Page 112 of Desserts for Stressed People

“You’re mine. You’re fucking beautiful, and perfect. And you’remine,” he barks against my neck as his thrusts stutter, slowly hitting the perfect spot inside me.

I can’t process everything that happens then. I’m vaguely aware I’m shouting, because I struggle to hear his voice, but my mind is blank. I can only feel. I feel his erection swell up inside me. I feel it twitching, pushing. I feel his breaths on my mouth. I feel his fingers pressed into my lower back. I feel Shane. All of his essence, all of his soul.

And then I feel our orgasms crashing against each other like waves, becoming taller and more powerful as they meet. It’s breathtaking, unimaginable, phenomenal, and I travel out of my mind and back, somehow still whole.

He says my name. I hear it in the back of my mind, and it feels like he repeats it a hundred times. Then my cheek is pressed to his, and I’m holding him as tight as I can while I break down.

We remain locked in that hug for so long, I’m pretty sure I’m asleep by the time my head hits the pillow, the sweetest words whispered in my ear. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted,” and “I’ll never let you go.”

At first, I kiss his shoulder. That’s all I can do. Then I don’t do that either and enjoy his lips pecking my head and his body still together with mine.

Chapter28

His Lie Over My Truth

The next fewdays go by so quickly that by Thursday, my head is spinning. The event is tomorrow, and we’re ready. Except we’re not.

“The food’s there,” Keira shouts.

Holding the phone to my ear, I move another thing to the “Done” column. The food is there, which means I’m done with it. As I’m done with decorations, the guest list, journalists, staff, and about twenty other items. But there’s still a scary amount of colorful notes on the to-do list.

“Heaven?” A very disgruntled Shane enters my office. “Have we approved this? Because there’s a fucking typo.”

I glance at the poster he’s talking about and shake my head. “No. I spotted it and fixed it a week ago.” I giggle. “Where’s your head?”

His lips twist with a mischievous grin. “I don’t know. You almost ripped it off last night with your thi—”

“Yes? Hi, this is Heaven Wilson from IMP,” I say, jumping up to cover his mouth as soon as the modeling agency answers the phone. I kiss his lips, pointing him to the door, and he leaves with the usual smile.

I don’t know if people here are still calling him Mr. Asshole, but at this point, it’s ridiculous. He’s happy. He whistles—whistles,for crying out loud—and there’s a permanent smile on his face.

The entire office knows about us, of course. He’s not good at hiding it, or maybe he had no intention to start with. After all, though he’s my boss right now, he’s not the one paying my wage, making decisions about my career. And after tomorrow, our jobs won’t intersect in any way.

After an hour-long meeting about the last adjustments for the event, he forces me to stop for lunch. Apparently, he deemed it “not legal” to work eighteen hours without a break. Pointing out he should probably be arrested too didn’t sway him either.

As I leave the office behind, everyone’s crazed, running from one side of the floor to the other and screaming information. This place has never been relaxing, but today it’s a complete madhouse. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like tomorrow.

I get out of the elevator on the second floor, where the cafeteria is. Sending a text to Emma, I ask if she’s free for a quick lunch, but once I get there, I find her at one of the tables.

“Hey!” She squeals as I approach. “What are you doing here? I figured you wouldn’t have time to breathe, let alone eat.”

“Shane,” I explain as I sit. “Apparently, Mr. Asshole turns into Mr. Babysitter at need.”

“That’s because he’s crazy about you,” she says with a huge grin. “And nothing new with Alex?”

I shake my head. It’s been over a week, and he has gone AWOL, which must mean he’s given up. Maybe all he needed to move on was to know that I’m with Shane. Whatever it was, it worked, so I can’t complain.

“And you’ve deleted Nevaeh’s profile?”

I nod. “Gone.”

“So we can put this whole thing behind us.”

With a tilt of my head, I sigh. Though she’s right and this whole RadaR debacle is technically over, Shane doesn’t know the truth, and I really wish he did. At some point, I’ll have to come clean. “I just wish I could tell Shane about all of it, you know?”

She clicks her tongue, then rolls some spaghetti with her fork. “I know, H. But you’d get a weight off your shoulders and put it on his. Sometimes, it’s better to keep the truth to yourself.”

“But he’sreallyhung up on honesty. His parents—there’s a lot of drama there, and...” I say as dread fills my stomach, “he doesn’t tolerate lies.”