Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

“I… What? I mean, what if you drop me before it’s been a year?”
“Wouldn’t matter. You’ll still get the full 100 grand. We can set it up on a renewable, year-byyear
basis. This way you have a dependable supplement to your income and you can feel comfortable
lightening your load to free up more of your time.”
I’m still speechless.
Possibly misunderstanding my silence, he adds, “And your credit card has a $14,000 limit. I’ll
pay it off monthly, and of course, if you need more, you can always ask.”
His tone indicates he would relish me asking, but I’m still totally thrown by all of this.
“You really think there’s even a chance you’ll still want me a year from now?” I finally ask.
His brow furrows with something like concern. “Why wouldn’t I?”
I don’t know.
I just know men tend not to stick around, and I don’t know why one with as much to offer as he
has would.
I don’t want to say that and sound insecure, so we drop the topic for the moment and finish
dinner. Afterward, he gives me my phone so I can check everything before he takes it away again.
The first thing I notice before any of the other notifications is that I have a barrage of text
messages from my bestie. I don’t know if that means something is wrong, so I swipe the screen
quickly and tap Charity’s name to see what’s going on.
I scroll up and see, “WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL IS THIS?” Attached is a screenshot of the
picture of me and Calvin that I posted a week ago.
“WHO IS THIS?”
“WHY HAVE YOU NOT TOLD ME ABOUT THIS PERSON?”
“WHY DID YOU NOT TAG HIM SO I CAN STALK HIM?”
I chuckle as I scroll through several more similarly enthusiastic texts. We’re on opposite sides of
the couch, and I feel Calvin glance over at me.
“Who are you talking to?” he inquires mildly.
“No one. I was reading missed texts from Charity. She must have been busy this past week, she
just found the picture I shared of us before the Broadway show.” My eyes glittering with amusement, I
look up at him. “She wants to know why I didn’t tag you in it so she could stalk you.”
He smiles faintly. “She and I are so much alike in some ways. I think she was your warm-up for
me.”
“Not for that reason, obviously, but do you want me to tag you? I hadn’t thought about it before