Page 77 of Until August

Sex without strings attached. That was easy. It was physical, nothing more. But when emotions came into play, it changed the whole ballgame.

The key was to not get emotionally involved. Even at this early stage, I wasn’t sure that was possible.

I already cared about her. Worried about her. Picked up on her moods and knew her little tell signs.

For fuck’s sake, I even knew she had her period last week. The app alerted me when she left her phone next to the coffee machine. I spent most of my waking hours with this woman, working together so closely that I already knew hundreds of little things about her.

In short, Nicola already took up too much real estate in my head. Sex would only exacerbate the problem.

So, clearly, I was thinking with the wrong head when I finally responded. “How does sex in the back of my pickup sound?”

She laughed. “Like high school.”

I scoffed. “I know how to satisfy a woman a hell of a lot better than any high school kid.”

“You talk a good game, but I’ll need proof before I deliver my verdict,” she sassed.

I’d have to up my game. The last time we had sex, it’d lasted approximately six seconds.

And that was being generous.

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

August

We optedfor sex in the dining room after everyone left. Less chance of getting arrested for public indecency.

I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her middle, trailing my tongue down the side of her neck. “You’re sure you’re good with this?” I asked again, pressing a kiss to the spot where her neck and shoulder met. “Just sex… no strings?”

“It’s all I want. I’m good with it,” she assured me, meeting my eyes in the mirror behind the bar.

As much as I would love to fuck her into oblivion tonight and for the foreseeable future, I couldn’t afford to lose a job over it, so I pressed on. “And what about work?”

“We’ll keep it separate. If we find ourselves getting in too deep, we’ll stop it.” She turned in my arms to face me, a small smile on her lips to reassure me. “Your job is safe. I need you too much to risk losing you because of our little arrangement.”

She sounded sincere, and I wanted to believe her.

Her fingers tangled in my hair as my hands coasted down her back and palmed her ass. “It will just be a fling,” she said. “Some harmless fun.”

She reached down between us, fingers fumbling to unbutton my pants, but I captured her hands to stop her. “You don’t strike me as a fling type of girl.”

“You’d be surprised.” Her tone was flirtatious, and her smile was seductive.

“Surprise me,” I said. “Strip for me.”

Her eyes met mine, uncertainty swirling in the brown depths. “You want me to strip for you?”

I released her and took a step back. “Mmhmm. I want to watch.”

Not sure if she’d rise to the challenge or not. Guess we’d see. I crossed the room, flicked the switch, and killed the lights.

Moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a blue glow around the room as I leaned my shoulder against the wall, watching to see what she’d do next.

Nicola hesitated, then grabbed her phone and scrolled before hitting play and tossing her phone onto the bar.

The Weeknd’s “Earned It” poured from the speakers. Was this Nicola’s seduction playlist? Her go-to sex soundtrack? Had she played it before, or was the music especially for me?

I’d prefer to think it was the latter, so I shoved the thought out of my head and stood back to enjoy the show.