The Architect (Nashville Neighborhood Book 3) by Nikki Sloane (top e book reader .TXT) 📗

anyone. One look at you and I threw every fucking plan I had out the window.”

I sagged against the hallway wall. It was incredibly powerful that he was opening up to me, and that I’d been the first person he was willing to play with in such a long time, after a relationship that hadn’t ended well.

My voice fell to a hush. “I’m glad. I really liked it.”

“Me too.” He straightened, blinking back the fog I seemed to create in his head. “I’m sorry if I’m slow to share things. I ignored my instincts last time and ended up causing her a lot of pain.”

I understood how he meant it. He got off on pain, but not the emotional kind, and I suspected he’d left himself out of the equation. He’d cared about his former partner, and seeing her suffer had hurt him too, even if he didn’t admit it.

“It’s okay.” I hoped he could see my honesty. “I meant what I said before, so you don’t have anything to worry about. I’m not going to fall for you, and . . . I can prove it.”

“What?”

He’d shared with me, so it only seemed fair. I brushed my hair back out of my eyes and gave him a serious look. “I’ve dated a lot of guys, and it always ends the same. I’m not built to go the distance.” My tone dipped low, pulled down with shame. “This is going to sound awful, but the harder a guy falls for me? The faster I want out.”

Clay stared at me with disbelief.

“My final year in college,” I added, “I was with this guy for a year. My longest relationship by a mile, and it’s possible I only stayed with him so long to see if I could. I thought maybe—I don’t know—the feeling would go away.”

I was a magnet. Desire pulled me in, but then the power of it flipped me over, turned everything upside-down. Suddenly, the thing I’d been attracted to repelled me with the same amount of force.

Tension held my shoulders tight as I recalled the memory. “I didn’t realize while I was fighting the urge to leave, he had no idea, and was falling deeper.” I hesitated. “He bought an engagement ring.”

His eyes widened with alarm. “Uh-oh.”

“Yeah.” I swallowed a breath. “Like your partner, this guy didn’t handle the breakup well.” There had been tears, and angry words hurled at me, followed by apologies and more tears. He’d been as sure of his love as I was of my desire to bolt. “He tried all sorts of ridiculous things to get me to stay or win me back. I mean, he wrote letters to my parents. Fucking letters. Who does that?”

Sympathy painted his expression, but he stayed silent as he listened.

I put my hand on my hip and lifted my chest, standing tall. “I’m not going to fall in love with you, Clay. The arrangement we have works just fine for me.” I made a face. “Well, except I’m here and you’re down in Florida.”

“I agree, but at least it’s temporary,” he said. “In the meantime, I have an idea.”

My interest piqued. “Oh?”

“How would you feel about trying some long-distance play?”

I didn’t know what exactly that entailed. “Like, web cam sex?”

His smile was sly. “Something like that, yeah.”

I grinned. He liked watching and I had no problem being watched. “I’d be into that.”

“Good,” he said. “Maybe we can try that next time.”

I acted like it was an innocent question. “How about now?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No. I want to plan it first.”

Shit, the idea of that turned me on so much.

Somehow, I survived the weekend without burning out the motor in my vibrator. Every quiet moment alone, my thoughts would drift back to my night with Clay and the stranger, and then I had no choice but to seek relief from my battery-operated friend.

I’d just finished sorting Clay’s mail with him when his expression turned serious. “Do you have plans tonight?”

My pulse jumped. Had he finished planning it out? Were we going to play? “It’s just a regular ol’ Tuesday for me. Why?”

“It’s unfair,” Clay said.

“What’s that?”

“That it took a year for me to discover you, and now that I have, I’m stuck five hundred miles away.”

Whoa.

For a guy who wasn’t interested in feelings, that had sounded awfully romantic. It sent tingles up my spine, and the sensation was alarming. He wasn’t supposed to say stuff like that.

And I wasn’t supposed to like it, either.

“But I thought,” he continued, “we could try something to tide us over until I’m back. Are you up for that?”

I shot him a sexy smile. “What’d you have in mind?”

Tonight, he’d FaceTimed me through his laptop, so it was strange when he picked up his phone and thumbed something out on it. Message sent, he set down his phone and turned his attention back to me.

Mischief lurked in his eyes, but he hadn’t answered my question. When I tilted my head expectantly, he lifted a finger, signaling me to wait, to give him a minute—

The doorbell chimed, and its loud two-toned gong startled me.

He wasn’t surprised. Instead, he smiled like the Cheshire Cat and used that same finger to point to the door. “Answer it.”

What on earth?

I picked up my phone, carrying it with me as I left the living room and strode into the entryway. It was after eight p.m. and the evening sunlight was fading fast, plus the side windows surrounding Clay’s front door were beveled. It obscured the large figure on the porch.

I suspected—or hoped—who I’d find waiting for me, and when I pulled open the door, I wasn’t disappointed.

The stranger from the club lifted his gaze to meet mine and flashed his dazzling smile.

TEN

Breath hung awkwardly in my lungs at the sight of this sexy stranger, while the rest of my body lit up. He wore dark jeans and a stone-gray button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled back to his elbows, which gave me all the forearm