Chapter 5
All the way home Devon found it hard to breathe. She could still feel the firmness of his callused fingers as they held her. Although it was reassuring to know he could be gentle, it also scared her. She wanted him to touch her again.
She was appalled when she saw herself in the hallway mirror at her house. Her hair was matted down in parts and at other areas flew wildly out of control. The white shell was spotted with the water droplets. Her skirt was horribly wrinkled. She didn’t bother to examine the suit jacket just threw everything into the cleaners bin. She stripped off her underwear and took a long hot shower.
She should have felt better with a new listing. Something to crow about the next morning at the Sales Meeting. But no, not this time.
In her robe, she uploaded the listing information on MLS and sent a couple of emails to commercial agents in the area she’d worked with before.
One sent back an email right away, saying he had a buyer. He asked how she arrived at the value, but Devon didn’t have the energy to do an email exchange, so shut down the computer and began getting ready for bed early.
She slipped off her robe and dove under the cream-colored sheets naked. She fingered the wet strands of her newly washed hair, and she thought about the day. She saw his naked back as he raised an arm up, spraying plants. Baggy cargo pants just below his trim waist. The large muscles of his calves flexed and extended as he walked around the greenhouse area. She had to admit, when he turned, he looked sexy as hell. When he’d kissed her fingers he looked smoldering.
But this was a trained killer, a SEAL who was probably used to lots of women falling all over him. And Devon admitted to herself that a part of her did too. According to Sophie, he was clearly an experienced seducer, probably with a success rate nearing one hundred percent.
She had never in her life held a man in her arms. Devon knew that the biggest problem wrong with this arrangement was that it was a total mismatch. There was no way this could go anywhere, so why put everyone through it in the first place? Would only lead to awkwardness and heartache. So, maybe her only option was to renege. Tell them all she wasn’t ready. Would that be admitting defeat?
Do I dare tell him I’m a virgin? Would Sophie tell him?
But Devon also knew quitting was not in her nature. So, after thinking everything through once more, she decided she’d see this thing through. All she needed was to set some safe boundaries and then everything would be fine. Five little dates. Throw in a little harmless play acting for Sophie’s benefit. And after her friend died, she’d go back to being the woman she had been before. Confident. Self-reliant. Definitely not one who needed a man.
She could do it for Sophie. Her own needs would come later when the right guy appeared on her radar.
But that right guy was definitely not Nick.