28. Chapter 28
Chapter 28
Avery
I can’t believe Corbin finally gave in. I hadn’t really expected him to when I made that phone call the other night. I’d just been following more of Cass’s advice. I called her after work to tell her that my plan to seduce Corbin was failing miserably. I also confided in her that I was worried that maybe I was wrong about our night together and maybe he hadn’t enjoyed it as much as I did. So, she told me to call him and ask if the sex was bad. I laughed at first, but then I realized she was serious.
It took me a few minutes to psych myself up for the call. Corbin can be intimidating in the best of times. I wasn’t sure how he’d react to being put on the spot. But the call went better than I hoped it would. He all but admitted to me that he wanted me again. So, I followed another piece of Cass’s advice. ‘Always leave them wanting more.’ It sounds cheesy, but I’ve seen it work for her, so I tried it. I ended the call on a high note and went to grab my vibrator from my bedside table. I wasn’t going to send him a nude photo. I don’t know him well enough to trust him with that. But I snapped a photo that made it clear that I was planning a solo session with my toy. I sent it quickly, before I could talk myself out of it. Then I dropped my phone and the toy and hid my burning face in my hands.
When the phone rang less than a minute later, I was shocked but pleased. Then, I felt a jolt of anticipation when Corbin gave his dark order for me not to come without him. By the time he knocked on my apartment door, I was so worked up that he could have taken me right then. But I’m glad he didn’t because what we did was so much better. Had I thought our first time together was the best sex I’d ever had? Because nothing could have prepared me for that. It’s been 3 days, and I can’t shake the memory of his mouth and his hands, his filthy words.
I don’t know how this is going to go now that we’re officially hooking up—now that it’s no longer a one-time thing. I know we’re keeping it just between us. I’m totally on board with that. I don’t want Noah and Jessie thinking Corbin is taking advantage of me, or that I’m leveraging my ‘relationship’ with him to keep my apprenticeship. This thing we’re doing has nothing to do with my tattoo education. And Corbin isn’t the kind of man to take advantage of his employee. Regardless of those facts, I’m happy to keep this thing just between us. I don’t want to answer a bunch of questions when it comes to the others. Besides, I’m enjoying it.
We’ve managed to work together around the others without acting any differently. It hasn’t been easy, though. I find my gaze straying to Corbin at random times throughout the day. I can’t help it. The man is hot. It doesn’t help that I find all that broody, intense focus sexy as fuck. It’s all I can do to keep my attraction to him under wraps when Jessie and Noah are around. But when the others leave for the day, we don’t need to hide anymore.
Like last night, Corbin waited until the others left for the night. Then he locked the front door, pulled me into his office and bent me over his desk. I’ve never had a sexual relationship that burned this hot, this fast. I don’t know how to handle it. But I’m not complaining. I’m having the time of my life. I can’t wait for the end of the day when I can have Corbin all to myself.
“What are you doing Friday night?”
Jessie’s voice yanks me out of my sexy daydreams of Corbin’s naked body and I blink .
“Huh?”
We’re both sitting in the little break room eating a quick lunch before the afternoon clients show up.
“Friday night,” Jessie says. “What are you doing after work?”
I think about Corbin and how I’d been hoping to get him to stay over at my place so we could have more than just a quick fuck. But I can’t tell Jessie that.
“Oh, um. No plans, I guess. Why?
She smiles delightedly. “Because you and I are going out.”
I’m immediately wary. “Why?”
“Because you’re the oldest 24-year-old in Boston,” she says. “And you need to get out more. And since I also need to get out more, you’re coming with me. Besides, you just said you don’t have plans. So, no excuses.”
Shit.
I can’t believe I didn’t stay vague about my lack of plans until I knew what she had in mind. Rookie mistake. I blame my obsession with Corbin’s body for the distraction. It’s the only excuse I can come up with for why I blanked. When I don’t immediately agree, Jessie’s eyes narrow.
“Unless you’ve got something else going on? Some secret sexcapades planned? Because I’m not a twat-blocker.”
I laugh as my face heats with a blush. She can’t know how close she is to the truth.
“I should be so lucky,” I say. “Okay. I’ll go out. But we can’t stay too late. I’ve got to be back here in the morning.”
She waves a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry. Since I turned 30, I need a minimum of 8 hours of sleep or I’m a bitch in the morning.”
“Aw. Something for me to look forward to.”
Jessie sighs. “Kids these days.”
It turns out Jessie was right about the bar she’d recommended to me before. The Mint is a low-key place with dim lighting, a live band on the weekends, and killer loaded fries. The clientele includes college kids looking to start their night with cheap drinks before they go to the fancier clubs for $15 cocktails; to bikers clad in leather and denim shooting pool. It’s the kind of place my mother and her crowd wouldn’t approve of. It’s not the kind of place I’d normally choose, but I’ve got to admit I like the vibes. The food is greasy, but delicious. The drinks are cold and cheap. The tables aren’t sticky, and the band is playing songs that were popular before I was born. I think I could enjoy spending some time here.
“This place is great,” I say, reaching for another fry from the plate in the center of the table .
Jessie nods. “I like it. Not your usual type of place, huh?”
I wrinkle my brow in question. “Why do you say that?”
She smiles. “Just that you seem like a champagne and canape kind of girl.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I can be,” I say. “That’s what my mom would prefer, I think.”
“I knew it,” Jessie says.
“Knew what?”
“Just that you come from money,” she says. “I could tell.”
“How?” I ask, more amused and curious than irritated by her assessment.
She shrugs. “You just have this way about you. The way you move. The way you talk. It’s just something I noticed. Something more proper and cultured.”
I want to argue with her and tell her that I don’t walk or talk any differently than she does. But I know she’s right. I was taught that a lady moves deliberately and carefully. It had been one of the hardest things to relearn after my accident. Not that my mom had cared about any of that by then. She’d just been happy I was alive. But for me, it was important that things go back to the way they were before my brain got scrambled. And that meant doing all the proper things I’d been taught as a child. Even if they no longer seemed to matter to my mom. They suddenly mattered to me .
“You’re probably right,” I say. “You’re good at reading people, aren’t you?”
Jessie huffs out a laugh before taking a big drink from her beer. “Took me long enough,” she mutters.
“What’s that mean?”
She shakes her head, smiling. “Nothing. Just that I wasn’t always so good at reading people. I had to learn, though.”
“Want to talk about it?”
She shakes her head. “Ancient history. Let’s just say, I trusted the wrong guy and it didn’t end well.”
I get the feeling there’s more to this story than she’s telling me. I also get the feeling that she’s not going to tell me anything unless she wants to. No amount of prying is going to change her mind. I raise my glass in a toast.
“To us,” I say. “Who needs men?”
“Cheers,” Jessie says, touching her glass to mine.
We both drink and she gives me a look through narrowed eyes.
“What?”
“Just wondering how long you and Corbin think you’re going to be able to hide the fact that you’re hooking up.”
My drink takes a wrong turn and I end up in a coughing fit with my eyes watering as I try to clear my windpipe. Jessie hands me a napkin and waits with an amused expression on her face .
“What?” I say with a voice hoarse from coughing. “We’re not.”
Jessie just shakes her head. “Don’t worry,” she says. “I don’t think Noah knows. You’re not being obvious or anything. I forgot my earbuds the other night and came back for them. I heard some interesting sounds coming from the boss’s office.”
My face gets hot, and I know I’m blushing bright red right now. How could we have been so careless? I knew we shouldn’t have done it in the shop again. It’s too easy for someone to catch us in the act.
“Oh, my god,” I groan from behind my hands.
Jessie laughs. “Look, I think it’s a good thing. He needed to cut loose a little. And you seem like you’re good for him. I hope it works out.”
I shake my head. I need to set her straight before she gets the wrong idea. Corbin and I aren’t a couple.
“That’s not what this is,” I say. “We’re just hooking up. We’re not dating or anything.”
She nods. “I see.”
“What’s that mean?”
She shrugs. “Just that you don’t seem like the type to have a casual, fuck-buddy type of fling.”
I shake my head, laughing. “I don’t like the term ‘fuck-buddy’, but that’s exactly what we’re doing. No feelings. No strings.”
“Of course,” Jessie says. “Let me know how that works out for you two. ”
“It’s working just fine,” I say. “We both know what this is.”
“I’m sure you both do.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Why do I get the feeling you’re saying more than you’re saying right now?”
She shrugs and reaches for another fry. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“Right.”