Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
A little smile tugged at my lips as I pulled on my matching pink silk pajama set, brushed out my hair, then made my way out of the bathroom.
Layna was already on the couch in the bruise-purple pajamas I left out for her, with a coffee mug in her hand.
“There you are. Pizza should be here any minute. I made an executive decision and ordered half plain and half mushroom and onion.”
“Sounds good,” I said, moving to sit down next to her.
“Perish is kind of hot, isn’t he?” she asked.
I bit back a groan.
I should have known she wasn’t going to let it slide. She wasn’t the type.
“I guess. If you’re into that kind of guy.”
“That kind of guy?”
“You know, like, big and muscular.”
I said that part because she knew that it hadn’t ever been my type in the past. For better or worse, my exes were all of the beach bum variety: tan, with sun-bleached hair, and lean swimmer’s builds from all the surfing.
Layna’s gaze studied my profile for a long second.
“I mean, sometimes the best sex happens with guys who aren’t your type. I used to pal around with this girl in Vegas who swore that skinny gamer guys fucked like gods.”
Thankfully, I was saved from that conversation by the buzzer.
After that, eating also made it hard for Layna to keep throwing pointed questions at me.
Eventually, while watching a movie, I passed out hard, curled up on the couch.
And I dreamed about Perish.
Only to wake up alone and bone-achingly disappointed.
I knew it was for the best that it hadn’t gone any further.
For both of us.
But especially for Perish, who would lose his job and his home if anyone found out he’d broken the rules.
It wasn’t worth it.
I knew that logically.
But try telling my body that.
And in just a couple of days, I was going to be at the clubhouse, trying to act like I wasn’t remembering the feel of him between my legs.
Great.
That was just great.
CHAPTER TEN
Perish
“What’s with all the lumbering around?” Croft asked.
“Lumbering around?” I repeated. “It’s how I walk.”
“You’ve been stomping around for days,” he insisted as he set up the beer pong table.
“I don’t think the girls are going to play pong.”
“You never know. They get crazy.”
I was worried about that.
It was why I’d been planning on being out for the night.
Until fucking Fallon personally requested that I do guard duty while the girls were partying.
There was no way to turn him down without someone getting suspicious. I didn’t need anyone thinking about shit.
Because I was pretty sure my damn guilt was practically scrawled across my forehead.
Guilt for doing it.
But not one damn drop of regret.
If that was all I would get from her, I had to make myself believe it was enough. Because it was a lot.
Her sighs, moans, whimpers. Her begging, her writhing. The smell of her. The taste of her. The feel of my fingers inside her. The way her walls clenched as she came.
I shook my head, trying to dislodge the memories.
I knew it was useless.
I’d been replaying them on a loop for days.
Inevitably, I found myself straining in bed.
And damn if I didn’t nearly get carpal tunnel from trying to get some relief from the desire. To no avail.
I knew what I really needed to do was go out, find some random woman, and fuck the memory of Gracie out of my head.
But just the thought of it was enough to leave me completely and fucking utterly flaccid.
So, yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen anytime soon.
“Where’s your brother?” I asked Croft.
While Spike, Cain, and Croft were hanging around, Rune and I were the ones Fallon explicitly asked to be on guard.
“He went up to the glass room.”
“Why?”
Was there an explosive quality to that one word? Yep. Because the glass room had been my fucking plan, damn it. Far and away from the girls. No seeing Gracie. No smelling her. No wanting to grab her, drag her into a closet, and fuck her senseless.
“Guard duty,” Croft reminded me, brows furrowing.
“I was going to go up there,” I said, trying to shrug it off.
“You can switch later.”
Later.
When the girls were at the bar and the danger of fucking up my whole life had passed.
I could go outside.
Tour the grounds.
Keep my damn hands to myself.
I finished helping Croft set up the liquor and snacks, then when I saw headlights out front, I went ahead and did a nice, slow, thorough inspection of the fence.
Then another.
And another.
But on the fourth round, I became painfully aware of Rune up in the glass room, likely watching me, wondering why the fuck I was avoiding going inside.
I steeled myself for seeing her before making my way inside.
Where the first thing I heard was her sweet, twinkling laugh drifting over toward me even over the music.
She was sitting on the bar with Layna on one side and Kit on the other.