I giggled. “Only if it leaves a mark.”
He barked with laughter before he chose his ball off the rack behind us, and I watched his stance. He was strong, and fluid. Flexible, but not spindly. He really was an attractive man, and I was so grateful that he was so understanding and laid back. I needed someone like that. I needed someone who wasn’t so damn uptight all the fucking time.
And after playing through our first round, an idea crossed my mind.
“Hey, Michael.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. “I hear a beauty hath summoned thee. What’s on your mind?”
I draped my arms around his neck and grinned. “Ever had a quickie in the bathroom?”
I expected him to laugh, or possibly playfully chastise me for being a bad girl. And even if that wasn’t his thing, I still expected him to be respectful of it. But instead, disgust dripped over his features before he wrinkled his nose.
“Ew, no. Why would you want to do that for our first time together?”
My stomach bottomed out at my toes. “I don’t know. It just… seemed like fun? I mean, we wouldn’t have to have full-on sex. Maybe just… I don’t know.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Just fool around while someone else is shitting beside us?”
I pulled away from him. “A simple ‘no’ would have sufficed, Michael.”
I felt ashamed, and guilty. Dirty, almost, by his standards. It seemed fun at the time when I got the idea to ask in the first place because I sure as hell needed the release after the bullshit JoJo pulled over the weekend. But it was so unlike me, and the longer Michael went without speaking to me the guiltier I felt for even asking.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you in an odd spot,” I said softly.
He shrugged. “Let’s just wrap up this game and I’ll get you home.”
So much for a regular life, I guess.
20
Rebecca
After Michael droppedme off outside my apartment complex without bothering to walk me upstairs, I knew I had blown it. I wiped at my tears and waited until his car was out of sight before I flagged down a cab. I didn’t want to go upstairs and wallow in my own self-pity. I wanted to be useful somewhere instead of being a burden to my couch. So, I made my way into work.
While hoping and praying that JoJo wasn’t pulling a late shift.
“Evening, Miss Loren,” Jackson said.
I waved. “Hey there, Jay.”
“Late night?”
I sighed. “Bad date. Just looking to get my mind off things.”
He hissed air through his teeth. “Those are rough. You need a shoulder?”
I giggled softly. “No, but thank you. Right now, all I need is work.”
“Let me know if I should send for food or anything.”
I patted his arm as I walked by. “You’re too kind. Thank you, Jay.”
“Anytime, Miss Loren.”
The second I sat down in my office, I relaxed. It felt like I was finally home, but I didn’t have the emotional wherewithal to figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe I was becoming the same kind of workaholic JoJo had turned into. Maybe I was setting some sort of unhealthy trend in my life where work felt like home more than my own place did. But, with the endless amount of work I had on my plate constantly, the very least I could do was keep myself distracted until I wanted to go to bed.
So, I logged in, clocked in, and got to work.
