Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
We kiss chaotically, our teeth clicking together with the motion of her near release.
Finally, she can’t kiss me anymore. She can’t even moan. She gasps breathily, hardly making any noise, as her pussy pulsates around my finger and fresh wetness drenches my hand.
After she leans back and pushes my hand away. “Raiden,” she whispers.
“Don’t say it,” I snarl.
“Just take a step back. Please.”
“I love it when you beg…”
“No, it’s done. That was a mistake.” She takes off her mask, staring guiltily at me. “I don’t want to be a cock tease or whatever men call women like me, but this is the end.” She hops down from the drawer, adjusts her dress. “I got carried away.”
She reaches up and takes off my mask. It’s like she knows it’s more difficult for us to forget how complicated this is when we’re looking honestly at each other.
“We shouldn’t do that again,” she says. “It was wrong. You know it was wrong.”
“I don’t know that,” I growl. “Wrong–how?”
“Because once our deal is done, we’re done. I’ve made that clear from the start.”
“And we can’t have a little pleasure in the meantime?”
“It’ll just make things more complicated.”
I turn away, pissed, and also not wanting her to see the hurt on my face.
What right do I have to be disappointed or upset? It’s not as though she misled me.
“Whatever,” I grunt. “I’m going back to sleep.”
I walk to the couch and lie down, put my hands behind my head and close my eyes, trying to pretend my body isn’t roaring at me to grab her, kiss her, touch her… own her, even if it’s only when we’re wearing masks.
“Are you okay?” she asks from the bed. “You’re breathing heavily.”
That’s because my cock is rock hard, and lust is burning through me like wildfire.
“Never been better,” I grunt.
CHAPTER 15
AURORA
Ididn’t get any sleep for the rest of the night. I lie in bed, thinking about what we did. How could I let that happen? One second, I woke terrified from a nightmare and saw the same nightmare-fueled fear on his face.
Then he was touching me, and it was like nothing else mattered. When he pushed his hand against my naked sex, I couldn’t think about the deal, about Grandma, about responsibility. He was just sir, and I was his plaything, and somehow, that was so, so sweet.
I’m not sure if he’s slept either. At around seven, he stands up, stretching his arms over his head.
“I’m going to take a shower and then walk the grounds,” he says. “You should probably join me. We’ll be the lovers who want to take in the beauty of the morning now that the storm has paused. Everyone will see how in love we are. How addicted to each other we are.”
He speaks in a deadpan voice laced with irony.
“Sounds good,” I mutter.
He leaves the room without looking at me.
Forty minutes later, we’re wrapped in our coats with our masks on our faces. I’ve got my arm linked through his as we go. I can almost believe we’re a real couple.
I almost prefer it when we say nothing, when I can just clutch onto his arm and feel his firmness. It means I don’t have to think about the obvious, impossible-to-ignore the fact that we’re strangers to each other.
“Woo-hoo, Raiden!” a voice calls across the grounds as we head toward the garden.
We turn to find Evangeline on the balcony of her room, waving her hand over at us. It’s difficult to make out her expression from here, but from the way she’s waving, she seems excited, borderline manic. Perhaps caught up in the Halloween festivities.
“I don’t feel very anonymous right now, Grandma,” Raiden calls back.
I laugh. He’s got a point.
“You and your lovely lady will join me for breakfast, won’t you? I won’t take no for an answer.”
“It looks like we’ve been conscripted,” Raiden says quietly, turning us back toward the house.
“We haven’t agreed on a backstory,” I whisper.
“Follow my lead,” he says. “As long as neither of us says anything that contradicts the other, we’ll be fine.”
I swallow a ball of nerves, hoping he’s right. I feel out of place in this grand place anyway, surrounded by masked people in suits that probably cost more than my tuition. As we walk up the double staircase, I let my breath come slowly, measuredly, attempting to calm the hell down.
The butler opens the door to her bedroom as we approach. The staff members are everywhere, seeming almost invisible at times, fluidly doing their job, then receding into the background. I fight the urge to say thank you, but they’re so quiet it’s like they don’t want to be acknowledged.
Evangeline is still wearing a flowing nightgown. She waves a hand as we walk across her bedroom toward the balcony. “You don’t need these silly things with me.”