my system or bleed her from my mind.

My fucking cock is harder than it was when I left the club, and the taste of her still clings to my tongue like sin.

Sweet, dangerous sin.

How in the ever-loving fuck did I go from what should’ve been a simple business meeting to buying Elodie Harper in an auction?

And sixty grand for a kiss?

Maybe I did become Levi’s Saint Dorian of Manhattan. If she’d been anybody else, I would’ve fucked her against the wall instead of asking for a mere kiss.

The problem is, the damn kiss opened a door, one I should never want to walk through.

And now I can’t pretend I don’t know what’s on the other side.

I close my eyes and replay the moment—her soft hesitation, the way she kissed me like she was exploring my mouth, the way her lips went from careful to hungry the second I took control.

I’m not an oblivious fool.

I was fully aware of her fascination with me when I was friends with Jack.

I could’ve fed it. I didn’t.

Not because she was off-limits. Not because of the seven-year age gap.

I avoided her on purpose.