Saturday morning I woke up covered in marks.
Bite marks on my shoulders. Bruises on my hips. Scratches down my back. Evidence of a night that had started with lies and ended with Dominic fucking me until I couldn't remember why we were lying in the first place.
My phone was blowing up with texts from Mara.
Mara: OMG OMG OMG tell me EVERYTHING
Mara: You guys were so cute last night!!! The chemistry was INSANE
Mara: He's picking you up at 7 tonight right?? What are you wearing??
Mara: SCARLETT ANSWER ME I'M DYING HERE
I stared at the messages, guilt churning in my stomach. She had no idea. No fucking clue that the "chemistry" she saw was actually six months of sneaking around. That the "first date" tonight was really just another lie in a long line of lies.
My bedroom door opened. Dominic walked in completely naked, holding two cups of coffee.
"Your phone's been going off for twenty minutes," he said, handing me a cup. "Let me guess. Mara?"
"She's losing her mind. Thinks last night was magical."
"It was magical." He climbed back into bed. "The part where I bent you over my kitchen counter at 2am was particularly magical."
"You know what I mean."
"I do." He set down his coffee and pulled me against him. "And I know you're feeling guilty. I can see it all over your face."
"How can I not feel guilty? She's my best friend and I'm lying to her about everything."
"Not everything." His hand slid down my stomach, between my legs. "This is real. What we feel for each other is real."
"But the story isn't. The timeline isn't. We're performing for them."
"So what?" He slid a finger inside me and I gasped. "They get a love story. We get each other. Everyone wins."
"Dominic..."
"Tell me you regret this. Look me in the eye and tell me you wish we'd never started." He added another finger, curling them just right. "Tell me you want to stop and I'll walk away right now."
"I can't," I admitted, my hips already moving against his hand.
"That's what I thought." He pulled his fingers out and rolled on top of me, pinning my wrists above my head. "Now stop overthinking and let me remind you why we're doing this."
He fucked me slow and deep, his eyes locked on mine, making sure I felt every inch of him. It wasn't rough like last night. This was different. Deliberate. He was making a point.
When I came, it was with his name on my lips and tears in my eyes. Because he was right. I couldn't stop this. Couldn't walk away. I was too far gone.
"I love you," he said quietly, still inside me. "And I don't care what lies we have to tell. You're worth it."
"I love you too."
After, in the shower, he washed my hair while I tried not to cry.
"Tonight's going to be different," he said, his fingers massaging my scalp. "Tonight we don't have to pretend around Mara and James. It's just us."
"Except everyone thinks it's our first date."
"So we make it memorable. Give them something to talk about." He turned me to face him. "Where do you want to go?"
"I don't care. Wherever you want."
"Wrong answer. I want to take you somewhere you've always wanted to go. Something you'd remember even if this all falls apart."
My chest tightened. "You think it's going to fall apart?"
"I think we're playing with fire and eventually we're going to get burned." He kissed me softly. "But until then, I want to give you everything."
I spent the rest of the day at my apartment, trying to focus on normal things. Laundry. Cleaning. Responding to work emails. But my mind kept drifting back to tonight.
Our "first date."
Mara called at 3pm.
"Tell me you're getting ready!" she demanded.
"It's three in the afternoon. The date isn't until seven."
"Exactly! You need time to shower, do your hair, makeup, pick out the perfect outfit!" She paused. "Can I come over and help?"
"No!" I said too quickly. "I mean, I got it. I don't need help."
"Scarlett Hayes, are you nervous?"
More than you know.
"Maybe a little."
"Don't be! Dominic is crazy about you. I could see it last night. The way he looked at you? Girl, that man is gone for you."
He has been for six months, I thought bitterly.
"What are you going to wear?" she asked.
"I have this red dress..."
"Perfect! Red is totally your color. And it'll drive him crazy."
He'd already seen me in that dress. Had fucked me against a wall while I was wearing it. But I couldn't tell her that.
"Thanks, Mar."
"Okay, I'll let you go. But I want DETAILS tomorrow. Every single detail. What you ate, what you talked about, if he kissed you goodnight..."
"You're insane."
"I'm invested! My matchmaking skills are on the line here!" She laughed. "Have fun tonight. And Scar?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm really happy for you. You deserve something good."
The guilt was suffocating.
At 6:45pm, I was ready. Red dress that hugged every curve. Heels that made my legs look endless. Hair and makeup perfect.
And underneath, nothing. No bra. No panties. Just bare skin under silk.
Because if we were going to put on a show, I was going to make it worth his while.
Dominic arrived exactly at seven, holding a bouquet of roses. For a second, standing there in my doorway in a tailored suit looking like sin incarnate, I could almost pretend this was real. That we were really just starting. That the past six months didn't exist.
"You look incredible," he said, his eyes darkening as they traveled over me.
"You clean up pretty well yourself."
He stepped inside, closed the door, and immediately backed me against it.
"Tell me you're not wearing anything under that dress."
"Why don't you check?"
His hand slid up my thigh, under the hem of my dress, and groaned when he found bare skin.
"Fuck, Scarlett. We're never going to make dinner."
"Then we skip dinner."
"Can't. I made reservations. Somewhere special." He pulled his hand away reluctantly. "But after dinner, I'm peeling this dress off you and fucking you until the sun comes up."
"Promise?"
"Fucking promise."
The restaurant was incredible. Rooftop seating, city views, the kind of place you took someone when you wanted to impress them.
"This is too much," I said as we sat down.
"Nothing's too much for you." He reached across the table and took my hand. "I know this isn't really our first date. I know we're pretending. But I want tonight to be real anyway. I want to take you somewhere nice. Show you off. Do all the things I've wanted to do for months."
My throat tightened. "Dominic..."
"Just let me. Please. Let me take you on a real date even if we're lying about when it started."
So I did. We ordered wine and appetizers and talked like normal people on a normal date. He told me about his day. I told him about mine. We laughed and flirted and for a few hours, I let myself forget about the lies.
Until dessert came and my phone buzzed.
Mara: How's it going?? Is he being a gentleman??
I showed Dominic the text.
"Tell her I'm being very ungentlemanly," he said with a wicked grin. "That I can't keep my hands off you."
"I'm not telling her that!"
"Why not? It's true." His foot found mine under the table, sliding up my calf. "Been sitting here all night thinking about what's under that dress. About how wet you probably are right now."
"Stop."
"Make me."
His foot went higher, pushing my legs apart under the table. I bit back a moan.
"Dominic, we're in public."
"I know. That's what makes it fun." His eyes were dark with challenge. "Tell her the date's going well. That I'm charming. That you're having a good time."
I texted Mara back with shaking hands while Dominic's foot kept creeping higher.
Me: It's going really well. He's sweet. Charming. Very attentive.
Mara: OMG I'm so happy for you!!! When's the second date??
Dominic: "Tell her tomorrow. Tell her I'm already planning it."
Me: He's already talking about a second date tomorrow.
Mara: TOMORROW?! Girl he's HOOKED! I told you!!! 😍
If only she knew I'd been hooking him for six months.
"We should go," Dominic said, signaling for the check. "Before I do something that gets us arrested."
"Like what?"
"Like bend you over this table and fuck you in front of everyone."
Heat flooded between my legs. "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me." He paid the bill and stood up, offering his hand. "Come on. I'm taking you somewhere."
"Where?"
"You'll see."
We drove through the city, Dominic's hand on my thigh the whole time, his fingers drawing lazy circles on my bare skin. When he pulled into the parking garage of his office building, I looked at him in confusion.
"Why are we here?"
"Because I've been fantasizing about fucking you on my desk since the first day we met." He parked and turned to me. "And tonight, I'm making that fantasy a reality."
"Your office? Now? Someone might see..."
"It's Saturday night. Building's empty." He got out and opened my door. "Come on, baby. Let me show you how I really feel about you."
We took the elevator up to his floor, the sexual tension so thick I could barely breathe. When we reached his office, he unlocked the door and pulled me inside.
"I've thought about this so many times," he said, backing me toward his desk. "You. This dress. My office. Nobody around to hear you scream."
"Dominic..."
"Do you trust me?"
"You know I do."
"Good." He lifted me onto his desk. "Then spread your legs and let me taste you."
He dropped to his knees and buried his face between my thighs. No teasing. No build up. Just his tongue on me, licking and sucking like he was starving.
"Oh god," I moaned, my hands in his hair.
"That's it. Let me hear you. Nobody here to hide from." He sucked my clit into his mouth and I cried out. "So fucking perfect. Could eat this pussy every day for the rest of my life."
He made me come twice with just his mouth before standing up and unbuckling his belt.
"Turn around. Bend over."
I did, bracing myself on his desk, my ass in the air, completely exposed.
"Beautiful." His hand came down on my ass in a sharp slap and I yelped. "You're so beautiful when you submit to me."
He entered me in one hard thrust and we both groaned. From this angle, he was so deep, hitting spots that made me see stars.
"This is what I wanted," he growled, fucking me hard. "You. On my desk. Taking my cock like the good girl you are."
"Harder," I begged. "Please, harder."
He obliged, pounding into me so hard the desk shook. Papers scattered. His computer monitor wobbled. I didn't care. All I cared about was the feeling of him inside me, owning me, claiming me.
"Whose pussy is this?" he demanded.
"Yours!"
"Say it again!"
"Yours, Dominic! All yours!"
"Damn right." He reached around and found my clit, rubbing it in tight circles. "Now come for me. Come all over this cock while I fill you up."
The combination pushed me over. I came screaming his name, my pussy clamping down on him, milking his cock.
"Fuck!" He thrust twice more and exploded, his cum filling me, hot and thick.
We collapsed together, both shaking, both gasping for air.
"That was..." I couldn't find words.
"That was us," he finished. "Real us. Not the performance. Not the lie. Just us."
He pulled out carefully and I felt his cum start to drip down my thighs.
"We don't have anything to clean up with," I said.
"I know." His eyes darkened. "Put your dress back on. I want you to feel me dripping out of you the whole drive home."
"That's disgusting."
"That's hot as fuck." He kissed me hard. "And when we get to your place, I'm going to lick every drop off you before I fuck you again."
Jesus Christ.
The drive to my apartment was torture. I could feel his cum sliding down my thighs, sticky and warm. Could smell sex on my skin. Could see the satisfied smirk on Dominic's face every time he looked at me.
"You're enjoying this," I accused.
"Absolutely. You're sitting there with my cum dripping out of you, trying to act normal. It's the hottest thing I've ever seen."
"You're twisted."
"And you love it."
I did. God help me, I really did.
At my apartment, he made good on his promise. Laid me out on my bed, spread my legs, and licked his own cum off my thighs before diving in to make me come again with his tongue.
"Mine," he growled against my pussy. "All mine. Every drop. Every moan. Every orgasm. Mine."
"Yours," I agreed, too far gone to care anymore.
We fucked three more times that night. Rough and desperate and raw. Like we were trying to erase the memory of pretending. Like we could fuck away the guilt.
It didn't work.
Around 2am, tangled in my sheets, both of us exhausted, he pulled me close.
"Best first date ever," he joked.
"Technically it was like our fiftieth date."
"Semantics." He kissed my shoulder. "Mara's going to want details tomorrow."
"What do I tell her?"
"The truth. That I took you somewhere nice. That we talked and laughed. That I kissed you goodnight." He grinned. "Just leave out the part where I bent you over my desk and filled you with my cum."
"You're impossible."
"You love it."
I did. That was the problem.
I was in love with a man I was lying about. Living a relationship that was both completely real and completely fake. And I had no idea how to reconcile the two.
"What are we doing?" I asked quietly. "Really doing?"
"Surviving," he said. "Loving each other the only way we know how."
"And if it all falls apart?"
"Then we fall apart together." He tightened his arms around me. "But until then, I'm going to love you as loudly and proudly as I can. Even if it's based on a lie, my feelings are real. And I'm not apologizing for that."
"I'm not asking you to apologize."
"Good. Because I won't." He kissed me softly. "Now sleep. We've got brunch with Mara and James tomorrow to debrief about our perfect first date."
"You're kidding."
"Wish I was. James texted me. They want to hear all about it."
"Fuck."
"Exactly." He pulled me closer. "But we'll handle it. Together. Like everything else."
I wanted to believe him. Wanted to think we could keep this up indefinitely.
But lying there in the dark, listening to him breathe, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were running out of time.
That eventually, the truth would come out.
And when it did, it was going to destroy everything.