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Tori

Chapter 22

Iwas in big, big trouble. After last night, I knew without a doubt that I was really and truly falling for Stefan. I’d known that I had feelings for him, sure, but this was bigger. Stronger. Deeper. I wasfalling in love. And it wasn’t just the blazing hot sex, or the fact that he had come to my event to support me, though that had been the impetus for everything I was feeling.

It was the way he’d spent the entire night at my side, charming and schmoozing with everyone I was going to be working with for the next several years. He impressed them, and impressed me with his knowledge about the classes I’d mentioned to him in passing or the professors I liked best. It was a side of him I’d never seen before—a side that was interested in me and cared about the path I was on.

I also knew people would be asking me questions later about my extremely handsome, charismatic husband. I wouldn’t blame them; because of my unusual relationship with Stefan, I hadn’t said much about him to anyone. Seeing him show up out of the blue at an event like that, and considering the way he’d made such an effort to chat everybody up, I expected I’d be fielding a whole slew of questions. And I wouldn’t mind answering them. I was proud that he’d been by my side. Proud to call him my husband.

After we’d left the party, I had wanted to thank him, to show him how much his attendance had meant to me. And the only way I could think of doing that was with sex. It was the way we communicated best.

I could still remember the way his hand had felt on the back of my head as he guided my mouth up and down his cock. I’d never done anything like that before—had never even wanted to. But with Stefan things were different. Everything about him turned me on.

I’d loved that brief moment of control, when he was thrusting in my mouth with his eyes closed and his head tilted back. Completely at my mercy.

But I loved it even more when we got back to the condo and he had taken that control back. It had almost felt like Stefan hadneededto fuck me. Neededme.

I thought about it all night, long after he fell asleep. Part of me had wanted to move across the bed and lean my body against his, get as close as we’d been on the plane from Budapest. But I knew that doing that would be too much. It would be rushing things.

It would be a bad idea.

Because even though I was falling for him, there was no way to know if he was feeling the same way. We had agreed that this marriage was temporary. If I wanted things to change, if I wanted him to see that I could be more than just a convenient trophy wife, I’d have to show him how much sense we made as a couple. Not just in the bedroom, since we seemed to be doing pretty good in that arena, but in our day-to-day lives.

I had to show him that I could be there for him, the same way he had been there for me at the UChicago mixer. It would only draw us closer together.

That’s why I was walking through the lobby of the KZM building during my lunch break with a takeout bag in my hand. I’d forgone my afternoon study session at Harper and instead had taken an Uber back to the condo to change into something sexy and short and black. I normally wouldn’t wear something like this during the day, but the dress was for him. I wanted to tempt him into taking a long lunch. Wanted to tempt him into takingmeduring his long lunch. Maybe on his desk. Or against the door.

“Where’re you going to today, miss?” asked the security guard at the front desk.

“KZ Modeling,” I told him.

“Do you have an appointment?” he asked.

My face flushed. “I…don’t. I’m just here to drop off lunch for my husband. Stefan Zoric?”

I held up the takeout bag.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t let you up without an appointment. If you like I can call up there and talk to—”

“Oh no, please don’t do that,” I interrupted. “It’s a surprise. He just works so hard, all these long hours, and I thought it’d be nice to bring him a hot meal. I’ll be so quick.”

Then I broke out my secret weapon of a smile that I’d honed over the years.

His expression melted. “Of course. That’s very sweet of you. He’s up on the twenty-ninth floor. You can check in with the receptionist up there.”

“You’re my hero,” I gushed. Worked every time.

As I stood waiting at the bank of elevators, my skin tightened with anticipation at the thought of having sex with him in his office. That would be all the proof I needed that I drove him to distraction—successfully seducing him at work. Because no one worked harder than Stefan. His entire life revolved around his job, and I wanted to change that. I wanted to be a part of his life. Wanted him to make space for me.

I knew I’d have to fight dirty to get that. So I hadn’t bothered with underwear when I’d gotten dressed.

I gave my hips a little extra swing as I stepped out onto the twenty-ninth floor, my excitement growing at the thought of seeing him. Even the reception area full of beautiful women, clearly waiting for an audience with the casting executives at KZM, didn’t faze me.

When I got to the receptionist’s desk, I thanked my lucky stars that after the wedding, Michelle had taken charge of getting me a new ID with Stefan’s last name on it.

“I’m Stefan’s wife, Victoria Zoric,” I said, sliding my ID across the desk.

The woman smiled broadly. “Hello, Mrs. Zoric,” she said. “Nice to finally meet you.”