Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
My eyes rolled when I drove past the warehouse district where Ryan was based. After ignoring his calls for two days I figured he’d given up. Maybe I wasn’t meant for one-night stands and friends-with-benefits relationships. Maybe I was just the typical date-to-marry type. Not that I had any plans.
My room had fresh white sheets and a comforter to match. Cool air plumed around me as I flew against the mattress and my head collapsed against the pillows. “It’s me again, Dallas,” I murmured with my eyes clenched shut. An overwhelming sense of sadness filled my throat and gut, and I wished, against my better judgment, that Ryan knew I was here.
He was so sweet that night at the airport. And when we’d cleared the air between us. In an effort to keep the cool air close to my skin, I shed my clothes and rubbed my thighs and arms against the soft blanket. The icy air drew goosebumps along my exposed arms and legs. The soft moan that escaped me planted a small flame, and I caressed my breasts as I let out another.
I pictured Ryan’s wry, unassuming smile when we met, the easygoing voice that carried conversation like we were old friends.
“Touch me,” I commanded the memory, and I let myself drown in the ghost of his beard tickling my chin, his chest hair brushing against my navel as he swept his lips down to my center.
With ease, my hands worked around the entrance to my vagina, my fingers teasing my clit. I pulsed but paused over the opening. Licking my lips, I traced a wet trail to my nipple and pinched it hard, wishing Ryan were watching, salivating over me rubbing against the heel of my palm. Pressure built, and I dipped my fingers inside myself. My legs clamped around my hand, which still slowly pressed against my nub as if to trap myself in a growing sense of pleasure.
I gasped and flung myself around so I could bury my face in my pillow. I moaned louder, grinding into the hard flesh. My muscles tensed, my thighs aching and my toes curling until the explosion of sensations rode a moan that buried itself in the cotton pillowcase. My body bucked as the orgasm rode its wave through me, then when it left, I fell limp and lay still.
If only I could have the same Ryan I met or at least the Ryan I thought I met in Houston. The man with photos of his son and a light in his eyes when he mentioned him. The Ryan whose drive took him places he never thought he’d go and kept him on a path to being a good father despite the role life wanted him to play.
That man was the one who made my stomach churn and my libido ignite like a fire to gas. Did I really read it all that wrong? Was he truly just a money-made asshole like the rest of them? Like Andrew?
He’d planned to use Darlene’s sins against her as if he didn’t have enough for himself.
I rolled over to my bedside to grab my phone and scrolled for his name. He’d tried to talk about it before. Maybe I just needed to remind him that he didn’t need to destroy someone else’s life to create one for himself.
Ryan didn’t answer, and I didn’t leave a voice mail. Tomorrow, my new life would start, and here I was thinking about someone else’s when I’d decided it was no longer my business.
Thankful my first day was rescheduled, I chose to spend the rest of the day in bed. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so lazy, but no matter what I thought of doing, my mind kept returning to whether or not it was a mistake to ignore Ryan.
Day one. My nerves almost got the best of me, but I had them under control by the time I walked in to work at Mayhew Industries. I’d been asked to come in relatively early, which now translated to “before everyone else” seeing how empty it was. After checking in and receiving a temporary visitor’s pass, I’d been told to wait in the HR office for a tour that, once begun, took more than two hours, and by the end of it, my excitement for the new job had died.
The first floor was mostly for meetings with clients, secretary offices, janitorial rooms, and customer-service-related things. We didn’t walk around the floors with the cubicles much, but when we reached the fifth floor, things felt a little more exciting.
“You aren’t expected to work there, but if you choose, we can give you a cubicle on the fourth floor,” Dan Tilly said. His blue eyes held a softness to them, but at the same time, he seemed eager to be finished with me. It hadn’t occurred to me until now that he may know about what happened with Andrew, and if he did, I wondered why he hadn’t brought it up.