Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
A muscle in his cheek ticked.
She wasn’t surprised that he didn’t confirm it. He would never trust her with his animal’s secrets. To be fair, that went both ways.
“I’ve got to go.” He flexed the hand that had moments ago sent her soaring. “Get rid of the snakes.”
“At the moment, the only ones here are Clive and that monster in your jeans.”
A breath whistled out from between his gritted teeth. “Jesus. Right, I’m leaving.” He stalked to the door and pulled it open. Half-turning, he met her gaze, his own still a little blissed out from his orgasm. He parted his lips as if to speak, but then he sighed instead.
She smiled at the impatient sound. “Nighty, night.”
He grunted. “Whatever.” He left, pulling the door closed behind him.
She couldn’t help but chuckle at the rude bastard. A bastard who’d given her a very delightful orgasm and hungrily ate at her mouth like he’d never tasted anything better. How sad that it wouldn’t happen again.
CHAPTER THREE
Hearing footfalls head his way the next afternoon, Deke turned away from the coffeehouse’s front window mere moments before the waitress placed a mug of black coffee on his table.
Cassandra gave him a bright smile. “Here.”
Looking up at his pride mate, Deke tipped his chin at her in thanks.
Resting a hand on the back of the chair across from him, she tilted her head to study him carefully, making her high pink ponytail hang to the side. “How are you doing?”
“Fine.” He flexed his fingers, restlessness still living and breathing in his system. But the arousal had subsided, and he no longer felt so uncomfortable in his own skin that he was tempted to claw it off. Which, of course, was courtesy of last night’s orgasm. Something he’d told himself he wouldn’t think about, because that only led to his cock stirring, and he’d had enough of walking around with a constant hard-on.
“You don’t look fine. You look tense as a bow.”
Well, if memories of last night would stop crawling to the forefront of his mind, he’d be a lot more relaxed. Jesus, he hadn’t come that hard in … he couldn’t even remember. Maybe never.
What else could he have expected, though? He’d practically been dancing on the edge of an orgasm for weeks. He’d been wound so tight it almost hurt. Coming had almost hurt it was that intense. He’d felt wrung dry afterward.
But he’d be lying if he said that his release would have been so violent and mind-numbing at the touch of just any woman. That it had been Bailey’s hand wrapped around his dick, Bailey’s pussy rippling around his fingers, Bailey’s taste on his tongue had magnified the moment.
He could still vividly remember the feel of her hot inner walls clenching his fingers so tight he was surprised they hadn’t gone numb. He’d wanted to feel those same muscles clamped around his cock, but it hadn’t been possible.
The only reason his cat had allowed Deke to touch her in the first place was that he’d been determined to make his point. Once the moment was over, he’d hissed at Bailey and whipped his tail aggressively … leaving Deke no choice but to back off and take it no further.
Now his cat was back to being averse at even the thought of another person’s touch. Which was a real fucking problem, because the touch-hunger would flare up again at some point. And likely without warning. That was usually how it went—there was no build-up; it struck out of nowhere, and it struck hard.
Deke inwardly sighed. He had no idea what to do about his cat. No clue if there was anything that could help.
Cassandra slipped onto the chair opposite him. “Why are you doing this to yourself?” she asked, her pale-green eyes soft with concern. “You know you could come to me to work off the touch-hunger, right? There’d be no strings, just like last time.”
Deke’s cat hissed, unsheathing the tips of his claws. But even if the feline hadn’t been so against it, even if Deke had thought it fair to sleep with one woman when his mind was on another, he would have turned down Cassandra’s offer. He made a point of not working off touch-hunger with the same female twice. It seemed disrespectful.
“It’s bad enough that I’d be sleeping with someone purely to get rid of the touch-hunger—I’m using them, plain and simple,” he said. “I’m not going to use the same person repeatedly like it’s all they’re good for.”
“I wouldn’t see it that way. And don’t forget, I’d be using you too,” she added, smiling. “The difference is that I don’t have touch-hunger. I just want emotionless sex.”
“You wound me.”
She snorted. “Doubtful.”
He lifted his mug and took a sip of his coffee. “It wouldn’t be good to put yourself on my mother’s radar all over again.” Back then, Livy had done her best to coax him and Cassandra to turn their arrangement into something more—it had driven them both nuts.