“You’re the one who’s been messaging me all this time?”
Leave it to Des to dive right in before anyone else in the room could talk. It’s what she did at meetings. Particularly when someone in a meeting was acting like she didn’t exist. He’d always admired her talent in the business arena and counted her as a very valuable asset to their company. Now, he had to consider if also being insanely attracted to the woman behind all the sexy words was worth jeopardizing the company’s biggest marketing asset.
“We’ve been messaging each other.” He wanted to make sure she accepted that they’d both created this scenario.
“Why? You can get a date by snapping your fingers. Why in the world would you go to a dating app?”
“First, it’s not technically a dating app—it’s a social networking app.” At least that’s what he liked to remind himself. The app certainly didn’t market itself as a dating app.
Her lips turned up in a familiar look that said he should know better. “With definite sexual undertones that begin with the name Dear Lover. That’s a marketing tactic they’re using. If they don’t say they’re a dating app, they don’t have to advertise like one and be lumped in with all the other apps claiming to help people find a happily ever after.”
She was right about that. Dear Lover didn’t promise clients anything more than an opportunity to socialize in a private setting. The privacy part had been the deciding factor in him joining.
“I signed up because I wanted someone to talk to, not to go out on the town with. Or be photographed with.” Or even to sleep with, because—as she’d alluded to—there was no shortage of women willing to fall into bed with him. No, he’d simply wondered if he’d enjoy talking to someone who didn’t know who he was or how much money he had. The answer to that was hell yes. He’d enjoyed conversing with her immensely.
Desta’s hands covered her face as she shook her head. “Okay.” A deep inhale followed by a huff of breath, and her hands fell away. “Well, we’ll just take off these badges and walk out of this resort. There’re a couple hundred people in that room so they won’t notice two are gone. We’ll go back to the city and act like this never happened.”
It was a good suggestion. Efficient, to the point and effective. Probably exactly what they should do. But Maurice wasn’t known for doing what he should do. He was the most reckless and unruly of the four Gold siblings—the one who was exactly as the media portrayed him when it came to lovin’ and leavin’ women. Except lovin’ only meant sex; there were no emotions other than lust involved with him and any of the women he dated. He probably should just agree with Des and get out of here, but nothing they did from this point on was going to erase from his mind the words they’d already shared.
“Or we could stay for the weekend and act like those two adults who’ve been exchanging their deepest and most coveted sexual cravings. The two people who’ve been looking forward to this time together to explore each other’s bodies in all the ways they’d described.” His pulse pounded with the realization that he was totally flying by the seat of his pants right now. How was the transition from friends to lovers going to work here? And was that what he really wanted? Did he want to have sex with Des? And why hadn’t he figured that out before tonight?
She offered a bemused smile. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.” He touched her knee. “This is the part where I tell you how much I enjoyed our exchanges these last three months. It’s where I ask if you enjoyed them, too, and if so, what’s stopping us from going further?” Because the reasons he was giving himself to walk away seemed awfully flimsy right now. Why couldn’t two consenting adults have sex? Why did having sex have to ruin a business relationship, or a friendship, as long as they both knew what the limits were?
When she didn’t immediately respond, he continued. “It’s the part where I confess that all week I’ve been thinking about this woman who I’d never met face-to-face and how good it would feel to experience some of the things she and I had discussed. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought you’d be that woman. But here we are, and to be honest, I don’t think there’s any way I can forget what we’ve shared now.” She licked her lips, just a quick swipe of her tongue, and he knew there was no turning back. “I can only admit that finding out that you’re Dear Lover 1288 makes me even more interested in spending this weekend with you.”
CHAPTER TWO
MAURICE WAS RIGHT. There was no going back now. Her core throbbed at his words, and she closed her eyes with the second punch of lust to hit her since he’d arrived. But what was the right way forward? Was it spending this weekend with him, possibly exploring all the things they’d written about doing? Or was it walking away and, come Monday morning, trying to work together amid the intimate knowledge they now had of each other? Reclaiming her life had suddenly become more complicated.
“How would this weekend even work?” Because her body was sending signals that didn’t coincide with her brain’s advice to get the hell out of here.
Maurice shrugged. “We can either go back in there and mingle like everyone else. Or we can get dinner and then head to our rooms. Tomorrow’s agenda begins at nine with Morning Sex Mania and Make-Up and Mimosas at eleven.”
She leaned back on the couch, resisting the urge to sigh. Being frustrated about how things had turned out wasn’t going to change a damn thing. This was the hand she’d been dealt, and now she needed to figure
