Page 34 of Mask and the Magnolia

I forgot all about that.

I don’t know how I did, that’s where O’Brien found the Rookers.

It’s unlocked at all times and accessible to the residents while they’re out. There’s not much in there right now, nothing other than furniture they plan on having in the common areas and overflow items.

Which means it’s fucking perfect.

Holding my breath, I reach down and pull off my flats then run on tiptoe toward the closet, carefully opening and closing the door, quietly slipping inside.

“Fuck,” I whisper as I close my eyes and press my back against the wall. I listen for a few moments to make sure no one heard me and when I’m positive I’m home free, I give myself permission to fall the hell apart. “I can’t do this.”

I can’t keep fighting the inevitable, can’t keep subjecting myself to a fabricated reality in which I break my contract and get to live happily ever after. I’m only hurting myself by doing it, and that’s not really doing any favors for Eve because it’s giving her that same false hope.

Sniffling a few times, I try to calm down, try to change my line of thinking and focus on work and today’s agenda then move toward the desk under the window.

Only to fall apart all over again when I look through the bars into the courtyard, the symbolism too hard to ignore.

“Dr. Reynolds?”

I spin toward the gravely voice behind me, barely able to hide the way I was caught in the middle of a sob with my red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks.

Quickly wiping my face, I straighten my spine and force a smile. “Good morning, Mr. Severe.”

He frowns at me as the closet door closes behind him, those pale gray eyes moving over me from head to toe in a way I can feel.

Which isn’t good, because it’s happeningagain.

If I thought it was problematic to be attracted to my mentor, what the hell am I supposed to think about the way my entire body lights up like a fireworks display when I’m alone with the beta and two of the alphas I’m supposed to be treating?

Korvin Severe being one of them.

I’ve managed to keep myself from perfuming like a crazy lady but I don’t have any idea how long I’m going to be able to hold that off. All the drugs in the world didn’t stop it from happening on the day the residents were brought in, and unless they just knock me out cold, I don’t see that changing.

Especially when Mr. Severe is seemingly oblivious to it.

That derails my line of thinking long enough to shift my attention from his extremely sexy face, to the muzzle he’s wearing on it.

“You aren’t supposed to have this on when you’re out.” I take a few steps toward him, lifting my hands to the back of his head while I press up on my toes. “Just like the cuffs but I don’t have a key for those…”

I slowly unbuckle the leather and metal from his hair, Korvin staring at me the entire time, and it’s that exact moment that I realize I fucked up.

I’m not a very tall person, some even call me petite regardless of the size of my ass, and reaching up to take the muzzle off of a six-foot-five alpha means that I’ve not only closed the gap between us, I’ve eliminated any and all space that could have existed because my chest is plastered to the front of him for leverage.

A whole lot of leverage.

Hard, rippling leverage rising and falling against me, the kind I can feel despite my sweater and his jumpsuit separating us. The kind that requires Korvin to use his cuffed hands to try to hang on to my hips so I don’t fall.

This is not good.

Especially when I don’t exactly move out of his grip, I just drop the muzzle and stare into his eyes so long I forget everything that’s happened up until this very moment.

Somewhere along the way, Mr. Severe dipped his head enough for me to do what I blindly set out to do, and now our faces are nearly as close as our bodies. So close that if I leaned forward just a little, my lips would touch his and?—

“Why were you crying?”

Just like that, those carefully whispered words snap me back to reality.

Almost.