FAKE DATING WITH BENEFITS MY BILLIONAIRE BOSS (Ophelia Corrigan) novel Chapter 124

CHAPTER 124

AMIE

I woke before my alarm and knew something was wrong before I even opened my eyes.

Simon’s side of the bed was empty.

I ran my hand over the rumpled sheet. There was still a trace of his warmth there, which meant he hadn’ been up long. The apartment was wrapped in that rare early-morning silence, when the kids were still asleep and New York seemed to exist only beyond the windows.

Then I heard the muffled clank of metal.

I adjusted my silk nightgown, slipped out of the bedroom barefoot, and followed the sound down the hall. The gym door was cracked open. I pushed it wider and stopped in the doorway.

Simon was finishing a set of weighted pull-ups, hauling his body upward with a heavy plate hanging from a belt around his waist.

He wore nothing but black shorts. Sweat gleamed across his bare chest, chalk dusted his hands, and a vein stood out along his forearm. Simon drew a deep breath, but his jaw stayed tight.

Obscenely gorgeous. And way too serious for this hour.

“What happened?” I asked.

His eyes lifted to mine in the mirror.

“Nothing.”

The answer was too clipped.

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. Simon bent down, unhooked the plate from the belt at his waist, and set it on the floor before straightening.

“Why are you so serious?”

“I’m always serious,” he said, his voice rough.

“Not like this.”

He returned the plate to the rack. The movement was controlled, but his shoulders stayed tense.

“Is this about Ethan’s message?”

Simon didn’t answer.

He picked up the second plate and carried it to the rack as if he hadn’t heard me. His silence was answer enough.

I came up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. I rested my cheek between his warm shoulder blades, and he went still for a moment, his breathing slowing as I slid my hands over his hard

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stomach and up his sweat-damp chest.

You’re jealous,” I murmured.

Simon turned only his head, looking at me over his shoulder.

“Don’t start, Jamie.”

I put on my most innocent expression.

“Start what? I just came looking for my fiancé.”

His mouth almost gave in. Almost.

I rose onto my toes and kissed the side of his neck. His pulse beat hard beneath my lips. Simon exhaled through his nose and caught my wrists when I tried to touch him again.

“You think this is funny?”

“I think you’re sexy when you pretend you’re not jealous.”

He turned in one quick motion. My body bumped lightly into his, and the look that dropped to my nightgown was anything but indifferent now.

“I’m not trying to control you,” he said quietly. “But I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“And how does he look at me?”

“Like he’s waiting for an opening.”

I touched his face.

“He can wait forever.”

Something in him softened. Not enough to erase the jealousy, just enough to expose the fear underneath it. The possibility of losing me still found one unguarded place in Simon.

I kissed him.

At first, it was slow, almost a truce.

Then his hand closed around the back of my neck, the kiss deepened, and he took my mouth with the hunger he’d been trying to hide since I walked in.

The taste of fresh coffee and desire made me forget for a few seconds that I had somewhere to be, the second day of training for the new attorneys, and a ridiculous list of wedding decisions waiting for me.

Simon broke the kiss and glanced at the padded ankle strap clipped to the cable machine beside us.

“Do you trust me?”

“You know I do.”

He wasn’t satisfied with the answer. He held my gaze until I nodded.

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Then he took both padded ankle straps, wrapped them around my wrists, and adjusted them carefully so

they weren’t too tight. He lifted my arms over my head and secured them to the bar above us.

My heart sped up.

“What are you doing, Simon?”

He dragged his thumb over my lower lip.

“Showing you why you shouldn’t tease me before seven in the morning.”

He stepped away.

“Simon.”

He walked to the door without hurrying, turned the lock, and tested the handle.

Click.

The sound seemed far too loud in the quiet gym.

Simon looked back at me.

Then his hands went to the waistband of his shorts.

“Simon…”

He pushed them down and stood completely naked.

My gaze dropped before I could stop it.

He was already fully hard, thick and heavy against his stomach, the flushed head nearly reaching his navel. A bead of moisture gleamed at the tip. When he took his first step toward me, his erection brushed lightly against his abdomen, and my stomach clenched.

Damn.

I had seen Simon naked more than enough times for him to have any right to affect me like that.

But he did.

Maybe because I was restrained.

Maybe because he was looking at me like he knew exactly what was going through my head.

Or maybe because my future husband was, quite simply, built like a Greek god.

But instead of coming to me, Simon walked right past.

“Are you kidding me?”

He opened the mini fridge.

“No.”

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He took out a bottle of water and drank slowly.

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ared at him in disbelief as he swallowed several long gulps like I wasn’t strapped to a piece of gym equipment a few feet away.

“Happy now? Can you let me go, babe?”

Simon capped the bottle.

“Not yet.”

He set it on the counter.

And came back.

This time, he didn’t stop until his body was pressed against mine.

His hand closed around the back of my neck and his mouth took mine.

Cold.

The contrast of his chilled lips against my heated skin sent a shiver through me. Simon noticed. Of course he noticed.

He kissed the corner of my mouth, my jaw, then slowly worked his way down my neck.

“You’re doing this on purpose,” I murmured.

“Doing what?”

“Torturing me.”

I felt his smile against my skin.

“You came in here to tease me.”

His hands slid beneath my nightgown.

“I came in here to find out why my fiancé was awake at six in the morning.”

“You found out.”

He grabbed the thin fabric.

I heard it tear before I understood what he was doing.

“Simon!”

The silk split from top to bottom.

I stared at the ruined pieces hanging from my body.

“That nightgown was new!”

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“I’ll buy you another one.”

Would have answered if his mouth hadn’t closed over my breast.

My head fell back.

“Oh…”

His lips were still cool.