Read (3 Book Romance Bundle) "Love Far Away" & "The Escort Next Door" & "Loving the Bull Rider" Page 12
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Matthew had stepped in to the shower and was cleaning himself off. I wasn’t sure how this worked now- did I join him? Showering together seemed such an intimate thing to do. I had to laugh a bit at myself for the thought.
“Here’s a towel,” said Matthew, getting out of the shower and handing me a thick, fluffy white towel. “Let’s dry off and get dressed. We don’t want the others to have to go looking for us.”
“Sure,” I said slowly. “Thanks.”
We dried off and got dressed, and I got a look at myself in the mirror. I had eye makeup dripping down my face, so I tried my best to clean it up a bit. I didn’t have any more to reapply and I looked oddly naked without any eyeliner.
Back out in the bedroom, Matthew picked up his glass of wine with a casual nonchalance, like nothing had happened between us. “Sounds like it’s winding down out there,” he said, nodding towards the door. “Should we take a look and see what’s going on?”
“Okay,” I said. I stopped with my hand on the doorknob and turned to face him. “Before we go out- I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how it works, afterwards-“
“Don’t worry about it,” he interrupted, and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. “You’re one hell of a beautiful woman, Julia. I don’t expect anything if you don’t want it. It was a hell of a lot more fun than what I thought I’d be doing in this bedroom all night long. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Paris.”
“Thank you,” I said automatically. “You, too.”
Matthew didn’t mean anything malicious in what he’d said, but it left me with an uneasy feeling. I’d had sex with another man who wasn’t my husband. It was true that my husband had told me he wanted a divorce, but we were still married and he was still my husband. We had a comfortable home, two beautiful children, and a happy life that we had both enjoyed up until the past few months. With a bit of hard work, we could get back to that place, couldn’t we? Could that still happen?
I opened the door and walked out to join the rest of the party. The contests were over and the lights had been turned down and everyone was dancing and mingling again, although this time much more closely. I scanned the group for my friends, desperately wanting to go back to the hotel and sleep in my soft bed.
To my great relief, I spotted Megan dancing in a small group with one of the men and a couple other women. I didn’t care if I was interrupting anything. I walked right up to her, grabbed her by the hand, and pulled her off to the side.
“Jules! There you are,” she said, giving me a small hug. “We were looking for you. Figured you’d taken a cab back to the hotel. Where were you? Your hair’s all wet.”
I shook my head and could barely manage to get the words out. When I did, my voice wavered. “I think I’ve made a huge mistake.”
To be continued...
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Escort Next Door
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