Page 28 of Yearn

I took off my pencil skirt. “We stood there for a few seconds, but it felt like minutes and then he shoved his cock in his pants and stormed off.”

“Stormed off?” Cadence’s voice lightened. “Not rushed away or. . .ran in embarrassment?”

“No. He didn’t look embarrassed at all. He looked more like. . .you better take your ass back inside landlady before I fuck you out here.” I considered his expression again.

That wasn’t the stare of a boy—it was an alpha man burning, telling me without words that I was the reason he couldn’t hold back another second.

“Oh my.” Cadence shrieked. “Do you feel safe? How are the kids?”

“Yeah, girl. Do you feel safe?” Ro chimed in, but I knew it was going to be bullshit. “Because I can put on my shoes, come through, and investigate the situation, starting right at helping Mr. Dominic with that big cock of his.”

They both chuckled.

“I am absolutely fine.” I set my skirt over the chair. “Granted. . .I’m also really turned on—”

“Then, take your ass down to that basement and get you some.”

“Ro, I can’t do that.”

“Why not? Girl, stop playing holy when God just delivered you dick-first salvation.”

“Can we leave God out of this?” Cadence’s voice threaded through the line with gentleness that always slowed my heart. “Because Tey is smart. That’s her tenant. He’s freaking 25.”

Nodding, I tossed my bra to the side and headed over to my dresser to get my pajamas. “I’ve already got a messy life with Scott trying to financially abuse me so that Iwilltake him back. Let’s not forget his mistress who is practically stalking me so Iwon’ttake him back. Then, we have J and Oliver who haven’t been doing that well due to this big shake up in our home. My law firm is possibly going to have a big merger which means I have to show my hard work so I don’t get cut when the deal is done. I cannot add fucking a 25 year old med student to my dumpster fire of a life.”

I slid open the top pajama drawer with the phone cradled to my ear.

“Alright, let’s just get this straight.” Ro’s voice was already climbing, the way it did when she was about to launch into some monologue that would end with me either laughing my ass off or questioning my morals. “You got a man—scratch that, a fine young man—with a dick like a third arm, and he’s out there stroking it while staring at your window. And instead of climbing down them basement stairs like a woman possessed, you over on the phone with us acting like to fuck him would break one of the Ten Commandments?”

I snorted. “Ro—”

“No, no, don’t ‘Ro’ me.” She was in preacher mode now. I could picture her pacing her living room, long locs swinging, wine glass sloshing in her hand. “This is divine intervention, bitch. God sent Dominic to heal you. And you out here rejecting blessings.”

Cadence cut in, sighing so long it might have been the opening track to a meditation playlist. “Ro, please. God did not send that man to heal Tey. He sent him to medical school.”

I laughed so hard I had to cover the receiver.

Cadence continued, calm but sharp, “Don’t confuse being lusted after over being loved. One lasts the night; the other holds you in the morning.”

I swallowed.

“Tey, listen to me. You’re newly separated. You’re about to start a very long process of divorcing a man that I believe is a bona fide narcissist. You’re juggling kids and handling this merger at work. The last thing you need is a scandal with a tenant who’s practically a baby compared to you.”

“Twenty-five ain’t no baby,” Ro shot back. “Twenty-five is prime meat. Juicy, flexible, full of stamina. You remember stamina, Tey? Right? I know Scott doesn’t have any stamina.”

I shook my head and pulled out my silk pajama pants, sliding one leg in. “Lord, Ro.”

“Don’t ‘Lord’ me either. I’m the voice of reason here.”

Cadence chuckled softly. “If you are the voice of reason, Ro, then that is terrifying.”

I tugged the other pant leg up and grabbed the matching top.

The cool red silk kissed my skin, a small relief from the heat still simmering in my body.

“So what do I do then?” I asked. “Because y’all sound like the devil and the angel on my shoulders. One side screaming ‘ride him,’ the other whispering ‘run and hide.’”

“Ride himwhileyou run!” Ro hollered, and I nearly stumbled with buttoning the top.