Page 14

INDIE

ustulation: (n.) a burning lust

T he next time I decide to get fake engaged, I’m going to make sure I add in cake tasting.

Multiple cake tastings.

That way when I actually linked myself to another human being that will be the only person I have sex with ever again, I’ll know what I like, and won’t have to do it again.

Or maybe I will, because then I can just have an excuse to taste all my favorites all over again.

The only person I ever have sex again…who wouldn’t be Theo. Who gave me the most intense orgasms, yes multiple, of my life. And would never be mine.

Thank fuck.

I wondered if sex with someone I didn’t hate would be as spectacular. Also, never admitting that one out loud, and especially not to #HOCKEYDADDY.

I might just set up my own tastings, and not invite my ‘fiancé’ to any of them.

From pop the question, up until the fake I do’s.

All the cake tasting. Especially if my ass is this sore after he decides to hate fuck me the night before he fake asks for my hand in fake never going to happen marriage as part of the proposal.

I deserved cake, god dammit.

Because I was convinced the only reason what happened.

.happened was so he could gloat at every flinch when I attempted to sit down.

Which I flat out refused to do, much to the amusement of my cousin, whose face looked as if it were auditioning for a guest spot in a Taylor Swift ‘Delicate’ music video sequel.

Except she wasn’t faking her happiness. She was reveling min my discomfort.

“Stop,” I hissed at Nia, who bit her lip, but a damn giggle escaped anyway as I passed her in the bookstore.

Oddly enough, the place was rather busy.

Partially in thanks to the post I scheduled before my ass hated me yesterday saying that we might have #hockeydaddy himself stopping in to add his newest romance book recs to the wall.

Theo was going to be here later, and yes, he had a few books he and Noah, God help us all, to add to the wall, but then, it was also my fake proposal day to the boy I made a marriage pact with when we were younger.

And obviously not wiser.

Theo and I became social media official last week, saying that we had been keeping things private while we got to know each other again.

The douchebag added the ‘I can’t believe the girl I made a if-we’re-not-married-by-thirty-we-marry-each-other is my girlfriend’ along with a picture of our Sharpie marked hands intertwined.

The second pic was us giggling and looking at each other, foreheads touching. Fucking carousel post.

It was romantic, endearing, swoon worthy and made me want to vomit every time it showed in my feed. Plus he tagged me in it, so I saw every love struck idiot who left a comment.

‘OMG, #brothersbestfriend #agegap’ and ‘Single dad and childhood friends to lovers are my favorites tropes! Swoon!’ were just a few of the comments followers felt so inclined to drop, one after another until I muted my notifications.

Real life romance tropes, indeed. Didn’t these people have lives? The only consolation was that Theo must be getting them, too. So, win. I guess.

Given how many people decided to ‘pop in’ to BB&L today, and snuck glances plus a few not so inconspicuous pics, Theo held up his part of the ‘promote the bookstore’ item of our bargain.

Nia nudged me with her shoulder as our newest part-time employee smiled and rang up a gaggle of girls who were eyeing the door, as if Theo would sweep in at any moment like some MMC from the mountains of book they clutched in their arms. “I don’t know what changed between you two, but if you making up with Theo after whatever happened means this,” she waved her hand around the shop, “then I am all for it. As long as you’re happy,” she amended.

“And not that I was overly worried about business, but…”

Guilt warred with pride, and annoyance even if I was technically working to drive business.

Putting up with Theo was a full time job, and this…

was worth it. I hated the idea of being burden to my cousin, who was more like a sister and bestie rolled into one.

And she had her fair share of heartbreak when her asshole husband cheated with the nanny (not the sexy book trope one) and Lizzy almost drowned while he got his rocks off.

Thank God her parents made her sign up a prenup, or else things would have gotten messier than they were.

And, much to my semi-jealous bliss, she was now dating Jaxon Hunter.

The worst first not quite date that turned into…

well, that’s her story. Suffice it to say, Nia, up until last night, had been graciously allowing me to live vicariously through her tingling and romance book worthy sex stories over takeout and wine.

My lips twitched as I realized I finally had a smexy story to tell her…until I also realized explaining the whole ‘fuck me like you hate me’ might be complicated and in total juxtaposition to our stupid fake love story.

Hi, guilt. Here’s your point. Now you’re in a three way tie with Theo and me for winning this stupid game in my head. But enough of my dissociation and delulu moments of thinking I had an actual sex life to share. I had a fake proposal to accept, and my soon to be fake fiancé was late.

INDIE: You’re late, Daddy. If this is any indication of how our engagement is going to proceed, I can almost guarantee you’ll be needing more than that belt to deal with. Me.

“And now you’re sexting him, aren’t you?” Nia hissed beside me.

My head jerked up. “Creeper status! And I am not sexting him,” I shot back.

Eden slung her bag down over her shoulder, mug in hand, and grinned. “Oh, that’s a total sexting face. Guaranteed. And I bet she’s pushing his buttons,” she added.

I glared at her as Nia nodded and smoothed her skirt and waved at a few ladies who just entered the bookstore. “The two of you are-”

“Obviously right. You forget that I know you, Indra. And we’ve taken that damn kink test. That’s also the last time I let you bring over a bottle of Tito’s,” she groaned.

I stabbed a finger in her direction, then swung it at Eden with a swirling motion. “Listen, Miss Primal Kink, you have no room to talk about sexting or anything. Tito’s knows all our secrets. And that test is…inconsequential. I am not -” I so am “-pushing anyone’s buttons.”

“Brat,” Eden said in a stage whisper to Nia, who nodded. I whipped my head in her direction.

But she put her hand over my mouth before I even opened it. “Uh uh. We do not reveal kinks in mixed company.”

My eyes widened, and I tried to speak, but it came out muffled, because she still had me covered with her hand. So, I licked it.

“Ew, Indie!”

I didn’t bother to hide my smirk. “That’s what you get.”

“Oral fixa-”

“EDEN!”

The two of them dissolved into giggles. As much as I hated to admit it as one side of my mouth twitched until I ended up smiling, too, I loved being able to talk about this and…not wish I, too, was receiving mind-blowing orgasms. “Fine. I like to push-”

“Brat.”

“-but,” I itched to glance at my phone as it pinged, “that doesn’t mean I do all…that…with anyone.”

Eden sighed. “But it’s so fun to go through the list. Together.”

If I didn’t love Eden as much as I did, I would throttle her.

She knew this was all fake, and yet here she was, talking all the sexy talk like Theo and I weren’t faking it all.

I narrowed my eyes. Was it possible Cole’s creepy as fuck intuition rubbed off on my pink haired friend? Did she know what we did last night?

No. She couldn’t. With a flip of her pink hair, and a huge sip from her mug, she eyed me over the rim and waggled her brows when Nia looked away.

Fuck. She knew.

Fine.

My phone pinged again, thank God.

THEO: How’s your ass? Evidently I need to do better if you’re still sassing the next morning. Or maybe I need to hate fuck you so hard you can’t move for a week after.

THEO: Or are you addicted to me, and want more after you say yes?

Asshole.

INDIE: Or maybe you were only mildly adequate.

INDIE: After all, I do have toys who have kept me company at night. But you know that, don’t you?

THEO: Your cunt choking my cock doesn’t lie. But that mouth will get you in trouble, little girl.

I fumed for a second, cheeks aflame. And as much as I hated to admit it, I was insanely turned on. But it meant nothing. His was just the first dick I’d had in a while.

Yep. I was dick drunk.

It had nothing to with Theo.

Eden nudged me. “Hey, look who’s here! What a not surprise!”

There he was. The man who led me up to his bedroom by looping his belt around my neck and fucking me senseless in front of a mirror while I came, screaming and soaking his…I sighed…deliciously huge cock.

Theo grinned as a few squeals sounded from the girls who had been loitering and, yes, picking out new book boyfriends. Asshole. Well, if this whole shebang was to fix his image, I better make sure none of them got any ideas. I swept in before they got close, and jump up on him like a spider monkey.

And planted a huge kiss on him, tongue and all. It might be fake, but until it was over, I could mark my territory just as well as he could. From how the bulge in his pants grew as I hung there, Theo had no complaints.

“You ready to be affianced?” He asked against my mouth so no one else could hear. “And other…things after those texts, little girl?”

A rush of heat shot to my belly. I spoke low, smirking. “Do you think what happened last night-”

“Oh,” he growled, eyes darkening, even as the crowd eyed us with more and more interest. No doubt, pics were being posted as we warred. “It’s fucking happening again, you might hate me, but that only makes all this even hotter. But this time, I’ll shut that sassy mouth up with my cock.”

I slid down his body, heat radiating all over me.