Page 24

“If it’s not a transaction. I don’t want just your body, Tahlia, but everything. It’s ok if you don’t feel the same way.”

I hadn’t even been thinking of money. My heart swelled with his warm seafoam eyes and his boyish, charming grin. Of the nervous hitch in his voice when he spoke to me. My clit throbbed under my desperate hand as I warred with my tight chest.

Stupid.Desperate. You’re embarrassing.

I balanced on the edge, ignoring the voice that berated me. I didn’t want Lloyd’s money, just him. To pretend that this was real for a moment. Pretend? If I was honest, there was nothing fake about what I felt in my chest for Lloyd. My insides quivered at the risk and mounting need.

Nobody ever accused me of being intelligent.

“Tahlia?” The tight timbre of his voice dragged a groan from my throat.

“Lloyd.” I loved the way he moaned in response. “I can’t make any promises.”

He didn’t reply immediately, and my heated flesh distracted me. Slick dripped down my thighs and my pussy ached for the pressure of a cock. To be stuffed full and claimed. Lloyd exhaled, and the sound caressed my body.

“Do you care about me? Or is this strategy for you?”

I almost dropped my phone and let out a strangled noise. I wasn’t capable of the things he asked me, not with accusation, but with tender hurt covered by curiosity. This man was an open book, and I wanted to be as well.

“I knew from our first conversation I was in trouble with you, Lloyd. I never thought I’d share anything of myself with anyone again.”

Lloyd groaned and his gaze was fevered.

“So touch yourself, honey girl. I want you to come for me.”

I slipped my fingers underneath my pajamas and between my slick, covered thighs. I couldn’t muffle the wet sounds my fingers made as I played with myself. The phone slid out of my hand onto the bed, and I reached to cup one of my breasts. My bra was soft, but it constricted me.

Lloyd swallowed with an audible gulp. “Does it feel good?”

“Ugh, yes,” I whimpered, my fingers danced over my fevered flesh. “I wish it was you, though,” I added, committing to the insanity of this moment.

Chase never made me feel like this. Quick, secretive, and greedy with his desire. Our trysts left me aching, always. I thought it was circumstance; the illicitness of our arrangement didn’t lend itself to languid pleasure. Not when someone might catch us together.

I ached in my blood and breath. It was torture I wanted to exist in, with my knowing touch and Lloyd’s desperate voice. Every hitched breath and sharp grunt satisfied me more than any orgasm Chase failed to give me.

“I want to see you,” I whispered. “Do you want to watch me?”

“You want to kill me?” He sounded like a taut thread, and I controlled whether he snapped.

My muscles trembled as I clamped my hand between my legs, coasting to the edge of orgasm. The heady scent on the jacket,combined with Lloyd’s gravelly voice and heavy breathing. I floated on the sound, closed my eyes until it overflowed my ears. I swallowed hard and pleasure flared like a comet.

“Tell me you want me,” I begged through the haze of desire.

“Always, forever,” Lloyd whispered, and it sounded like a brand on his soul.

Stupid.The voice in my head was a wisp, and I batted it away.

I’d rather be stupid with fire in my veins than safe and numb. The realization rolled through me, taking with it the shadows I wore like a shroud. I could be no one but myself. And Tully Hartlock might be naive, stupid, and spontaneous. But this felt right. Fated.

I fumbled with the phone.

Slick coated my fingers, and I sucked it off before propping the screen up and framing it between my legs. My thighs trembled, and my entire body followed. I clicked on the video and leaned back. Lloyd would have the perfect view of my sopping pussy, but not my face.

What would my parents say if they saw their precious Hartlock daughter baring everything to a stranger?

The sting of shame only emboldened me. I wasn’t a perfect Hartlock, and I never would be. Let me take what illicit pleasures I wanted. It wouldn’t be the first time. I wished I could see Lloyd, but that would mean him seeing me, too.

“You look so sweet. My honey girl,” Lloyd gritted out, panting through the phone.