Seven Nights of Sin (Penthouse Affair #2) novel Chapter 6

Presley

“Wait, let me get this straight. Austin was like a spy?”

Bianca sits across from me in a small café a block away from our apartment. Her hands are tightly wrapped around her tea mug, her fingernails a deep navy blue. She leans forward like an angsty preteen, hungry to eat up some hot gossip.

“That’s really not the important part,” I say with a sigh.

I had my reservations about telling her any of this . . . but who else is there? It’s not like I can tell Michael. He would blame himself for any pain he’s caused me. He’d also freak out if he knew about my finances, but he needs to focus on school. Plus, he would think it’s somehow his fault that my life is such a colossal shit show.

No. There’s no way I can share any of this with him. It would break him.

I breathe in the steam of my herbal tea, willing it to calm my buzzing nerves.

“Hello? Are you still there?” Bianca’s gazing at me with a confused expression.

I blink. I’d completely zoned out, spiraling down into the pit of my despair. Bianca reaches over and places a hand on mine. She squeezes it tightly, as if to squeeze the thoughts right out of me.

“Sorry, B, what did you say?”

“I asked if you were okay.”

I laugh, feeling anything but okay. “Honestly? No.” I let out a long, slow exhale. “I’m freaking out.”

“Because of the job, or because of your hot boss who hates you?” she asks before taking a sip of her tea.

“Both?” I say, my voice tight with the tears I refuse to cry.

Bianca rubs her thumb across the back of my hand in a sweet gesture of comfort. I look into her eyes, searching for any bit of wisdom she may have to offer. I’ll take just about anything right now.

“No situation is completely unsalvageable. Take me back to the beginning.”

And so I do. I tell Bianca about meeting Dominic in the bar on that fateful night. About how my heart practically leaped out of my throat when he proposed the arrangement. A two-week arrangement of being his fake girlfriend. I don’t tell her how well-versed he is in this kind of thing, preferring to only date high-end escorts. Even if he’s no longer mine, I do still have some sense of wanting to protect him.

Not that Bianca would run to the media with that information. I know I can trust her—we’ve been besties since we were freshman roommates in college. But still, if that got out, it could crush him, and he’d know I was somehow involved with it getting out and that would damage our relationship beyond repair. It’s already hanging on by a thread.

I explain how nervous and insecure I was before I realized that I’m a natural actress around men with heavy wallets, men who are capable of cinching a million-dollar deal over appetizers. And then, how electric every touch and caress felt when Dominic and I became physical. And finally, the moment I realized that he was a single father of two tiny children, and a truly fantastic one at that.

At this point, Bianca interrupts me. “Wait! He’s a dad? He’s like twenty-five!”

“He’s twenty-six, actually.”

“Well, I am no less amazed right now. A single dad to twins and running a huge corporation? That’s impressive, to say the least.”

Believe me, I know.

And the craziest thing is, he makes it look so effortless. Sure, he has Francine, but still. My runaway thoughts are interrupted by another question from Bianca.

“Where’s the mama?” she asks, leaning forward on her elbows.

“Her name is Sara. She was . . .” I swallow. “An escort.”

“Excusemewhat?” she blurts out.

“She was a—”

“No, I heard you. He knocked up an escort?” Bianca leans back in her chair as if to let this new information breathe in the space between us. “Wow.”

“He has custody of the children.”