Free With His Consent (For His Pleasure, Book 13) by Kelly Favor Page B

ruined their night and what was happening between them.
    “I was up early,” she said, “and I didn’t want to wake you.”
    He glanced at her. “It’s a free country.”
    Silence. She sighed, her hands twisting nervously together. “I ended up talking to this guy. Well, actually he came and sat down with me.”
    Bryson straightened and looked at her, his expression like stone. “That’s really great for you, it sounds like you had a nice time.”
    “Don’t be like that.”
    “Don’t be like what?”
    She groaned with frustration. “Like this.” She waved her hands at him, unable to even speak to express what he was doing.
    He sighed. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Scarlett.”
    “Listen, the guy I talked to at breakfast—”
    “I really don’t care about the guy you had breakfast with.”
    “He’s the owner of the hotel.”
    “What?” He turned and faced her fully. “Are you serious?”
    “I didn’t know. I had no idea until after I’d already told him why I was staying at the hotel and everything.”
    Bryson put his hands on his hips and his jaw set. “Okay, well—what the hell did he say when you told him?”
    Scarlett allowed herself a tiny smile. “He said that he’d already decided in advance not to have any more films here—until he saw my face, and my enthusiasm, and he just couldn’t resist.”
    “What?”
    “He said he’d let us film here, Bryson.” She exhaled, relieved to finally get it all out.
    Bryson’s face broke into a smile, all traces of the tension that had just been permeating the room gone. He looked at her and shook his head, like he couldn’t believe she’d been able to do something like that. “Scarlett, I don’t know whether to fire you or promote you.”
    Or kiss me, she thought. A kiss would be best of all.
    “You could thank me,” she said. She loved the way he was looking at her, with admiration and a little bit of awe.
    “Thank you,” he said.
    His eyes looked into hers and she felt like she would do anything if they could just lie down in bed together and be close, and talk, mouth-to-mouth and ear-to-ear. She wanted his strong hands to caress her cheeks, to show her the affection he’d shown just last night.
    Finally, Scarlett broke away from his gaze, looking down. She found the owner’s business card in her pocket and handed it to Bryson. “He wants you to call him in the next few days to arrange all of the details.”
    Bryson shook his head. “I can’t believe he said yes without even knowing what the movie’s about.”
    “I told him about the movie.”
    “But you hardly know anything about the movie.”
    She shifted her feet. “Well, that’s not completely true. I kind of sort of read the script last night. I—I saw it in your bag and I was awake and…”
    “So you read my script and pitched it to the hotel owner while I was asleep?” he said. “Man—you’re either the best assistant of all time, or the absolute worst. I’m still not sure.” He turned and went back to the bathroom, carrying his clothes.

    ***
    The train ride back to New York was strange and quiet. Scarlett tried to apologize for reading the script without asking, and talking to the hotel owner without Bryson being around.
    He told her not to worry, but she was worried.
    Things had gotten strange between them and she hated it. Last night they’d seemingly gotten close, maybe closer than she’d ever felt with a man before.
    Worse, the quick moment of normalness they’d had when she’d told him about getting permission to film at the hotel had evaporated and now it seemed as if they were further apart than they’d been at the very beginning.
    Scarlett only wished she could feel the same sense of annoyance with him that she’d felt when they’d first met. That had been easy. She was struck by the irony of it --hating Bryson was easy, but liking him was horrible.
    When they parted ways at Grand Central, she started to walk away without even saying