Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
“Hmmm, it was slightly unconventional to be honest.”
“Oh?”
“I was too emotionally raw to sleep around, but I did have, well, needs.”
“Understandable.”
After my massage last weekend, I was beginning to realise the importance of physical touch and how absent it had been from my life. It had wrought such raw emotions from me, and I’d felt strangely better after the somewhat intimate, though not sexual, contact with another human being. Lighter in my soul somehow.
“I ended up bumping into an ex of mine. It was a unique situation because our breakup was amicable, and the sex between us had always been great,” Jonathan said, and I blinked, unprepared for him to mention sex so directly. “It turned out she’d been through a bad breakup a few months previous, so we were both in the same boat. We decided to do a no-strings, friends-with-benefits thing for a while, just to get over our exes and get back into the swing of things, get our confidence back in the bedroom, you know?”
“Um, yes,” I said, and I did know. It had been so long since I last had sex, and after the first few “good” years with Jesse, it had become something to dread, something I had to force myself to get through for fear my reluctance might trigger a violent outburst. No wonder the massage had done such a number on me. Physical pleasure, even the platonic kind, was a mine field after what I’d been through.
“It was ideal because we knew we weren’t compatible emotionally,” Jonathan went on. “So we could enjoy the sex and then move on when the time came that we were ready.”
“That does sound ideal,” I said. It was a pity I didn’t have someone like that, I thought to myself, but then realised it wasn’t entirely true.
I had Rhys, and he, too, was recently out of a relationship. But unlike Jonathan and his ex, Rhys and I hadn’t technically ever broken up. We’d just stopped contacting one another, and I’d been so completely cut up over the whole thing. It certainly hadn’t been the amicable situation Jonathan described.
Despite this, I wondered if perhaps we could have a friends with benefits arrangement. I found myself daydreaming of him often, thinking about his body and his touch, and I knew from our kiss that he at least found me attractive on some level.
How would he react if I suggested a similar arrangement to Jonathan’s? The very question had me shivering, and then, as though some sneaky higher power was trying to mess with my head, Rhys strode into the restaurant.
He was on his phone as he approached the head server, and they exchanged a few words. Hotel security business, it looked like. He must’ve sensed my attention because his eyes travelled across the restaurant and landed directly on me. Then they went to Jonathan, and anxiety flooded in. I knew exactly how things must’ve looked. Panic gripped me as the faintest frown crossed his features. He brought his attention back to the server, they exchanged a few more words, and then he left without another glance my way.
“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked, clearly noticing my distress
“What? Oh, yes, um,” my gaze flicked to the bar where the girl was motioning me over. It appeared my sandwich was finally ready. “It looks like my food’s ready, but it was lovely to meet you, Jonathan.”
“Yes, hopefully, it won’t be the last time,” he replied with debonair confidence, standing like a gentleman as I left.
I snatched the brown paper with my sandwich, my heart in my throat. Why was I so freaked that Rhys might think I was on a date with Jonathan? I mean, I’d told him I wasn’t ready to date, and he’d been determined for me not to date Jonathan even when I was ready. Rhys said Maggie’s half brother wasn’t a good guy, and though I was on the fence on whether that was true since I’d only just met the man, I didn’t want Rhys to think I was blatantly disregarding his advice.
I barely thought about the direction I was going until I found myself outside his office. Raising my hand, I knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Rhys called, and I hurried inside, slamming the door shut behind me.
His eyes flared at my appearance. He was clearly surprised to see me.
“That wasn’t what it looked like,” I blurted.
“Oh?” he asked, a faint frown creasing his brow.
“It wasn’t a date.”
31.
Rhys
I knew it wasn’t a date.
Shay and I had been held up dealing with a couple who’d locked themselves in their room and refused to check out. Their stay had ended, and the card the reception desk had on file was declined. In the end, we’d been forced to enter the room and escort them off the premises, which was never fun. From the look of them, I’d expected drugs and alcohol were involved, but the receptionist who’d checked them in said they’d seemed perfectly sober when they’d arrived.