Free Forever in Love by Nadia Lee

who’ll be gone soon, or staying friendly with the local law enforcement. It’s a no-brainer.”
    “Well…it just so happens you’re wrong about that.”
    “How so?”
    Blaine mulled it over and finally said, “I just don’t care for the kind of people who drive fancy cars.”
    “There was a BMW out in the parking lot last night. You didn’t seem to have any problem with the guy driving it.”
    “A Beamer isn’t really fancy. You have to have some serious money to drive around in an Aston Martin.”
    Meaning money like the Pryce family had. “So what’s wrong with that?” she prodded.
    He shrugged. “Too rich. Too entitled.”
    “So you don’t like people with fancy cars and entitlement issues?” If Blaine had problems with the wealthy, Salazar was going to have his work cut out for him.
    Blaine continued to knead her foot. “Nah, I just don’t like the way they use other folks and then discard them like trash afterward. Everybody has feelings. A person doesn’t mean less because he isn’t rich.”
    “I see. I’m sorry somebody hurt you like that,” she murmured.
    His hands stilled. “Who said anything about hurting me?”
    “Something must’ve happened. Either to you or somebody you’re close to. Regardless, you were hurt.” She pulled her foot out of his hands, slid down the table and slipped her feet into her shoes. “Thanks for the massage. That felt wonderful.”
    Blaine stood up, and suddenly the bar seemed to be a little too small for comfort. “You’re full of surprises, Catherine.”
    If she moved a step closer, she would be able to press her cheek over his heart. “Good. I’d hate to be predictable.”
    “You weren’t supposed to be like this.” His finger brushed along her jaw line.
    She shivered as her skin tingled. She should move away, but couldn’t. There was something lovely and addictive about the sensations Blaine evoked.
    “You should’ve been shallow, easy to ignore.”
    He said it like a rebuke, but she thrilled at the compliment. She needed this after months of humiliation and gnawing worry that her in-laws would do everything in their power to destroy her. “I thought it was my looks that made me impossible to ignore.”
    “No. I can ignore a beautiful face.” He was so close, their breaths mingled. “I just can’t ignore you.” He pressed his lips against hers, fitting them closely.
    Her breath shuddered out, and she tilted her head for a more intimate contact. He was so warm, his mouth sure and masterful as it moved over hers. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had kissed her like this, like she was irresistible, like she was the center of his universe. Jacob hadn’t, not even when they’d been on their honeymoon. He hadn’t been a bad lover, but she’d always gotten the feeling that making her climax was his way of gratifying his ego.
    But with Blaine it was different. It was like he wanted to make her feel good because how she felt was important to him.
    It was an illusion, of course. Blaine didn’t really desire her the way she longed to be loved and needed. But it was nice to close her eyes and pretend as sweet pleasure built in her belly, as her skin tingled at the heat spreading in waves from her mouth to the rest of her body.
    So why not sleep with him? It’d been so long. He was available, and he was obviously willing based on the thick erection pressing against her.
    Because…
    She pulled back. His dilated pupils turned his eyes dark. Air sawed in and out of his lungs, and she felt his heart beating fast under her palm.
    She didn’t want to use him for a quick orgasm or two like he were a vibrator. It’d only prove that his preconceived ideas about people like her were correct…and for some reason his opinion of her mattered.
    “Catherine—”
    She put a finger on his lips. “I should go. But I can come back tomorrow, if you want.”
    He nodded against her bare skin. The five o’clock shadow on his jaw scratched her finger,