Page 64

I nodded. My mouth still wasn’t working properly and I wasn’t going to embarrass myself by giving him gibberish. I sat there on his desk, braced on shaky arms, waiting for another gruff command that never came.

Instead, he stood up, stroked his hand over the erection straining against his pants, and bent down to let me taste myself on his lips.

“Good fucking girl.”

Holy shit, this man was going to be the end of me.

Duchess derailed my plans to make this a quick in and out trip. Every time I tried to get True’s desk onto the cart so I could take it up the hill to my truck, the cat snaked between my legs, meowing for attention. I almost tripped over her twice before I gave up and sat down on the edge of the desk to give her some love.

“What’s up, Dutch?” I scooped her off the ground and stared into her blue eyes. “You missed me today?”

She purred under my attention and nudged her head against my chin.

“I know. Missed you too, pretty girl. But I had to take True shopping.”

She tilted her head like she understood what I was saying and quiet laughter rumbled in my chest. “You like True? She’s nice, right?”

Duchess let out a long, approving trill.

“You spent the day with Greyson? How was that?”

She meowed and started kneading my pants leg. The repetitive motion gave my brain permission to fixate on what happened at the mall.

I should have known my day was going too good.

I’d slept harder than I’d slept in a long time last night on the couch, but I didn’t even remember falling asleep. When I woke up, it was seven o’clock and only because Greyson was in the kitchen making coffee. When he noticed I was up, he made a mug of decaf for me and it was waiting on the kitchen counter when I got back from using the bathroom. Beside the coffee, he’d left his titanium credit card, not needing to say what it was for.

I had a slow morning alone at the house before heading to the resort to do inventory for the gift shop. Then I picked up True.

I talked to her for most of the trip to Charlotte and felt like I was finally getting to know her.

Then all hell broke loose in that dressing room. My parents had a way with words and none of those words led to anything good.

My mind stayed in that dressing room for too long, ruminating on the things my mother had said to me. The things True heard her say to me. In the grand scheme of things, what she heard wasn’t even bad, but it was enough to get the bigger picture. Who the fuck wanted to be with a man who got antagonized by the woman who gave him life?

I didn’t like how pity filled her eyes. But the hard set of her jaw when she looked at my mother had been…new. I’d never seen True angry before today.

A cold gust of wind was the only reason I snapped out of my thoughts. When I looked down at my lap, Duchess was gone and my phone was vibrating in my pocket.

“H-hello?” I stammered without checking the ID.

“Where are you? It’s been half an hour and I’m about to leave. Do you want me to take True home with me?”

Greyson.

Shit.

True.

I told her we’d be here for five minutes, tops and zoned out.

“Um, I’m getting her desk on the cart now.” I patted my pockets down for my keys, trying to get my shit together while I was actively scrambling. “You can take her home. I need to feed the cat. I’ll just take the desk straight to her house when I pull up.”

Greyson hesitated and I knew he wanted to ask me if I was good. Things were back to “normal” with us after my dream a week and a half ago, but I hadn’t stopped thinking about it and the dreams hadn’t stopped, either.

But since I wasn’t taking Ambien every night, at least I wasn’t inhis bedhaving the dreams. And so far, coming in my sleep had been a one-time thing. I hadn’t woken up again in the middle of acting one out.

“Aight, see you at home,” he said before the line died.