Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
His smirk grew to an irritating smile as he fell into his chair and picked up the phone, nodding to the door like I was some kind of secretary.
Once all my clothes were in place, I glared again and marveled at the change from less than two minutes ago and headed to the door.
Calm and cool, I reminded myself.
Although calm and cool got sucked out the door when I opened it to the one person who knew me best.
Shiloh.
She blinked while I stared wide-eyed, neither of us expecting the other. Of all the people I opened the door to, why did it have to be the one who knew me better than anyone?
“Hey,” she said slowly, snapping me out of my panicked stare.
“Hey.”
“I was just—”
“We were just—”
We both laughed softly before I rushed to finish. “Just looking over some applicants. During lunch,” I added when I noticed her scan the seating area and found our meals still sitting there.
She looked across the room and then back to me, questions filling her gaze. Needing to escape her suspicion, I glanced over my shoulder to Lucian, ignoring us while he carried on a pretend conversation.
I scoffed, leaning into the irritation she’d witnessed many times before—the irritation I needed to remember after so thoroughly losing myself. “I would have answered the door quicker, but I figured he would answer his own damn door. However, he decided snapping and pointing at the door was a better choice than simply asking. So, I decided to take my time to answer to piss him off.”
Despite my exaggerated eye roll, she still watched me carefully, looking for holes in my story. I plastered on an indifferent smile and held my breath.
The click of the phone setting down saved me from any more probing.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Walker,” Lucian said. He rose elegantly from his chair and crossed the space with an easy smile, exuding so much charm it made me want to gag. An easy charm that had not once been directed at me outside of our agreement. Ever since our first meeting, he’d done nothing but sneer and look down on me, treating me like an ungrateful child trying to steal from him.
Why?
A pinch formed around the word and filled me with doubt.
Of course, I hadn’t shown up as my best self at our first encounter, but he’d never even tried to look past it.
Neither had I… So, why did I care?
Because part of me was still kneeling at his feet, preening for his attention and pride. Part of me was still clutching the mind-numbing pleasure. Part of me was still waiting atop his desk for his approval.
Because part of me wanted him to care.
Our interactions can be intense and lead to a false sense of connection.
This does not earn you any favor with me. I owe you nothing beyond what we agree to.
I’d scoffed like a naïve fool.
Now look at me, damn near simpering for affection I knew better than to expect.
The scene was over. We were done.
Cool air swept between my damp thighs, reminding me he still had my panties in his pocket. Reminding me that he made me come so hard that I probably left a small puddle on his desk.
The shame that hadn’t come earlier appeared now, dripping like oil, coating my memories in a black slick of doubt.
I’d been so lost in the euphoria, that I turned right back into that same teenage girl who dove headfirst into abandon without thought of the repercussions.
I’d been so lost in the euphoria, that…
I froze. Moisture dripped further down my thighs—more than my own cum.
I let him fuck me without a condom.
Shit.
I let him fuck me. Without. A. Condom.
On a desk that wasn’t even his, with employees I grew up around right outside his door.
I pinched my lips and squeezed my thighs, trying to banish the lingering pulse and stop his cum from dripping further. Instead, all it did was make a sticky mess that increased my awareness of how thoroughly he fucked me. Of how much I liked it. Of how hard he made me come during sex. Of how I wanted to do it again.
“I came by to drop off the paperwork you asked for,” Shiloh explained, holding out a file. “I also emailed it, so you have a digital copy.”
“Thank you, Miss Walker.”
“You can call me Shiloh,” she said. “Like I said, we use mostly first names to keep the work environment casual and relaxed.”
Another smile with more crooning words that blurred into a deep vibration that egged the pulsing on, throbbing to the same beat as the shame, shame, shame whispering through my mind.
I needed space.
I needed to get out of there and remind myself that what we talked about over lunch was separate from work—that the amazing orgasms he offered to give had nothing to do with his or my plans to sabotage the other.