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“Did you do what I asked? Did you think about us while you touched yourself?”

My muscles lock. He’s using that voice again. The one that gets me every time. Soft and sensual, a hint of danger. “That’s none of your business.”

“I thought of you,” he murmurs, like I hadn’t said anything to rebuff him. “Every night—and most mornings, too. I should be satiated, but I’m hungrier than ever. You have no idea what the mere thought of you does to me.”

I swallow the sudden desert in my mouth. How do we feel the exact same? “I don’t usually have a hard time—” I stop myself.

What am I doing? I can’t be having this conversation with him. He’s at practice. He’s a goddamned Wildcat. This is crazy.

“But you are now? That’s because you want the real thing, sweetheart. You want my cock. Admit it.”

Unlikely , I lie to myself. “Forget I said anything. About Jace?”

“Who the fuck is Jace?”

His growl takes me by surprise. It makes me mute for a second, my heart taking off as if it’s trying to skitter away from the venom in his voice.

“Raeann.” His tone is controlled now, but it’s laced with real danger. “Tell me who?—”

“It’s the guy Joey hired.”

“Joey hired a guy ? How old is he?”

“I don’t know, early twenties?”

The demand in his voice brooks no argument and practically yanks the answers from my body even though my brain is telling me I don’t have to tell him anything. He’s the one invading my safe space.

“One second.”

I wait for him as the line goes mute. Drumming my fingers against my thigh, I look at the screen and then put it back to my ear.

He’s gone for several moments until the line clicks on again. I can suddenly hear even the faintest of background noise. “Why didn’t you call earlier?” he asks.

This abrupt change in subject has me wondering if he really is a psychopath. “Micah, I’ve been thinking, I should give you back your credit card, and we can just?—”

“You owe me a date.”

“But it’s clear you want more than that, and I don’t think I’m ready to give it to you.”

He’s silent for several seconds. “I want to make one thing very clear. I’m attracted to you sexually, but I’m attracted to your mind, too.

I’m amazed that a woman like you is still on the market.

Smart. Creative. Goal-oriented. This isn’t about wanting your body, Raeann, it’s about wanting your everything. ”

I’m at the window of the store now, peering out at the sidewalks that are filling with more people.

I press my hand against the pane, my nose practically touching the glass.

On the other side of the street, I see a couple embrace, and for a moment, it feels like that could be Micah and me.

Especially with his words still lingering.

“I’m vocal about what I want. I think about you all the fucking time, but I would never force anything. You’re to be respected. Revered. I would never treat you as anything other than a lady…unless you asked.”

“Do you have character references?” I joke. Though I sort of mean it.

“You want character references? From who?”

“Teammates. Parents. Joey, definitely. I need to know how you treat your employees, Mr. Micah Freeman.”

He exhales. “I’ll get the mayor to write me a glowing reference if it makes you feel better.”

I’m turned on again—or maybe it’s just my life now. “I’m on edge today.” I whisper it so it seems like I’m not really saying it at all. Like maybe I can pretend.

“You couldn’t come this morning, gorgeous?”

I exit the glass door and turn the corner toward our apartment. It takes me exactly three steps, and then I’m headed up the stairs.

“It was so hard,” I admit.

“Let me help.”

It’s as if I knew he’d say it. I lock the apartment door behind me, then my bedroom door as I lay on the bed. “How?”

“I’ll talk you through it. First, tell me that you’re alone.”

“I’m alone. I’m in my room. But don’t you have to get back to lifting?”

“Don’t worry about that. What did you think about me doing first, Raeann?”

Oh, that voice. It’s so smooth and dark. I press my knees to the bed. “Licking me.”

The admission comes out and I’m not even embarrassed.

“You love your clit played with, do you? Start touching yourself.”

I flip my Pet Threads apron out of the way and then sneak my hand under my leggings. There’s no apprehension as I find my clit. My breath hitches.

“There you go,” Micah soothes. “You’re in luck because I could eat your pussy for hours and hours.”

My breathing ratchets up, and I press my lips together. I put Micah on speaker and drop my phone to the bed so I can grip the sheets.

“I like to slowly curl my tongue around your clit, over and over. As fast or as slow as you want it. I listen to your body. I take my cues from your moans.”

As soon as he says it, a long moan escapes my chest while pleasure radiates from my core.

“Would you like it if I stroked your nipples?”

I whimper, the sound borderline pathetic, but I’m beyond caring.

“You do. Well, consider me flicking my tongue across your clit while I pull at your perfect nipples. You’re shaking, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” I breathe out. Already, I can feel the pleasure tightening in anticipation of release. “Micah.”

“ Fuck me ,” he breathes. “I’m going to get in my car.”

“No time,” I pant. “Keep going.”

“You taste like heaven. I suck your clit into my mouth. Take a whole fistful of your tits.”

“Yes,” I whine. My fingers tighten their circle over the hard bud. “Micah.”

“You won’t have trouble now, will you? You want to come in my mouth. I want your juices all over my lips. God, Raeann, I’m so fucking hard.”

My breath hitches again.

“Fuuuck,” he groans. “Are you close, baby?”

I make a sound that’s both pleasure and pain from need.

“You’re there. Just a little more.”

My fingers rub a frenzied circle over and over until a strangled cry escapes my lips.

Breaths saw in and out of my chest like I just ran a marathon, and my body releases all tension in the form of waves of pleasure.

I lay there, spent and lazy, my fingers still wringing out every last ounce of pleasure, but then they, too, slide to the bed until I’m one lump of relief.

“That was perfect,” Micah rasps.

“Mmm.”

“Go on a date with me, Raeann Gorman. Not because you won me. Not because I am who I am, but because you want to.”

Call it a sex-induced haze, but “I want to” falls out of my mouth.

“Tonight,” he says, then he hangs up.