‘I did, but I wasn’t very good at it. Not like you.’
‘There are plenty of people who don’t think I’m very good at it,’ I replied with a laugh.
I watched his eyes scan the pages until he found what he was looking for. Clearing his throat, Joe moved until the light from the window shone directly on the book.
‘When his eyes find mine, everything I’ve been fighting against falls away,’ he read in a measured, certain voice.
Oh no.
It was chapter seventeen.
‘He comes closer until he is all I can see or breathe, the sound of his voice rumbling like thunder in my ears. “Why did you dance with him?” Eric demands to know. I don’t have an answer ready and he doesn’t give me a chance to think of one. “I’ve never been so mad at you,” he whispers as his hand clamps my upper arm, tight enough to leave fingerprints. “You’re the one who left,” I tell him, furious at his reaction but at the same time, I felt myself melting at my core, “what did you want me to do?” I wanted him angry, I wanted him mine. Jealousy tightens his grip on my arm and his gaze sears my soul. “I want you to get on your knees,” he breathes. “And I want you to show me you’re sorry—”’
‘You’re not going to believe this but I’m familiar with the story,’ I said, curling the sleeves of my cardigan around my fingers to stop my nails from cutting into the flesh of my palms. ‘I don’t need a DIY audiobook.’
What I did need was a glass of cold water, a fan andmaybe a chastity belt. I felt like a swan, gliding elegantly on the surface for all to see while my legs kicked wildly under the surface, struggling to keep up the pretence. Only I couldn’t feel my legs, just the swirling heat between them.
‘It’s difficult for me to believe someone as odious as your ex-boyfriend could inspire something as hot as this.’ Joe perched on the edge of the desk, still holding the book, his forefinger saving the page. I crossed my legs at the ankles and squeezed my thighs as tightly as possible, hoping to weld them together under my dress. ‘I wish I could understand what you saw in him?’
‘He did inspire it but not in the way you think,’ I told him. ‘I was bored and lonely, CJ was what I had, the relationship between Eric and Jenna was what I wanted.’
I shrugged off my cardigan before I could overheat. It was stuffy in the stockroom. Stuffy and close and so hot and why did the smell of old books blend so beautifully with the smell of Joe’s skin?
‘So it’s your fantasy.’
Questions like that were why I didn’t want to do interviews. If there had been any more fire in my cheeks, they could’ve used me to power a nuclear reactor.
‘Only it doesn’t read like a fantasy.’ Joe opened the book again, reading on in his head. ‘It reads like someone who knows exactly what she wants.’
He slid his finger down the page until he found what he was looking for and spoke my own words back to me, speaking so soft and low I had to strain to listen, even though I knew every single word backwards.
‘“That sorry excuse for a man could never touch youthe way I can,” Eric says as his hand moves down my arm, slowly stroking the back of my hand before passing over my bare thighs and slipping between my legs.”’ Joe paused, his voice cracking, and I heard a sharp intake of breath before he started the next sentence. ‘“He could never make you groan the way I can, he could never make you beg for more. He could never make you come the way I can, until all you see are stars and your body lies limp and breathless—”’
‘I’ve heard enough,’ I said although when I heard the tremor in my voice I didn’t even believe myself.
LeavingButterflieson the desk, Joe stood up, effortlessly shoved the heavy antique to the side, and slowly, never once taking his eyes off mine, knelt down in front of me. He rested one palm on each of my knees and gently pushed my legs apart, moving closer until I could feel his breath, warm against my thighs.
‘You can stop now,’ I think I said. ‘I’ve readIron Flame, this is not your bookshop, this is not the throne of Tyrrendor and I’m not—’
‘Not what?’
My eyes locked on his.
‘Yours.’
A soft gasp escaped my lips as he let his hands glide over my skin, moving unbearably slowly, until they slid behind my hips, his fingers pressing into the soft curves of my body. He paused for one long heartbeat then yanked me forward until our bodies were flush, my arms instinctively circling his neck, his face tilted up towards mine and mine angled down towards his, drawn to him like a magnet. I couldn’t read his mind but I didn’t need to. His intentions were very clear and my body throbbed with anticipation.
‘Do you really want me to stop?’ he asked. ‘Because I will if you ask me to.’
‘I don’t know what I want,’ I said, a gentle moan escaping as his lips grazed my jaw.
‘Yes, you do.’ He teased the shoulder strap of my dress with one hand, the other still firmly grasping my hip, holding me in place. ‘You want me to make you feel the way Eric makes Jenna feel in your book. You want me to make you come so hard you see stars.’
‘And what do you want?’ I asked when the heat of his mouth moved to my throat, his full lips and velvet tongue flicking against the tender skin. Between my thighs, I felt his fingers test the edge of my underwear and my back arched to bring him closer, unable to wait one second longer for what came next.
‘You. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.’
‘Hello?’ a high-pitched voice called out from the other room. ‘Este, are you in here?’
