“A hundred percent.” I feel almost like a liar.
With a regretful sigh, he hands over my pad. “Oh, well.”
Breathing unsteady, I focus hard on my drawing, slash pen to paper, crosshatching a deeper shadow. Why? Why do I want what he described, and yet…I really, really don’t?
Make you come, begging for more.
I don’t want it with Zed.
Liev, however… I’d crawl in the dirt for another chance with him. I’d beg him to make me come, any way he wants.
I force my breathing to steady. Married. Taken. Unavailable. I want to ask Zed about that, but don’t dare.
His eyes narrow. “God, though. That voice of yours. How’d it get all scratchy like that?” His volume drops. “Bet it cuts in and out when you scream, doesn’t it?”
Embarrassed heat sears everything from my chest to my face and I can’t help sounding annoyed. “Can we stop now?”
“Oh. Sure. Yep. Absolutely. Apologies. I just…” He tilts his head. “You’re hard to suss out. I’m too curious for my own good, I guess.” Curious? Is that what it is? His eyes crinkle into another charming smile. “I love a mystery as much as I hate not knowing something.”
My pen slows and finally comes to a stop. I lift it before it makes a splotch on the paper. I’ve opened up a lot here, I’ve said things I’d never have uttered in the outside world. I’ve looked people in the eye and released information I’ve barely even admitted to myself for most of my life.
After everything I’ve done in the past few days, saying it should be easy, right?
I swallow. “I like to be…” I clear my throat. Shit, dude. Just spit it out. “I’m into Primal kink. Like, running away. I’m the Prey.” My breathing eases, my chest relaxes. “I’ve been playing with someone here.”
“Yeah? How was it?”
How was it? Geez, Zed. Asking the big questions here. It was…
In the end, it was everything. And more.
Slowly, I break into a huge smile, which his eyes immediately mirror. “It was beyond my wildest dreams. So much better.”
He puts out his hand and, laughing, I slap the palm. “Whoa.” His warm, dry fingers wrap around mine. “What’s this?”
I pull away, tightening my fingers into a fist to hide the rosebud in the center of my palm. “Just part of my tattoo.”
“Holy shit. Wow, Grace. Who did it? I mean, the piece on your arm’s gorgeous, but this is some of the best work I’ve ever seen.”
“Thanks.”
“You get this done around here?”
I shake my head, shyly pleased at the compliment.
“Wait. You did it?”
I look down at my palm. “Yeah.”
“On yourself?” He sucks in a deep, audible breath. “That isfierce, woman. I don’t know how good you are at painting houses, but you should be inking people.” He watches me. “You are bad ass.”
I can’t quite hold my smile in.
“So, the Primal play,” he says casually. “Was it, like an…anonymous thing?”
“Yeah. I never saw him, while we…did it. I just answered an ad.” Holy shit. Has it just been three days? “It was…” A slew of adjectives race through my brain, but none seem right for what happened.
“Beyond your wildest dreams?” He repeats from a minute ago, looking up at the sky.
