But then he stepped back, and the loss of his warmth felt like a physical ache.
“Goodnight, Rachel.”
He left the room without looking back, Nuts and Bolts scrambling up from their spots to follow him. They gave me a look like they were wondering if I was coming along, too.
I heard his bedroom door open and close, and then I was alone with the wreckage of my life.
Clayton wants me.
Somehow that fact took over all my thoughts until I was a jumbled mess.
I couldn’t even work on my reports, I was too out of sorts.
They’ll have to wait until morning.
Which was rare for me, because Ineverwent to bed before submitting my claims.
I went to my room and tried to fall asleep. The sheets were cold without his body heat, and I lay there staring at the ceiling, wired and restless and unable to think about anything except the man on the other side of the wall.
His door is unlocked.
The thought kept circling back no matter how many times I tried to push it away.
He wants me.
I turned onto my side, punching my pillow into a more comfortable shape. This was insane. I’d known him forthreedays.
It was only eight p.m. and we were both going to bed ridiculously early. But what else was there to do? I couldn’t concentrate on anything except that man.
He represented everything I’d worked so hard to escape: the small-town life, a hand-to-mouth existence, and a world where people fixed things with salvaged materials and handshake deals because they couldn’t afford anything else.
But he also represented something I’d lost along the way. Connection and community. The feeling of belonging somewhere instead of just passing through.
And I was regrettably in heat for him.
I wanted to drag my lips across his beard and feel it prickling against my skin. Feel his powerful arms holding me in place while he did devilish things to me.
Clayton was the kind of man I knew would give me the fuck of a lifetime, if I only let him.
The trouble was, would once be enough?
I was reconsidering everything about my life because of the man. He was dangerous, upending the careful control I’d maintained for all these years.
After lying there for hours, I pulled my hair out of its bun, suddenly feeling bound by the restraint of the silk scrunchie holding it in place.
Then I slipped my hand down to my wet folds, finding my clit.
Maybe I should just…
I tried, rubbing my clit furiously. But even though I made myself come, that didn’t stop the confusion inside me.
Or the hunger. I wouldn’t be content until I’d had that man, rocking myself on his cock and riding him all the way through the night. I was dripping wet for him and sleep was a thousand years away.
The clock on my phone showed 11:47.
Then 11:52.
11:58.
