Chapter 14
14
P atrick is a nerd in the streets and fucking nasty in the sheets, right?! Like casually using the word degradation. Vanilla people don’t throw that word around. How much more am I going to taunt him? Am I going to run into the freezing cold lake with him? Am I going to fuck him? Too many questions are swirling in my mind. Patrick Nowak.
“I think you’re into being punished,” I whisper.
He bites his lip. “However you want it to go, kitten.”
Kitten?! My jaw drops, and I let out a laugh, trying to process the shift. “Kitten?” I repeat, still reeling. “You’ve been holding onto that one, haven’t you?”
He chuckles. Patrick’s confidence catches me off guard, and I like it. The way he’s shifted from that nervous, adorable guy to someone more sure of himself—it’s messing with my head. Swinging my leg over to straddle him, I want to remind him that I’m in control. But he smirks, and now I’m second-guessing myself.
“Let’s rewind,” I say, placing a kiss on his lips. “I think you need to tell me about how you were almost a felon.”
His hands land on my hips. “That’s what you want to talk about right now?”
“It’s that, or we go down to the lake and you can strip for me.”
“You’re demanding … but I like it.”
I raise an eyebrow, leaning in closer. “I like a few things about you too.”
We kiss again, this time softer, sweeter. The kind of kiss that is distracting me from this playful back and forth.
“Okay … the casino hack …” He pauses, brushing my hair behind my shoulder. “It started off as a joke, honestly. But the deeper we got, the more we realized how bad their security was. It was like falling down a rabbit hole. One minute we’re laughing, the next … we’re in way too deep.”
I lean in, wanting to know everything. “And then?”
“Then we caused chaos. They lost millions, and we almost lost our freedom.”
“I can only imagine how scary that was … a prank almost turning into jail time.”
“It would have been prison time. Fortunately, our legal team was able to convince them that we were all better off helping them than sitting in a cell.”
It’s silent between us until I can’t hold back. “So, you’re very familiar with back doors?” I smirk, truly feeling unhinged at how him being a nerdy bad boy is making me feel.
“One more than the other.”
“Now I’m blushing.” I swat his arm. “Why is everything about hacking so sexual?”
“Why are you making it sexual?” He pulls me in for a kiss. “I like you,” he breathes between kisses.
“I like you too.”
We stare at each other, both smiling. “Why am I turned on by you almost being a felon?” I whisper in his ear.
“You know why.”
“Mmm,” I tease, letting the moment linger between us.
“I’m never going to call you a good girl.” He squeezes my thighs, his grip firm but teasing. “I think you’re a kitten … and I love cats.”
I laugh, rolling my eyes. “Are you seriously making a pussy joke right now?”
“I’m making a ‘you like to be taken care of’ assumption.”
I giggle, more nervously this time, because damn, if that isn’t the fucking truth.
“I don’t like you being the one in control.”
“You sure?” he breathes, kissing my neck. “So … what’s next?”
More of this.
“You, in your boxers, running into the lake.”
We hold a flirty stare, the challenge hanging between us. My heart races, and I’m caught between wanting to see him running into the freezing water and the pull of what’s happening right here on this couch.
“Only if you join me.”
I bite my lip, trying to decide whether I’m ready for that kind of plunge in more ways than one.