Fever (Breathless #2)(7)

So far out of her league. So far it wasn’t even funny.

Visions of Pretty Woman danced in her head. Cinderella. A one-night fairy tale. Only she knew better than to ever dream of happy endings. Fairy tales were nice to read. They were nice to think about. But they weren’t remotely realistic. Fairy tales didn’t happen to girls like Bethany.

So she’d take her one night and tomorrow she’d go back to doing what she did best. Living one day at a time, taking it as it came. Surviving.

He gestured for her to proceed from the elevator, and as soon as she stepped out, he fell into step beside her, his arm wrapping securely around her waist. It felt good. Too good. It was too easy to get all wrapped up in the fantasy. This man didn’t give a damn about her. He wanted to get laid. She wanted warmth and food and a means of forgetting her shitty existence. That was an arrangement she could deal with.

A moment later, he opened the door to a sprawling suite. She hesitated just inside the door as she saw Ash setting out plates of food onto the polished dining table. There were three places set and it was obvious she was in between them. Her glass of orange juice was sitting by a plate with a burger and fries and on either side were plates with steaks.

The smell wafted to her and her stomach immediately clenched. She was starving and she’d never smelled anything so good in her life.

Ash turned and gave her that lazy smile, his eyes glowing with charm.

“You ready to eat?” Ash asked.

Oh yeah. She was ready to eat. It was all she could do to calmly nod and not throw herself at the table and start tearing into that burger.

Jace put his hand to her back and guided her toward the table. Clenching her fingers to disguise the shaking, she took her seat and then pushed up to the table and the delectable plate sitting before her. Still, she picked up the glass in a casual manner, like she wasn’t starving and could hardly wait to dig into her food. She sipped at the juice but put it back when it hit her empty stomach hard.

Maybe food first was a better option.

Burger, fries and even orange juice was a luxury—one she was going to enjoy every second of.

As Jace and Ash took their seats on either side of her, she nabbed a fry, dragged it through the little container of ketchup sitting next to her plate and then slipped it into her mouth.

“You sure you don’t want some steak?” Ash asked, nodding downward at his plate.

As she stared at the succulent piece of beef on his plate, her mouth watered. And the smell. God that delicious smell was killing her.

“Uhm,” she began.

Without another word, Ash cut a section of his steak and then forked it onto her plate. It was a little pinker than she liked, but what did she care? It didn’t even matter to her what it tasted like. It was food.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

She was aware of Jace’s gaze the entire time she ate and so she very carefully restrained herself, making sure she took her time and didn’t seem too eager. She chewed each bite carefully. Sipped at her juice and was grateful when she finished that Ash produced more.

She wanted to eat all of it, but her stomach rebelled. She had gone too long without enough and she was used to surviving on far less. Her stomach refused to take another bite when she was barely half done with the burger and only a few bites into the steak.

“You aren’t eating much,” Jace observed when she pushed her plate back.

“I snacked on party food earlier,” she lied. “It was really great, though. Thank you.”

He studied her a long moment and she fidgeted uncomfortably. He didn’t look as though he believed her, but he didn’t push the issue. And why should he care if she ate or not? She was here because they wanted sex. They wanted to scratch an itch, though why with her, she’d never comprehend. She highly doubted they had any problem getting any woman they wanted in bed, which meant they could be as choosy as they damn well wanted to be.

“Few things you should know,” Ash spoke up.

Her gaze drifted to his and he’d lost that playful, flirty look. His eyes were serious. Brimming with hotness that took her breath away. In that moment he looked just like Jace did. A hell of a lot more brooding and . . . badass. Which was kind of weird considering the word badass would have never come up in one of her descriptions of Ash.

“We call the shots in the bedroom. What we say goes. We’ll take care of you. We’ll see to your needs. We’ll make damn sure it’s good for you. But we’re in control. If you have a problem with that, you need to say so now before we get into this.”

A heady thrill rolled right through her body. Was he kidding? She fought her overpowering response to his statement and forced herself to be smart about this. Yeah, being taken care of for the night was not a turn-off. Giving up power and control for one night where she didn’t have to think, didn’t have to do, didn’t have to do anything but feel? Not a deterrent.

But she needed to know exactly what this kind of a deal entailed and how deep their kink ran.

“I think that depends on what you want,” she said in a low voice. “I’m not into anything that even comes close to playing with my life.”

Jace’s brow furrowed and he shot Ash a quelling look. “You’ve scared the shit out of her now, man. I told you to chill and let me handle this.”

“She deserves to know what she’s getting into,” Ash said calmly. “I didn’t lie to her and I won’t mislead her.”