4. Ginni

"Shoot,"I whisper, scrambling around in the dark for my panties. Where the heck did that gorgeous man put them? Did he take them off of me, or did I? I can't remember! All I know is that I've crawled around every freaking inch of his bedroom, and I can't find them.

My bra was dangling from the bedside lamp. I found my dress on the floor by the bed. One shoe was by the bathroom, while the other was on the other side of the room. I don't remember us throwing my clothes around like we were in a porno, but apparently, we did.

Good times.

Actually, last night was the best night of my life. Which is precisely why I'm frantically trying to sneak out now.

How am I supposed to tell Sterling that I slept with him under false pretenses? He'll never forgive me!

The thought makes me want to cry. Had I known going into the date that I'd fall so hard for him, I don't think I would have gone. Or maybe I would have, but I would have told him the truth from the start. But I didn't. I lied by omission and let him think I was there because I was looking for love.

Now I think I might have actually found it—and he's going to hate me when he finds out that I was only there in the first place to find out all the dirty details about his life.

"I'm a terrible person," I whisper, giving up on finding my panties. I guess I'm leaving them behind like a cheap memento of our night together.

"No, you aren't. But if you think you're sneaking out on me, I'm going to spank your perfect ass," Sterling growls from behind me, his voice dark and menacing.

I yelp, practically flying to my feet.

He's standing at the foot of the bed, partially obscured in shadow. Not even the inky morning light hides the thunderous scowl on his face.

"I-I thought you were sleeping," I gasp.

It's clearly the wrong thing to say.

His expression darkens as he stomps toward me, the entire floor vibrating under his feet. Before I can even move, I'm in his arms. His lips come down on mine, hard and unrelenting.

I don't mean to kiss him back. Honest, I don't. But my arms betray me and wrap around his shoulders. My lips betray me and seam to his. I whimper into his mouth, melting into his heat as he steals my breath with a kiss hot enough to start forest fires.

"Sterling," I plead, my entire body igniting in a blaze of glory. I need him inside me. Immediately.

He growls, boosting me up into his arms.

My legs wrap around his waist, my dress riding up. One thick finger parts my slit, settling against my clit.

"Oh my God." My head falls back, my eyes rolling back in my head.

"Get on my cock, Fate."

He doesn't have to tell me twice. Nope. Definitely not. He's hot, cranky, and hard as a rock. I have nothing to argue about. Nothing. At. All.

I wriggle around, notching him at my entrance.

"Jesus," he breathes, burying his face in my throat as I sink down on him, taking him inside inch by delicious inch. My inner muscles twinge slightly before the momentary pain morphs into unholy pleasure.

I writhe on him, gripping his shoulders to help lift me up and down his length. With every bounce, his thumb jostles my clit, sending waves of euphoria dancing through me.

"You feel incredible, Ginni," he groans, nipping and kissing my skin.

"I know!" I sob, making him chuckle.

He takes control, backing me up against the wall to give him leverage as he drives into me, his thumb still hard at work on my clit. The way he pants and groans in my ear is so damn sexy. Within seconds, the sound of him, the feel of him, the way he's pressed so tightly to me—every single thing about this is way too much.

"Sterling, I'm…"

"Give it to me, Fate." He nips and kisses my throat and jaw, fucking me harder. Deeper. "Come all over me, baby."

How am I supposed to resist a command like that?

I can't.

I don't.

I bury my face in his shoulder, shouting his name as I shatter around him.

"Ginni," he groans. "Ah, fuck, Fate." He loses his rhythm, pumping into me wildly before he grunts and stills, following me over. I writhe on his cock, delicious aftershocks rippling through me as I feel sticky ropes of his cum releasing deep inside of me.

We pant, a mess of trembling limbs as we come down together.

"You were sneaking out on me," he whispers after a minute. The hurt in his voice breaks my heart a little. I don't want to hurt him. I'm pretty sure I fell in love with him last night.

It's terrifyingly fast.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, feeling about two inches tall. "I…"

"You're afraid."

I nod miserably.

"Me too, Fate." He brushes my hair away from my face, pressing his lips to my forehead. "I've never felt like this before. But if you think I'm going to let you go, you're wrong. You're mine now."

I gulp, swallowing hard. "What if you decide you don't like who I am, Sterling? What happens then?"

"What's not to like?" He pulls back, meeting my gaze in the pre-dawn light. His expression is soft and earnest. "I already know I'm going to love every little thing about you, Ginni. I feel it right here." He grabs my hand, pressing it to his pounding heart. "Just give me a chance."

"I..." The truth is right there on the tip of my tongue, but with his heart pounding beneath my palm and his eyes locked on mine—with him still hard inside of me—the words won't come.

"Of course, I'll give you a chance," I whisper instead.

His eyes light up as he claims my lips again, and writing my stupid story suddenly doesn't seem all that important at all.

"Was it just my imagination,or did Sterling Midnight drop you off this morning?" Leia asks, eyeing me over her coffee mug in the breakroom several hours later.

I startle, dropping my Pop-Tart.

"Oh my gosh!" she squeaks. "It was him!"

"You're banging Mr. Halloween?" Elyse asks, eyes wide. "Nice!"

I press my hands to my burning cheeks, staring at them with shock clearly written on my face.

"They could have been together for her story." Leia takes a sip of her coffee, a glimmer in her eyes that tells me she saw him kiss me goodbye. She knows we're sleeping together.

"There's no way she's blushing like that over a story!" Elyse says with a devilish laugh. "She's definitely banging Mr. Halloween."

I groan, dropping down into my chair to lay my head on the table. "Can we please not talk about this?" I whisper, feeling like I might throw up. I love Leia and Elyse, but I don't want to gossip about Sterling, especially when I don't know what I'm doing. I had the opportunity to tell him the truth this morning, and I didn't. Why didn't I tell him?

Oh, right. Because I'm a coward, that's why.

My coworkers fall silent, and then the chairs on either side of me scrape backward. A hand comes to rest against my back.

"What's wrong, Ginni?" Elyse asks quietly. "Talk to us."

"I screwed up big time." I sniffle, tears seeping from my eyes. "I got a stupid text yesterday, setting me up on a blind date with him for my story, so I went. But I didn't know I was going to like him so much. We had an amazing time, and he invited me back to his place. I s-should have told him the truth, but I didn't. I spent the night with him." I bite my lip to keep from whimpering. "When he finds out the truth, he's going to hate me."

"Oh," Leia whispers. "You're falling for him."

"So hard." I lift my head, peeking at her. "It's crazy, right? I don't even know him."

"Pfft. She fell in love with Colter as soon as she saw his dick," Elyse says.

"I did not!"

"Basically. You were hooked on your hockey hunk before you left the locker room the day you met him." Mischief glints in Elyse's eyes. "The Big D helped. Don't lie."

Leia blushes, shooting her best friend a death glare. "I didn't fall in love with his cock."

"Mmhmm," Elyse teases before sobering. "Seriously, I don't know why people worry about timelines for this stuff. If we were supposed to fall in love on a schedule, every love story would be the same. That'd be freaking boring. We fall when we fall because we're different. Our stories are different. Our hearts, needs, and desires are different. Can't that be enough?"

"She's not wrong," Leia says, slipping her hand into mine. "There is no timeline for this stuff. If you're falling for him, you're falling for him. The important thing is making sure you give yourself the best chance possible by making sure he knows he isn't a story to you."

"He isn't," I whisper, shaking my head. "I don't even care about the story anymore. I can write about anyone or no one. I don't care. I won't write about him and his family. The story was never about them in the first place. I never want him to feel like I was using him. I just…" I exhale a shaking breath. "I'm afraid he's going to hate me when I tell him the truth."

"Well, judging from the way that man was looking at you this morning, I don't think you need to worry about that." Leia laughs lightly. "He's already crazy about you."

"If you need a billionaire to write about, we'll find you one willing to talk. Leia knows plenty. Or…" Elyse taps her lips, clearly formulating a plan. "How do you feel about changing the scope of your story?"

"To what?"

"An exposé on the billionaires in town who suck? We know a few of those," she says. "I'm all for throwing a little bad press their way."

"Her ex is one of them," Leia whispers. "He tried to kill me."

"He tried to kill you?"

"It's a long, sordid story."

"But we'll happily tell you if you promise to publish if for the masses," Elyse interjects, a vicious smile on her face. I don't think she's forgiven her ex yet. Good for her.

I contemplate the suggestion. It has merit, but I think I need to talk to Sterling before I decide anything. Until I come clean, anything I do will feel like I'm trying to wriggle out of telling the truth. I don't want to do that. I'd rather be honest. It'll break my heart if I lose him because I wasn't honest, and he deserves the truth. Until I give him that, nothing else is going to feel right.

"I'll think about it," I promise them, climbing to my feet. "Thank you. Both of you." I've never stayed in one place long enough to have girlfriends before. It's... nice.

"Don't thank us. Just go get your man, girl." Elyse shoos me off, grinning. "I am dying to know what a Halloween and a Valentine baby looks like!"

"You know his name isn't Halloween, right?" Leia asks her.

"You know the man is covered in tattoos of scary stuff and has a whole ass Halloween town named after him, right?" Elyse retorts, sliding to her feet. "As far as I'm concerned, his name is Halloween. Stop trying to make me live in reality, Leia Bayliss."

I wipe my eyes, giggling as I grab my breakfast and hurry from the breakroom, leaving them bickering behind me.