Total pages in book: 204
Estimated words: 193115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 966(@200wpm)___ 772(@250wpm)___ 644(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 966(@200wpm)___ 772(@250wpm)___ 644(@300wpm)
“How old are you, Jesse?” she calls, backing away.
Good question. How old am I, because I feel like a lovesick teenager right now. “Thirty,” I yell around my smile, and she shakes her head but doesn’t argue. I’m not foolish enough to think if I promise her my real age, she’ll finish what she started. “That wasn’t very nice, you little temptress.” I’m already planning my revenge. But I’m also smiling, because my girl just felt relaxed enough to have some fun, and I can’t say I’m sorry I’m the victim of that fun.
She blows me a kiss and performs an elaborate curtsy, then dances off. I just manage to snap a picture of her before she disappears around the corner, and I look down at the screen she’s filling. “And this was the day you blew me to distraction,” I murmur, tucking my phone in my pocket. I rest my arse on the bonnet of my car, folding my arms over my chest. “Oh, Miss O’Shea, you’re walking on dangerous ground,” I say quietly, though she’ll never comprehend just how dangerous.
I glance across the street, seeing a bakery opening up. I smile to myself, heading over, and I find the biggest éclair there is. I scribble a note while they box it up. “Would you deliver this to the Rococo Union Office around the corner sometime this morning?” I ask, putting down a twenty. “Keep the change.” I dazzle the server with a wicked smile and she slowly pulls the note toward her.
“Sure.”
“Thanks.” I grab a water and step out into the sunshine, swigging it back. It’s just a few hours until one. I toss the bottle in a nearby bin, readjust my now tame dick, and start running toward Green Park, dodging the pedestrians, focusing forward.
My legs are soon numb and my body drenched. And despite the gorgeous scenery, I see only her.
* * *
I run for two hours, circling all the parks, nearly making it back to Lusso at one point. I head back to my car but detour down Bruton Street, just to catch a glimpse of her. She’s at her desk, relaxed back in her chair, twiddling a pen as she looks over some papers in her grasp. She still looks perfectly flushed. Perfectly engrossed. Perfectly mine.
I could stand here and watch her all day, but I won’t. Because that would be weird. So I force myself back to my car and race over to The Manor to get my bike, stopping by Lusso to pick up my helmet. It’s the perfect day to ride and, shit, do I need to feel the peace that can be found while speeding through the countryside on my Ducati.
I hear Jake in my mind yelling at me to take it easy. I smile. “Just because you would have ridden like a Nancy,” I say, reaching for the stereo. Placebo joins me, and I slip my shades on, cocking my arm on the window. I’m thinking. I’m thinking what an amazing track this is to make love to. I play it on repeat for the entire journey.
The second I cut the engine, my phone sings, and I huff a sardonic puff of laughter as I answer, taking the steps up to the entrance fast. “You need to stop saying stupid shit to Ava,” I warn Sam.
“What’s classified as stupid shit?”
“Anything relating to kinky sex.”
He laughs, and I scan the entrance hall as I pace to my office, hoping no one is going to hinder my speedy visit. “But she was tied up,” he goes on. “And you know what?”
“What?”
“She fucking loved it.”
“I’m happy for you.”
“You know, I think Kate will be totally cool when I tell her.”
I’m ground to a stop. “You’re not fucking telling her,” I practically growl, making Sam laugh.
“Not yet. Not until you open your big gob and enlighten this woman, whom you’re apparently in love with, on what you do for a living. But in the meantime, I’m having fun priming Kate. Where are you?”
I get moving again. “At The Manor collecting my bike.”
“Which one?”
I smile. Sam’s a petrol head too, his Porsche giving him multiple orgasms daily. “The Ducati.”
He whistles. “Why won’t you let me ride that thing?”
Because that thing is precious. Jake’s dream. “You couldn’t handle it.”
“Fuck you.”
I laugh and hang up, arriving at my office and swapping my keys before making a sharp exit to the garages. Sarah catches me in the lobby, just as I’m a few feet from freedom. I carry on walking, and she follows. “Going for a ride?”
“Yep.” Opening the garage door, I scan my rows of bikes before I put on my helmet.
“You only ride when something is on your mind,” she says. By something, she means Jake. It’s my way to feel close to him without being able to be close. I fucking hate that Sarah knows everything there is to know about me. I hate even more that Ava doesn’t. The woman I love should know my soul. I swallow hard and throw my leg over the saddle. But today, I don’t only want to feel close. My rides are soothing when nothing else soothes, but they’re also a glorious time killer. I need that now.