I picked up my dress and started to put it on. “No. When she’s in town, she expects me to sleep at the hotel.”

He stood, in all his naked glory, and I gaped, totally forgetting what I was doing. The corners of his lips tugged up and he walked to me, his gaze so intense, it made my body heat up. He curled his fingers around my waist and pulled me to him.

“I really wish you could stay,” he whispered, his breath washing over my mouth.

“Me too,” I said, standing on my toes. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down to me. His mouth met mine and his lips opened instantly, allowing my tongue in.

He groaned, deepening the kiss. He slid his hands down my hips and around my thighs, pulling my legs up and around him. He backed us up until my back was pressed against the cold wall. He briefly broke the kiss, and with deft hands, pulled my dress over my head. He threw it aside and then his hands were on me again, his mouth on mine, and then he was inside me and all I could think was that I never wanted to leave his side.

Charlotte

I halted before the closed doors and took my shoes off. I ran the key card, the light blinked green, and I pushed the door open, careful with each and every sound I made.

I closed the door behind me and took a step.

“Where have you been?”

I froze. Oh, shit. “Out. With Tracy.”

“No, you weren’t.”

“W-what? I was.”

“I called Tracy. I wanted to know where you two were going so Donnie could be there too. Tracy said she never scheduled anything with you for this weekend, which means you lied to me.” My stomach dropped. Holy crap. “With that hair of yours, I’m guessing you were in someone’s bed.”

My mouth fell open. “W-what? Of course not.”

She marched until she was right in my face. “Do not lie to me.”

I actually flinched from her harsh tone, but I wasn’t a kid. She couldn’t do this to me anymore. I raised my chin and met her eyes. “You know what? It’s none of your business.”

Her hand smacked my face so hard, my head whipped to the side and my cheek exploded with pain, pain that spread over my face.

“It is my business. Everything you do, everything you think is my business.” She just looked at me, her eyes burning with anger and frustration. “If your father were alive, he would have died of disappointment right now.”

I pressed my hand over my cheek, willing the throbbing ache to go away. “Don’t put this on my father.”

“This isn’t what he would want for you, Charlotte. You know that. It isn’t what I want for you either. You can have everything in this world. Don’t throw your bright future away.”

Everything but my future. “You’re talking as if a bomb had exploded.”

“It could well be a bomb. You don’t know what this man is going to do.” She shook her head. “I raised you better than this, Charlotte. I thought I could trust you. I thought you had a good head on your shoulders.”

“I do!”

She shook her head again and I swear the glint in her eyes was murderous. “This escapade better not be in every newspaper tomorrow morning. I swear I’ll kill you if I find a picture of you with some random guy.”

“It’s not like—”

“Does he know who you are?”

“W-what?”

“The man you slept with. Does he know who you are?”

“Oh my God, I’m not hearing this.”

“If he does, I hope he’s discreet, because so help me, if he tells anyone about this, if it leaks and turns into gossip that will end up in the newspaper, I’ll kill you. And him too. You betrayed my trust. How long have you been doing this? How many times have you lied to me like this? Do you just pick any man at random? Like what? Your boy toys?”

“Do you hear yourself?”

“Oh, Lord. And I always thought you were with Tracy. You can ruin our lives. You can ruin my career. You can ruin your career. I won’t allow it.”

“My career?”

“I should put bodyguards on you to follow your every move.”

“What? No!”

She halted and watched me with those hawk eyes of hers. “I guess it’s too late to fix this now. If this man wanted to tell someone, it’s already been done. He better remain quiet.”

What I was supposed to tell her? I wouldn’t talk to her about Mason when she was determined to think he was a boy toy. “Mother—”

“But be warned,” she cut me off. “I won’t tolerate this kind of behavior anymore. Do as I tell you or you’ll have bodyguards following your every move. And the first thing I am telling is this: You won’t be seeing this man anymore.”

Mason

I brought my coffee to my lips and the doorbell rang. I almost spilled the whole thing on me. Christ, it was ten in the morning. Didn’t people know I went to bed at four last night? Unless it was Charlotte, then I wouldn’t mind at all. We could crawl into bed together and I could nap on her arms. Nothing sounded better.

But she had been here yesterday, and I knew she had some event to attend today with her mother—most Saturdays were busy for her. Maybe she had escaped.

The bell rang again and I marched to the door.

I opened it and froze.

“Hello, Mr. Rowell,” Donnie said. “May I come in?”

I recovered from my shock and put on a pretend act. “Who are you?”

“You know very well who I am. But you see, I also know who you are.” He examined me with something like disgust in his eyes, and I gulped. Fuck. He knew about Charlotte and me. “Now may I come in?”

Charlotte

I strolled to class on Monday with gusto. After all, it was the last class before finals and then goodbye summer semester, hello three weeks of vacation.

I checked my phone as I sat in my usual seat. Three days of sharing only messages and quick calls with Mason weren’t enough. I needed to find a way to see him soon.

After a boring lecture, the professor dismissed us and I walked out of the classroom, checking my phone again.

As I looked at the screen, messages from Liana, MaryAnn, and Becca exploded in my inbox. Five. Ten. Fifteen. Fifty in less than a minute. What the hell?

My belly growled. It was past lunchtime and I was starving. I would check and respond to those messages when I got home. My mother wouldn’t be there, but our cook was supposed to have lunch ready for me.

I stepped out of the building, intent on marching to the parking garage as fast as I could, and noticed how campus was too crowded for a Monday, or any other day or time of the week during the summer semester.

Every student was looking at me, whispering to his or her friends, pointing at me. A few of them spied at cell phones or tablets or newspapers, and then turned his or her judging gaze at me.

Uh-oh.

My cell phone rang, but I didn’t check it either. Whatever it was, I wasn’t going to stand here and find out. My mother had drilled me about this once.

“Just get out of there,” my mother had said. “Get to your car and drive away, or find somewhere safe and hide. Only then you stop to see what’s happening.”

With my heartbeat speeding out of control, I lowered my head and rushed my steps. As the seconds passed, the crowd grew, and the whispering grew louder.

“Miss McClain!”

Oh, shit. I didn’t have to turn to know that a wave of reporters had landed on campus and was now in pursuit.

My cell phone kept ringing and ringing, the reporters yelled my name, and the students stood there, not helping me in my escape. In fact, they stood in my way, making it harder.

Against my better judgment, I broke into a run. As I stepped onto the parking garage’s sidewalk, a sleek black car appeared beside me.

The passenger side window rolled down and my mother’s chauffer spoke. “Enter, Miss McClain.”