Flash—his mouth sucking on my skin till I cried.
I grip the handle of my chair and breathe through the spiral.
I'm not good at sharing things that matter and hate that they tend to lose their magic when they leave my mouth, but this will eat me alive if I keep it locked there.
"Hell, Lu, I always knew he wasn't going to be vanilla, but it was incredible. For once, my head shut up. I was in my... feels."
"Feels?" she cackles. A little cruel, a little fond. "Cutie."
I laugh too, nails scratching the table. "Yeah. Right. Cutie."
A breath as I clear my throat.
"It was soft and claiming at the same time, just like I'd want it. Passionate. Liberating. I felt like myself. More alive."
Her clicking stops mid-beat. "Fuck. That's straight-up addict talk, you know that, right?"
"No..." The word comes out in a horrified gasp. I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Damn it. Yeah. You're right."
"Do you want more?"
The line goes mute.
"Helloooo? You better spill baby, I've got someone very hot in here, posing for me. Naked."
"Say hi to Micah."
"Maybe it's not him?"
"Bullshit."
"Stop stalling. Do you want more?"
I watch the window in the bright hour and see his silhouette in it, walking toward me, like when he was here.
That's the worst part: how he's managed to sneak back into all the corners of my life, even the ones I thought would be forever private to him.
"What does it matter if I want more?" I snap. "We're both married. Doesn't matter what he said about his marriage. At some point, my brain's going to rewire back to sanity, right?"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
I flick the edge of the table with my nail so hard it hurts. Because the truth hurts.
"Yeah, whatever," I hiss. "Doesn't matter now. It's too late. As you said. I just have to stop my thoughts while I can."
Lu snorts. "Okay, but tell me, genius—how?"
"I thought about it. I'm going to suggest Richard takes the project back in Seattle." I look up and—
"Shhhit!" I slam backward into the chair hard enough to make it roll and bump the wall. My pulse trips over itself. "Richard!"
"What?" Lu sounds caught off-guard. "You okay?"
Richard's standing in the doorway with his arms crossed, summoned by name like the devil himself.
How else could he have gotten so close without a sound? And how much did he hear?
"Uh. Lu? Richard's here," I stammer.
