The Mistress Mistake Read Online Free PDF

breath. "I do."
    "Then say it," he demanded.
    She closed her eyes in distress again, and
when she did it, he released her chin and stood to his feet. "We're
done here. Nice meeting you."
    Before she could let herself think, she
reached out and grabbed his hand. He stalled and stood looking down
at her, waiting, a tic beating heavily in his cheek.
    She took a slow, deep breath, and let it out
again. She was going to be a geologist. "We're going to
fuck."
    As she looked up at him, his cheeks reddened
and his nostrils flared as his eyes detailed her face. "And you're
not going to fuck anybody else," he demanded at once.
    Jessica was a quick learner and didn't make
the same mistake twice. He very obviously didn't care for it when
she flinched. She held his eyes and repeated, "I'm not going to
fuck anybody else." She made her voice strong as she said it, but
she didn't think about what she was saying. She thought about a
framed diploma, she thought about getting to travel to Antarctica,
she thought about rocks and minerals and the formation of the Earth
through billions of years of galactic history.
    His hand clenched under hers, but he turned
and sat back down. "You understand what I mean when I say you won't
fuck anyone else?"
    "Yes, I think it's self-explanatory."
    "It means you won't have a boyfriend. Do you
have one now?" His teeth gritted as he asked that question.
    "No, I don't."
    "Good. You can't have one. No boyfriends, no
dates, no platonic relationships with men that can be misconstrued.
If I'm paying you, then I own your sex life. All of it."
    "Okay."
    "I'll set you up in an apartment. I'm
guessing you have no furniture?"
    Was her state of poverty so apparent then?
"No, I don't."
    "Fine. I'll arrange for a furnished
apartment. It will be easier that way."
    "It will be on the bus route? I don't have a
vehicle, I need it to be close to campus." He'd already said he'd
allow that, but she needed to make sure.
    "Not a problem."
    Jessica steeled her nerves and asked another
question, "How often?"
    "How often, what?"
    She caught herself just before she closed her
eyes against what she was about to have to say. "How often do you
think you'll want to have sex?"
    Long seconds ticked by as he stared into her
eyes and Jessica had the sinking feeling that he wasn't going to
let her get away with the question without using more graphic
terminology. She held her breath, preparing to say that word he
kept forcing her to use. But finally, he exhaled and answered, "A
lot. You'll be earning your money. Often and whenever I want
it."
    "Except when I have to be in class."
    "Yes. I realize that you have a life, just as
I have my own life. This relationship is meant to make both of our
lives easier, not more difficult."
    She studied him while a horrible thought
crossed her mind. His profile said he was single, but men had been
known to lie. "You're not married, are you?"
    His expression blackened and his eyes became
obdurate as a chill came over his features. "No."
    Thank God for that. And then another niggling
concern began poking at her so much she had to know. "I need to
ask--I need to tell you something else."
    "What is it?"
    "I won't be passed around like a . . . " She
tried to think of a comparison in male language. " . . . like a
power tool. You're buying . . . the pleasure of my company, but I
won't be shared with your friends."
    He watched her steadily for several seconds.
Just long enough to send panic bleeding through her. Finally he
answered her, slowly and succinctly. "What was it about not fucking
anybody else that you didn't understand?"
    His impatient question sent a ribbon of
relief sliding through her. "So, you agree?"
    "I agree."
    She spelled it out further for him. "No
threesomes. No orgies."
    "Agreed."
    Connor stared at her steadily from across the
table. It sent a trickle of molten heat through her when she
thought about what he wanted to do to her. Panic and heat. He was
incredibly handsome, staring at her like that,