Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90075 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“People seem to lose track of time when they’re in Spectacle of Secrets.” The girl grinned. “I’ve seen one couple be so deep in their scene that the work crew had to start dismantling the circus around them and wait for them to finish before we could leave town.”
My heart ached.
I rubbed it and opened the door. “Guess they had a good time, then.”
“Pretty sure it was the first night of their honeymoon.” The girl laughed. “They pitched up in a tux and a wedding gown. Said they’d just got hitched and the afterparty had been arranged by their very religious parents. They’d been holding off for marriage, but after a few drinks and finally admitting that a quick wham-bam in missionary wasn’t what they wanted to solidify their nuptials, they turned up at our place.”
“Guess there’s a deviant in all of us,” Nick muttered, opening his door and climbing out.
I flinched as he slammed the door.
The girl gave me an apologetic wince. “You know...I’ve driven home quite a few people who’ve spent the night together, and it’s not unusual for some to shut down.”
My fingers curled around the door handle. “Do they turn on again?”
She shrugged. “I guess it depends if they liked who they were in the big top better than who they’re trying to be.”
“Wise words. Thanks again.” Giving her another smile, I climbed out and followed Nick as he stalked up the garden path and into our home. It welcomed me back with a breeze of scorn.
Throwing the deadbolt into position, I tossed my heels against the shoe rack holding my sensible flats for long days at the lab and padded barefoot into the kitchen. White cabinets, honey wood dining table, and a huge fridge groaned with two lots of groceries. Nick’s food and mine. Food that had its own shelf and was never permitted to touch because my surly flatmate never wanted to feel indebted to me for making him a damn lasagne.
Ugh.
I can’t...I can’t do this.
My head pounded as I stared at Nick’s back. He fisted the tap, holding a glass under the streaming water before drinking with desperate thirst.
I didn’t interrupt as he drank down one, two, three glasses before turning off the tap and turning to face me.
He stilled as our eyes met.
Tension crackled.
Pain bruised.
Dropping my stare, I moved to where he stood and held my hand out for his glass. “May I?”
“Of course.” Passing me the tumbler, he raked both hands through his hair and moved away.
I didn’t look to see if he left the room and drank my own share of liquid, unaware of how thirsty I was. Turned out sex worked up quite the hankering for refreshments.
Rinsing the glass and placing it on the draining board, I jumped a little as I turned and found Nick leaning against the dining room table.
“Are you...are you going to bed?” I asked quietly, hating the strain between us. The knowledge of what the other looked like naked and the very real evidence that we’d slept together.
I suddenly craved a shower.
I didn’t have the strength to be back in this house, staring at the same man who’d made me second-guess and doubt myself for eight months when all I wanted was for the man who’d sunk inside me and come a second time all because he didn’t want Hunter to be the last one I felt spurt inside me.
“Ella...I...” His face twisted as he struggled with what to say. “Tonight was—”
“Over.” I cut in, not brave enough to hear whatever excuses he was about to give. “Tonight is over. Let’s just go to sleep. I have a few errands to run today and might even go into the lab so I can—”
“Avoid me?” he asked, his eyes dark beneath furrowed brows.
Crossing my arms, I begged for courage. “I’m pretty sure you’re the one who’s going to avoid me.”
He nodded. “It has crossed my mind.”
“So...what’s the problem?” I tipped up my chin.
“There...” He sighed and came toward me. “There is no problem. We both know where the other one stands. We shared an incredible night. I won’t lie and say I didn’t enjoy myself. But I also won’t lie by making promises I can’t keep.”
“I didn’t ask you to make any promises.”
His nostrils flared as he stopped before me. “You’re telling me that sleeping together hasn’t made you want more from me?”
More.
That damn word again.
I’d felt it.
He’d felt it.
Yet standing here now...it wasn’t enough to give me a fairy-tale ending where we lived happily ever after.
“What do you want me to say, Nick? That I’ve had a crush on you since you moved in—a crush that turned out to be far bigger than mere liking—or that I’m so cold-hearted that sleeping with you—which happened to be the best sex of my life, by the way—hasn’t affected me at all?”