Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 38887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
She looks at me, and I quickly glance away, damning myself for noting that sadness in her eyes and damning myself more for once again wondering what the cause is.
“Drew…” she breathes, slight exasperation in her voice.
“I think that’s everything for now.” I stuff my hands in my pockets to keep from touching her, and stand back. “One of my staff will be in touch.”
“Right.” She slowly lifts from the chair, a weightiness to her body that even I can feel. And the loudest silence falls, a million words passing between us, none prepared to be spoken.
I move back again, giving her a clear path to the door. “Thanks for dropping by.”
A faint wave of emotion floats across her face, something she barely contains. Anger. “So that’s it?” she asks.
“Well, I’ve fucked you. That’s what you wanted, right?” My words sound so cold, just as I intended them to be. But I’m not proud.
“You didn’t fuck me at my house, Drew.”
Refuting that would be daft. There was a beautiful and serene connection between us. It would be a major insult if I denied that. But I know I should. Yet I don’t. Instead, I ask a stupid question. “Why are you hiring me?”
“Because I trust you.”
Her answer gives me a moment’s pause, and I read between the lines. “You trust me? To help you forget whatever the fuck you’re trying to forget? Yeah, I can’t help you with that anymore.”
My words sting her, her neck recoiling. “You felt something, too.”
“I think the scene, the circumstances…” I wave a dismissive hand in the air. “It got the better of me. Clearly it did you, too.”
Her huff of breath and her sarcastic smile speak volumes. “You’re right.”
I am? Shit, I don’t want to be right. Fuck, what is this weird ache happening in my chest?
She inhales, taking all of the air in the room with it. I can’t breathe as I face her.
She pulls out something from her bag and tosses it on my desk, the clatter of metal on the glass top making me flinch. “You’ll need those to show people around.” She walks out of my office, her stride fast, and the door slams behind her, startling me again.
As I stare at the keys on my desk, I vow I’m never stepping foot in that box of temptation ever again. My mind isn’t my own in there. Or anywhere around Raya, in fact.
Chapter 7
I’ve spent the past two days trying to purge Raya from my thoughts. It’s not working. I’ve seen her constantly, imagined her. Not restrained, but free to touch me, to feel me, to explore me like I never allow. And not just my body. She’s in my head, demanding to be heard. It’s getting hard to ignore her, and not even devoted father-daughter time is helping me.
As soon as I’ve dropped Georgia at Coral’s after school, I head straight for Hux.
I need a drink. A stiff one. And I need to come, to make a woman scream to drown out the shit swirling in my brain.
I nearly make it to the lounge when the sounds of a woman’s pleasure stop me at the entrance of the bar. Those sounds aren’t unusual around here. But this one pierces my skin, injecting me with a flurry of emotions, many of which I don’t recognize.
I pace down the corridor and stop outside a closed door. The sound hits me again, and I take the handle. I’m relieved when it turns and the door opens. And then enraged at what I see.
Kirk, one of the club’s regulars, looks up, his whip paused midway down Raya’s bare back. She’s naked, pressed front forward against the cage in the far corner, her eyes covered with leather.
Someone else on her skin.
The pain inside me is excruciating. Unbearable. Ripping my stare from the painful sight, I jerk my head at Kirk for him to follow me. His face isn’t pissed, more questioning, but before he paces over to me, he cracks the whip across Raya’s arse. She lurches on a cry and I wince, feeling the lash straight across my fucking heart.
I usher him outside the room, fumbling for how to explain. “I need you to leave her alone.” I just come right out and say it. Honesty around here goes a long way. Some men get possessive, and most other men at Hux respect that. I’m hoping Kirk respects that.
His eyes narrow a little. “She’s yours?”
“Yes,” I lie. It’s the only way I’ll get what I want, and I really want him to leave her alone.
“I think you need to make that clear to Raya.” He wanders away.
God, the relief. “Thanks, Kirk.” And then I feel mad. Mad that she’s here, mad that she’s so easily given herself to someone else. And mad at myself, because I pushed her into this.