Summer Love by Piper Rayne

Chapter Three

Iknew she would say yes.

Abigail was too stubborn for anything else. It was one of the things I loved about her.

Loved.

I pushed the word out of my consciousness. The same way I’d been doing for years. Being so close to her, yet with so much distance between us all this time had been my own penance for letting her go to Daniel without fighting for her. It was my loss. A terrible loss with no chance of redemption. Until now.

I knew the moment Abigail was on the grounds. The air shifted. It was electric. I could feel it.

She was here.

A quick glance at the security camera app on my phone proved I was right.

She drove an old, beater car that had more rust on it than paint. I cringed. Her asshole husband had screwed her over in the worst way. I hated Daniel for what he’d done to her. How he’d used her and destroyed her socially and financially. Not that Abigail gave any fucks about her social status. She’d always had her group of solid, real friends. The women at the country club were anything but real. Or friends.

But she didn’t deserve the treatment she’d received from them after her husband’s scandal broke. Having her on my arm tomorrow night at the party would raise eyebrows and that’s exactly what I was hoping for. Well, that was part of what I was hoping for.

I watched on the screen as Abigail moved from the car and grabbed a duffel bag of her things. She wouldn’t be needing any of them. I’d seen to that.

I spent the next few minutes watching her as she was greeted by my housekeeper, Mrs. Mclean. She’d been in my employ since I’d made my first millions and she had a sharp memory. She hadn’t said, but she remembered Abigail well enough. No doubt the older woman also knew exactly why I’d never married, or seriously dated since Abigail, too.

She was smart and discreet, and I knew she’d take good care of Abigail.

I watched while Mrs. Mclean took Abigail’s bag from her and led her up the stairs toward the room where she’d be staying. I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat. I wanted her in my room. In my bed.

But I’d be patient.

I clicked off the app as they arrived to Abigail’s room. I didn’t have cameras in the rooms. Even if I did, I wouldn’t watch. I was a gentleman. And this was far more important to me than just the one weekend.

* * *

It had been years since I’d been in Phillip’s home. My stomach flipped and a rush of feelings slammed into me as I followed Mrs. Mclean down the hall. Did she remember me? Certainly she must have. There’d been a time when I’d spent a lot of time here.

I even thought I might live here one day. With Phillip.

Things changed.

And here we were.

Some of the furnishings had changed, but the feel of the home was the same. The floor was black and white marble. The walls were light-gray and the overall feeling was one of power, masculinity, and money. Involuntarily, a shiver ran through me.

When Mrs. Mclean opened the heavy doors with a flourish and stepped inside what was easily the most beautiful room I’d ever seen, I gasped. The entire suite was at least twice the size of the shoebox apartment I’d been renting and far bigger than the master bedroom I had in the home I’d shared with Daniel before it had been seized.

Unlike the rest of the house, this room was feminine. The bed looked inviting, made up with a pink floral duvet and more pillows than I could count. Like a cloud, I couldn’t wait to sink into it.

“It’s beautiful,” I breathed as I stepped into the space. My feet sank into the plush carpet.

“Mr. Conrad has provided a few items for you this weekend. You will find them in the walk-in closet through the en suite.”

“He’s done what?”

She ignored me. “He’s in his study when you are ready for dinner.”

I could have been annoyed at his presumption that he could dress me, but it felt both sweet and sexy at the same time, and I had to admit I was more than a little turned on. Phillip always did have a way of taking control of a situation.

And I’d already decided Darla was right. We were way too young not to have fun. I’d spent far too long pretending to be something I wasn’t. What if the forties really were the new twenties? Only better?

There was only one way to find out.

With a devilish grin on my face, I went in search of the closet. The bathroom was just as impressive as the bedroom. There was enough room for an entire store’s worth of clothes in the closet, but only a few things hung on the far wall.

Phillip had exquisite taste, I’d give him that. I quickly examined the beautiful dresses, and turned to the dresser.

I slid out one large drawer and heat rushed to my face. I’d never seen lingerie so gorgeous. I pulled out a pale-pink silk corset. There were matching thong panties with an accompanying garter in the same soft pink.

What. The. Hell?

It was one thing for him to pick out a few dresses for me to wear, but lingerie? My face flushed. I used to enjoy wearing things like this but those days felt like a million years ago. Nevertheless, he had remembered.

And I couldn’t figure out how that made me feel. A kaleidoscope of feelings rushed through me. Guilt for taking the money in the first place—I wasn’t Daniel. I never should have done that. But it had brought me here. To Phillip. And I would be lying if I said there wasn’t more than curiosity there when it came to him. There was more. There always had been.

I lifted the lingerie again.

The idea of wearing any of these items for Phillip sent a thrill through me.

But would I?

Was he feeling the same way I was?Confused? Turned on? Guilty?

“Go have some crazy hot sex and get it out of your system.” Darla’s voice echoed in my brain.

Yes. I would wear them.

But did he expect me to? Or did he want me to? There was a difference. And I needed to know which it was.

With the pink corset still clutched in my hands, I left my bedroom suite, went down the curved staircase, and marched through the grand hallways. My confusion grew with each step until I found the door to his study. I didn’t bother knocking. I turned the handle and shoved the door open. It slammed roughly against the wall, and Phillip Conrad looked up from his desk as if he’d been expecting me.

He probably was.

“Abigail.” The flicker of humor in his voice only made me more upset. “You aren’t dressed. Didn’t you like what I picked out?” He chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

So cocky.

“Did I get the size wrong?” He scanned me up and down, a move that from anyone else I’d find offensive. Hell, I should have found it offensive coming from him.

But I didn’t.

I momentarily forgot why I’d gone in search of him in the first place. I was completely transfixed by him and the feelings he elicited in me. Never mind the way he looked at me. I could see it in his eyes. Maybe after all this time, he needed to get me out of his system, too. And he thought by buying me lingerie, that would be a given.

Damn. That was beyond cocky.

“Abigail?”

His words snapped me back to why I was there. I shook the corset in my hand. “Did you really think that by buying me some cheap shit like this, I’d just jump into bed with you?” I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. Did I even care if that’s what had happened? Wasn’t that why I was there, too? But once I started, I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I stepped forward and tossed it on the desk in front of him.

Phillip looked down at the item in front of him and then got to his feet. “Cheap?” He picked up the corset. “You think this hand-stitched, custom-made silk work of art is cheap?” He glanced down at the garment before his eyes landed on me, pinning me in place.

“It’s not the quality,” I argued. “It’s that I’ll look…I can’t dress like a…”

“Like a what?” he challenged.

“Like a whore!” I spat out the word and instantly regretted it. That’s not at all what I thought about Phillip. He would never…Phillip wasn’t that kind of guy. My thoughts crashed through me, and I couldn’t make sense of anything. Being so near him messed with my mind. My heart clenched as I watched his handsome face twist into a mask of horror.

“Oh God, Abigail. No! I would never—”

“Then why? I mean, I took the money and I’m sorry, but I don’t think—” Shit. I’d just confessed, and I could see he’d noticed, too.

To his credit, he didn’t mention it. “I would never insinuate anything of that sort, Abigail, and I think you know that.”

I did.

But there were so many feelings and it was as if I were having an out-of-body experience. It was too much. I should just turn around and walk away before I made a bigger fool of myself, before I said something I really couldn’t take back. But I couldn’t move. I was completely transfixed by him.

Phillip had moved around the table. He looked as if he wanted to touch me.

I tried not to tremble as he stood only inches from me.

“You don’t really think that of me, do you?”

I swallowed hard and opened my mouth to object, but he held up a finger and pressed it to my lips.

“I have nothing but respect for you.” His voice was smooth and slow. “You can leave anytime you want. And I won’t report you to management. I’ll even let you keep the money. That’s not what this was about.”

He was letting me off the hook?

Of course he was. It was never about the money. We both knew it.

But…no! I didn’t want to leave.

The thought crashed into me hard, and a hot pool of need settled between my legs as I realized I was exactly where I wanted to be. Here. With him.

I inhaled slowly, snatched the corset from his hand, spun on my heel and left.