Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
After a long stretch of silence, Rafe asked, “How’d you meet the Sassy Boyz?”
“Z got injured and they needed a temporary replacement so they held auditions.”
“Z’s the snarky one, right?”
“Well, they’re all a bit snarky but he holds the crown for sure. He twisted his ankle and couldn’t dance for a while.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Like five months ago, I guess.”
“You’ve only known them a short time. I don’t know why I thought you’d been friends for longer.”
“We’ve been through a lot. They’re like family now.”
“I can tell.” His arm curled around Hop’s shoulders and pulled him tighter to his side.
“When did you discover you were a Dom?” He’d been wondering since their first encounter. Rafe had always been intimidating, but the way he could strip away Hop’s defiance with one word was new.
“I started experimenting around the time we met, but didn’t get in deep until I was twenty-five.”
“Did someone bring you to a club or something?”
Rafe chuckled. “No, I had a girlfriend at the time—”
“I remember.” He didn’t bother covering his displeasure. He’d hated that brunette angel from a distance.
Rafe paused briefly. “There was always this darkness in me whenever we had sex. I wanted to do all these kinky things to her. One night, I tried. It did not end well.”
“Did you hurt her?”
“No, I called her my little slut and ordered her to kiss my feet. She slapped the crap out of me and called me a pervert.”
“Oh.” Hop giggled. “Yeah, I can see how that might not go over well with someone vanilla.”
There was a smile in Rafe’s voice when he continued, “I learned my lesson. After that, I vowed never to mix emotions and sex again. It was too messy. I sought out experienced subs, males at first because they were more willing to give a newbie a shot. Eventually, I gained a reputation and found a professional ring that I’ve been using ever since.”
No emotions. Just sex. If that wasn’t a clear reminder that Hop better keep his feelings on lockdown, he was an idiot. But it was fine. It was good. It was exactly what he’d asked for, wasn’t it?
Chapter Twenty-Five
“See you tonight.” Rafe sounded smug as Hop slid out of his car in the same outfit he’d worn the night before.
Work appropriate, it was not. But he’d be damned if he was going to do the walk of shame with his mother as witness. “It’s Monday, we’re not dancing.”
Rafe’s brow pinched. “Oh. Right.”
“Do you even look at the schedule when Mark passes it out?”
“I’ve been distracted.” His dark eyes seemed to bore into Hop like a diamond-edged drill digging deeper and deeper. Hop felt like the exposed side of a mountain quarry.
“Well, bye,” Hop said, pulling away from the door so he could close it.
“Hop.”
He poked his head back in.
“Have a good day.” It was an order.
Hop licked his lips. “Yes, sir.”
The farther he walked away from the car, from Rafe, the more winter cold seeped into his bones. As much as he’d like to say last night hadn’t affected him, he couldn’t. Rafe seemed to know exactly how to push him past his boundaries, and something about that edgy vulnerability was highly addicting. But it hadn’t only been the perfection of their kink. There’d also been quiet moments, those soft looks, the unexpected tenderness and sharing their life stories while the sun rose.
“Heads up, Samantha is on a tear.” Andrea slung an arm around Hop’s shoulders and walked with him to the back room.
“Fuck my life.”
“Yours and mine too, babe.”
“Do you have an extra T-shirt?” If not, he’d have to sneak home and change while his mom was at work. He’d texted her late last night just to let her know he was fine. Otherwise she would have worried about getting another call from the hospital.
“Sorry, I already raided my just-in-case bag.”
Hop grimaced as he pushed into the employee area of the store.
“Looks like you had fun last night. Dish.” She sat on the table, legs swinging.
Hop eyed her. “Find me something to wear and I’ll give you all the dirty deets. And by dirty, I mean something not even a whole bottle of Clorox could clean.”
Her eyes went big. “I bet you could borrow something from the samples.”
“You just said Samantha was out for blood.”
“She’s only mad because the sports section looks like a herd of toddlers ran through it and no one bothered to straighten the racks last night.”
“What else is new?”
“Right?” She narrowed her eyes. “Stop trying to distract me from your juicy adventures. You know I live vicariously through you.”
Hop couldn’t help but smile. “Get your own life, ho.”
She pouted dramatically. “Pretty please.”
Hop dug through the box of outdated threads in the corner. “If I told you, your head might explode.”
“Tease.”
He studied a worn comic-book hero T-shirt and held it to his chest to check the size. Not bad. It’d be better if he could get hold of a pair of scissors to adjust the neckline, and maybe some safety pins.