Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I wasn’t usually the type to jerk it in the shower, but this was going to have to be an exception.
I reached down, gripping my cock in my fist and turning around so I was out of the stream of water. I imagined a different world. A world where I was a nobody again, and I could exist in a small town like this and someday find myself a nice husband. Somebody with sweet, gentle, fucking sexy eyes, who would hold me at night.
Someone who would make me feel like I didn’t have to be afraid anymore.
I pictured his plush lips. The man last night had helped me up when I was being a drunken idiot. I could still remember the feel of his strong hands on my skin, and I pictured them now, touching me on my neck, my hips, my ass. I could imagine it shockingly vividly—him coming up behind me, forceful and careful all at once, fucking me senseless until even I didn’t remember who I was.
I groaned and pressed one hand to the cool tile wall of the shower as I came, harder than I had in a long time.
It was hours later before I remembered to text the guy.
>>Theo: Hey. Uh… well, I’m alive. I made it. I’m not sure if you actually wanted me to text you or not, but you told me to, so I’m doing it.
>>Theo: Thank you for everything you did last night. I really needed that, even though I didn’t know it.
I put down the phone for a moment before thinking again, picking it back up.
>>Theo: Needed the water and the ride home, I mean. I needed the kiss, too… really badly, actually, but that’s not the point.
>>Theo: Thank you. So much.
3
Roman
Left arm swipe. Right arm strike. Elbow under the chin, body like a tidal wave for the backwards push.
Then the takedown.
I repeated it in my head, over and over, like a mantra. Aikido wasn’t like the other martial arts I’d studied for years. In Krav Maga, I kicked and punched. In Karate, I learned to block like I was Mr. Miyagi himself—the real one, not the one from the movies. In my heart, I would always just be a small-town Kansas boy, but in my mind, I wanted to be a master of any martial art I could get my hands on.
I definitely hadn’t been in control of any other aspects of my life since Emily had left.
So I focused on the one thing that had always felt right. I felt at home when I was practicing martial arts. My physical fitness was my pride and joy, and I really liked knowing that I could protect and defend anyone around me, no matter the situation.
The image of the guy from the bar—Theo—flashed through my head, for about the millionth time that day. His perfect, kissable lips. Those eyes that were hauntingly gorgeous.
When he’d texted me yesterday, I’d responded with something simple and, quite frankly, boring.
>>Roman: No problem. Take care of yourself, whatever is going on in your life.
I had to get back to reality.
Not that there was a damned thing happening right now, as I stood in the middle of a beautiful, peaceful college campus, practicing my moves with nobody around to see them. I was a security guard here, but here, in one of the safest places in the entire state of Kansas, there sure as shit wasn’t much to “protect.”
Slow breath in through the nostrils.
Center the mind, eyes closed.
Be ready. For anything.
I slowly opened my eyes to see a butterfly fluttering between the two trees in front of me. I was surrounded by tall oak trees, lawns so green they looked unreal, and gently sloping, meandering pathways. The Kansas Midwest University was a little haven in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farmland and tiny towns, like the one I lived in. The air was full with the scent of fresh-cut grass. Afternoon sunlight filtered through the trees, filling the quad with shimmering golden light. The only action going on here was a pair of squirrels bounding past me to go frolic under a tree and a sparrow swooping under the lush canopy of leaves onto a branch.
Hell, at least I was getting paid to stand around doing absolutely jack shit. Even if my paychecks themselves were chump change.
I sucked in a deep breath of perfect, 75-degree air. On days like this, I wondered why I even bothered with all of the martial arts, personal security classes, and self-defense techniques. I’d never be able to use them.
But I’d been a security guard here for years, and it was the only job I knew how to do. I typically worked the night shift, so seeing the college campus in daylight was beautiful, if a bit surreal. Today I was covering a friend’s daytime shift. This time of year was always the slowest. It was June, and the school year had just ended. All of the college students had gone home, but summer classes hadn’t begun yet. For the next three weeks, the campus would be almost entirely empty, other than the occasional graduate student or professor.