Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
The thought of him with anyone.
The very idea of him kissing someone else...touching someone else.
No.
Just...God no.
Please no.
It hurt.
So, so much.
“Ella...is everything okay?” Kate pulled back and stared into my face.
In a flash of regrettable passion, I blurted, “It was me.”
Kate studied me for a moment before bursting into hysterics. Hanging onto my shoulder, she laughed and laughed and laughed. “Oh, that’s the best thing I’ve heard all week! You! Good lord, can you imagine?” More giggling, followed by a strange sort of snort.
I scowled, my back bristling. “Why is that so funny?”
Tears gathered at the corner of her blue eyes as she tried to control her mirth. “Why? I mean...look at you, El. You’re gorgeous, but...you’re a one-man kinda girl. I can see you enjoying a climax or two, but in the dark with some classical music on or maybe the National Geographic channel blabbing in the background.”
My annoyance cracked into amusement as I pictured it. Pictured Nick slowly rocking into me as we both watched a doco on the intelligence of a dung beetle.
Crossing my arms, I stuck my chin up. “I’ll have you know music was involved, but it definitely wasn’t classical. I’d call it tribal with shamanic drums. The erotic beat throbbed in your bones and stole all your propriety. All your preconceived conceptions of who you were and what you should and shouldn’t do vanished, especially when they gave demands.”
She froze.
I didn’t move.
Self-consciousness and a fair amount of regret scratched me as her eyes grew round.
Was it so hard to believe I was desirable enough that Nick would want me in that way? So hard to picture me brave and wanton enough to share a threesome?
Admittedly, she probably had it right about me before I met Hunter. And...if someone had told me what I would end up doing the moment I saw Hunter wielding a sledgehammer in the rain—that I would end up having sex with two men, without a condom, and be filled to the brim with their cum—I would’ve laughed just as madly as Kate...but...
Ever since that night, I’d changed.
I still loved my job. I still dedicated my days and most of my nights to research and work, but I also wanted other things.
I wanted bruises.
I wanted commands.
I wanted ropes and whips and orgasms and—
“Hold up.” Kate blinked and blinked again. Slowly, she let me go and peered into my eyes. “Ella?” Whatever she saw there made her mouth drop open and her attention snap to the door Nick waited behind. “You?”
Snatching her wrist, I dragged her into the supply room housing all our extra beakers, Bunsen burners, and stationery. “Forget I said anything. I don’t know why I just told you—”
“Liar.” She bounced on her work-appropriate high heels as I let her go. “You told me to stake a claim on him. And why wouldn’t you?” She fake-swooned against a shelf. “If I’d been the lucky duck to be with Dr. Davis, I’d be taking out flyers and leaving them all over the building.”
I chuckled. “I must admit, I’m feeling rather possessive over him. While he had the reputation for being a standoffish asshole, I didn’t care who he spoke to. But now that I know what he’s like in bed? Now that I’ve caught feelings...”
Ella, shut up!
“Oh no.” Kate wrinkled her nose. “You slept with him and now you love him?” She sighed heavily. “Dude...no. Don’t be that girl.”
Crossing my arms, I did my best not to get defensive, but I couldn’t help it. “It’s not like that. I...you know how the company subsidises rent for out-of-town staff? When I was offered employment, I had to move across the country and move into one of their properties. I was on my own for a while, but then they hired Nick and placed him with me.... We’ve lived together for eight months.”
“Oh wow.” Her eyebrows shot up. “How did I not know that?”
I shrugged. “It’s not like it comes up in conversation. He barely talks to me at home, let alone at work. He keeps everything strictly professional...apart from...things.” I sighed. “Or at least, he used to do things.”
“Things? What things?”
A headache suddenly pounded in my temples.
Guess I wasn’t going to shut up, after all.
“He...ummm, he used to make me a smoothie each morning. He likes the same snacks as me. He makes sure the heater is on for when I get home. He follows me when I go for a run. He—”
“Oh my God.” She grabbed my hands. “Do you think he likes you, too?”
Likes?
What an uninspiring word.
No one ever wrote a love story about someone who liked another.
You liked potatoes.
You liked going to the gym.
You didn’t like the one person who completed you.
Obsessed.
He used the word obsessed.
That was the opposite of like.
Like was something you could forget.
Obsession was something you would kill for.