Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Seeming to realize this, his hands went around my belly and chest instead, pulling me backward against him, then just holding me there.
What’s more, though, was I let myself be held.
When was the last time I’d been held like that? Hugged, even?
Months?
I mean, if drunken girlish friendship hugs didn’t count… never?
I was pretty sure I’d never just been held by a man before.
To be fair, there was a good chance that was because of me, not them. Maybe I’d known several men who would want to hold me close, but I was always the one creating a disconnect, never wanting to get messy feelings that would fuck up a good, casual situation.
This, though?
This felt good.
That gooey chocolate in the center of a warmed lava cake kind of good.
I tried to remind myself that it was all the sex hormones creating a feel-good cocktail in my body.
The thing was, I’d had sex before. And I don’t ever remember anything like this.
Which was precisely why I needed to pull away, damnit. But I couldn’t seem to force my limbs to do so.
In the end, it was fate that forced us apart.
And by “fate,” I mean Binx.
Who, apparently, had jumped silently on the arm of the couch only to reach out his evil paw, and take a swipe at Cato’s ass.
“What the fuck?” Cato groused, yanking away from me to spin around and find the cat sitting there on the arm, daring him with his yellow eyes to come closer.
There’s more where that’s coming from, human.
Binx was a fan of scratching the shit out of you.
You sat too close to him? Bloodshed.
You fed him three minutes too late? Better go find some antiseptic.
You were in his general vicinity when he wanted nothing to do with you? You better hope the medical kit still had butterfly sutures.
He was the epitome of a cat who barely tolerated humans so he could get free, easy food.
Poor Josie was always scratched to shit because of him. I’d been burned enough times to know to let the dude live his life without interference from me.
“He’s not a fan of people,” I told Cato as he stared at the cat, confused why he ended up with a scratch on the ass when he hadn’t done anything to him.
“Great office mascot,” Cato said as I yanked my panties up.
“Bathroom is through there,” I said, pointing. “There should be stuff to clean the cut with,” I added. “You want a treat, you little asshole?” I asked Binx in a sing-song voice, heading into the kitchen to get him one.
I took my sweet-ass time in there, too, tossing little fish-shaped treats onto the ground as Binx kept giving me dirty looks, pissed that I made him walk around to pick them up.
“I’m thinking of your waistline, my dude. You don’t want the vet to tell us to put you on a diet, do you?” I asked.
“You’re sweet talking him when he took a chunk out of my ass?” Cato asked, leaning in the doorway, watching.
“Maybe I should trust his instincts,” I said, shrugging.
“Please,” Cato said, shaking his head.
“Please, what?” I asked, small-eyeing him, just knowing he was about to say something that was going to piss me off.
“That cat’s opinion of me isn’t going to make you stop craving my cock, Rynn.”
The thing was, he wasn’t wrong. And that pissed me off.
“Oh, get over yourself. I can get cock anywhere I want,” I said, putting the treats away in the cabinet. And having another sudden urge for my popcorn. And maybe some pizza.
“Yeah?” Cato asked, closer than he should have been. And when I turned back, he was right behind me.
“Yeah,” I said, craning my neck up to keep eye contact.
“Then why’d you drag that pretty ass of yours all the way over to Golden Glades to get some of mine?”
“I was in the area,” I lied. I was good at it. My job relied on it.
“Liar,” he said, voice small.
“Why would I lie about that?”
“Because you don’t want to admit that I have any kind of power here,” he said, surprising me.
I mean, couldn’t he just be a pretty meathead? Did he actually have to have thoughts and feelings and powers of observation?
He was right.
I did always like to be the one in power. In everything, really. In work, that’s why I worked for myself. In friendships, that’s why I only had Josie, who was okay with that quirk of mine. And absolutely in relations with the opposite sex. It’s why I didn’t date anyone seriously.
I was always the one to initiate, to walk away when I was done. I had never had a guy in my apartment.
I liked things casual and fun.
And up until now, there’d never really been the threat of someone having any sort of power over me to control my feelings and actions.