Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 88656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Yeah, I could use some food, too. But could we go to a burger place? Just this once?”
He shot a chastising look in my direction. “Jamie, have you looked in the mirror lately? Your abs are really starting to get ripped. You look too amazing for me to let you put garbage in that body.”
And just like that, he had me puffed up with pride. If a guy like Michael Kage thought I looked amazing, there was no way I was eating a greasy hamburger. Ronald McDonald himself could not have talked me into it.
We ordered baked fish, brown rice and asparagus from room service, and we ate it on the glass dining room table in Kage’s apartment. The food was delicious, and the conversation was easy, but I couldn’t help thinking how surreal it was that getting groped and choked unconscious by a guy had actually become a part of my life. Even more puzzling was the fact that it really didn’t bother me that much.
When we’d both scraped our plates clean, Kage leaned his chair back on two legs and rubbed a hand absently over his flat belly. “I think I should have ordered two pieces of fish. I’m still hungry.”
My eyes instinctively followed the movement of his hand as it moved down his belly, and his fingers dipped into the waistband of his shorts and stayed there. When I looked back up, he was watching me with a half-smile on his face.
I stammered. “Um, let me, uh… I’ll just take these dishes out into the hall.” I bustled around the table stacking the plates and silverware. Anything to take my mind off of Kage’s hands and the memory of what it felt like to be touched by him. And the fact that the same hand he’d slipped into my shorts earlier was now in his shorts.
When I set the plates down on the floor in the hall, I glanced back through the open door at Kage, who was still watching me with that amused expression. That’s when I knew that I could not go back into that room. Not that night. Maybe not ever. My mind was playing tricks on me, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of what Kage had done during practice, or if it was because we were spending too much time together. Maybe I just wasn’t used to this kind of friendship. I’d never been friends with a fighter, and never with someone like Michael Kage. He was unpredictable and flighty, he took chances, and he was consummately physical. The man was a superstar in the making. And gorgeous. God, was he gorgeous.
And it was time for me to go back to my room.
“Goodnight, Kage,” I said just loudly enough for him to hear me.
“You’re going already?” He looked surprised. “It’s still so early. I thought maybe we’d catch a movie on TV or something.”
I faked a yawn and felt guilty for it. “I’m tired. Not used to working out so much like you are. Maybe it was being choked unconscious that did me in, I don’t know.” My attempt at humor fell flat. “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for dinner. It was much better than fast food. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking suggesting burgers.”
Kage lowered the front legs of his chair back down and smiled, but I could tell he was disappointed. It probably got lonely living in an ivory tower, but there was nothing I could do. I had to get away and regroup before I embarrassed both of us.
“Goodnight,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” I closed the door and listened to the click. Then I made my way slowly back to my own room, knowing I wasn’t going to sleep when I got there. It was his fault— Kage’s fault for touching me like that. I just haven’t been touched in a long time.
Once I was behind the locked door of my own room, I gave in. I stripped my clothes off, and my hand was around my stiffening cock before I even made it to the bed, stroking and pulling like I’d wanted to all night, easing that excruciating ache. I dropped onto my back on the bed and allowed myself to think the thoughts I’d been pushing away all night— unacceptable thoughts that I knew I’d try not to acknowledge ever again. Imagining it was Kage’s hand stoking my cock, I came onto my own belly in less than a minute. It was the most forceful release I could remember having, like a million demons were flying out of me, and I had to throw my forearm across my mouth to stifle my lusty groan.
“Well, that was amazing,” a said aloud, blinking up at the ceiling as I floated back to earth. “But it’s out of my system now. When I wake up tomorrow, all of this will just seem like a really funny dream. I’ll laugh, and I’ll say, Jamie, that was so stupid! And then I’ll never think of it again.”