Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
The sexy tease of his words and laugh, do more than awaken nerve endings. They do funny things to my belly and undo me in inexplicable ways. I just don’t think Reid laughs much, but he does for me and it becomes a goal of mine: make him laugh as much as possible this weekend. “Handcuffs aside,” I say, laughing. “I really do wonder how many times we’ve walked by each other. What’s your routine? What are the places you go to around here?”
We compare our regular spots and have four out of six in common. “I guess you were right,” I say as we enter the elevator in my building and punch floor three. “It wasn’t our time to meet or we would have before now.”
He wraps his arm around my waist and drags me to him, holding me intimately against his hard body. “Now is our time.” He kisses me, and then the short ride is over, signaled by the ding of the car and the doors opening.
He strokes my hair, tender in a way I’d once thought him incapable of being before he glances at his Rolex. “We have an hour and twenty minutes,” he says, holding the door so it won’t shut. “We better get moving.”
I exit the elevator and he joins me, and the talk about our neighborhood that just happens to be right by the office triggers fresh concern. “What if someone sees us together, Reid? Are you sure this isn’t an issue with the board?”
“I told you. Money matters. No one cares who is fucking who. They just don’t want to be the one getting fucked the wrong way. You sign Grayson to a contract this weekend, and your deal is sealed.”
I grab my key and he takes it from me, unlocking my door, always in control. I see this in him, and I wonder why with Reid it doesn’t bother me when I know it would if it were someone else. I set this aside, deciding it’s something I need to revisit later. Reid opens the door and motions me forward. “Can we even talk about strategy in the car?” I ask, instead of entering the apartment. “I know we can’t talk on a chopper and I don’t really want to talk in front of driver and we need to talk.”
“That talk is fast, easy, and now. Grayson knows me. He wants assurances I won’t drag him into business with Jean Claude Laurette that I’ll give him, but more than anything he wants to know you.” His hands come down on my arms and he pulls me to him and kisses me. “Be you. Don’t question who that is. You won me over. You’ll win him over, too.” He turns me and places me in front of him. “Grab the dress and let’s go make some money.” He smacks my backside, as he has before, and I head inside, hurrying through my living room, my butt cheek well aware of his palm. I’m aware, and I know why he did it. It’s not just about a promise that he will spank me again, which I have no doubt he will. It’s about control. It always comes back to control.
I rush up my stairs and enter my bedroom and I decide Reid really needs control, not just wants it. It’s a part of him. It’s the stone that covers the man. It’s survival for him on some level that I don’t completely understand, and I wonder what created that in him. He’s a master of control. He owns every room he enters, and the truth is, he’s managed to own me. I said he would not, and yet he has, and I can’t look back. I can’t change this. I don’t know if I ever had the chance. Now I just want to know what damage is beneath the beast that he shows the world, and I find myself hoping this weekend begins to reveal the real Reid.
I enter my closet, grab the dress, toss a few extra items into a garment bag, and suddenly I’m even more eager to get to the Hamptons than before. I waste no time, rushing back to the stairs. The minute I bring Reid into view, I freeze. He’s sitting on my couch with a photo album open on the table, with shots of a vacation I took with my father—a safari a good ten years ago. I don’t know why this has my belly clenched, but it does. I know he and my father have issues. I know that will eventually be an issue for me if Reid and I were to become more than fuck buddies, but isn’t that an issue already? Aren’t we more than fuck buddies at this point? We all but agreed to be more, whatever that means, back at his apartment.