Page 30 of Pretty When She Breaks

I shivered, heat prickling down my spine, pooling in mythrobbing core. My nipples had tightened and felt sensitive, rubbing against my bra.

I squeezed my thighs together, picturing him beneath me, nude, his cock standing, swollen and dark and starting to drip in anticipation. It was my hands wrapping around his cock and watching as his head tipped back in pleasure. I wanted to see his face as he made the erotic, unsteady breaths that my recording had caught.

Settling for the next best thing, which was pressing my hand between my legs to catch some friction against my aching core, I let out a whimper. I could hear him speeding up, the slick sound of oil, and matched his pace as he let out another moan of pleasure. He was trying to hold back his cries, mostly heavy panting coming through the headphones, but he sounded like he was starting to break. He was doing this to my scent, my picture, imagining me over him, of his cock sinking into my waiting heat.

I brought my fingers to circle around my clit, seeking that delicious pleasure in this stolen moment.

He cried out, and the bed creaked, then stilled.

I imagined his back arching, his face tense as he came. I didn’t know if I was imagining the sound of ropes of cum hitting his skin, but I could picture it painting his stomach, his chest, perhaps even hitting his face, and some would slip into my hand as I worked him until he couldn’t take it anymore.

While I imagined crawling on him, licking up every drop that had spilled onto his dusky skin, I came. I felt like my body was melting with pleasure as it gripped me, like I was helpless to do anything but writhe and enjoy it.

In my fantasy, he laughed and tugged us to the bathroom to clean up. And after, he’d lend me his shirt and pull medown onto the bed. Wrap his arms around me and press a kiss to my hair.

No, that was too dangerous to imagine.

I hit the stop button, wrenching off my headphones and throwing them onto the desk. My face was burning hot, and despite the blissed-out cloud that had claimed my body, the reality of guilt and shame slammed me back to earth.

Fuck.

I’dneverdone that before.

But it might be all I ever got of him.

I scanned the rest of the recording for moments of noise, but there were no conversations to overhear. I listened to him getting ready in the morning, humming to himself, then the room was quiet until the maids came in to clean.

I needed to find him. I needed to warn him to stay away from me forever.

My phone buzzed, and I looked down to see a message from Lyra, Soren’s secretary. He’d agreed to meet with me tomorrow.

My fingers tightened around my phone as I read the message.

This was what was important.

I’d go meet Soren tomorrow and pray he didn’t think I was crazy when I asked him to dig up the truth about my not-dead brother.

I looked up at a knock on the door, shoving my equipment out of sight.

A short woman with close-cropped black hair entered my dressing room and slipped the door closed.

“Jade?” I asked, and she raised a dark brow.

Her mouth twitched in a small smile. As usual, whenever I saw her, my heart squeezed painfully.

“You know, I come on the same day every month,” she said, perching on my counter.

“Right. Sorry, it’s been a morning,” I said, shaking my head and rising to my feet.

“Right. Thought Daddy’s tantrum was yesterday?” she said, her eyes darkening with sympathy.

“It wasn’t that,” I replied, turning away from her to my dresser and unlocking the top drawer. I pulled out the pieces of jewelry, passing them back to her. She examined each one before carefully bagging them.

“The black diamonds?” she asked when I turned back to her.

I hesitated. “I’m sorry. I forgot to bring them up with me this morning.”

“Ugh, babe, I had a buyer lined up for those,” she said, rolling her eyes.