Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
“No, no.” She hurriedly waved her hands. “Don’t answer that. I don’t have that much free time.”
Rude.
“But seriously, babe… I know you’re impulsive and erratic at the best of times, but what on Earth possessed you to sleep with your self-proclaimed mortal enemy?”
“Um.” I shifted uncomfortably, taking care not to disturb the sleeping void of cat currently in my empty harvest basket. “Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?”
Isa blinked at me. “No. No, I would not. You don’t accidentally have sex with someone. The act of inserting a penis into a vagina—or allowing it—is a conscious action, so there was nothing accidental about him buttering your bread.”
Her and her frigging food euphemisms.
“Thank you, Dr Isadora,” I retorted dryly. “Then it was all his fault for seducing me. I’m a weak woman in the face of a handsome man with a magic tongue who knows how to fuck me until my legs give out.”
She sighed, collapsing onto the side of the wooden bed in a very Disney-princess-like way. “If only he wasn’t the duke and the bastard ruining your life, I’d totally tell you to marry him. You still don’t want him, right?”
“A momentary lapse in my judgement does not equal me wanting to pursue anything other than revenge as far as that man is concerned.”
“Then I’m seriously considering breaking girl code and seducing him for myself.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Woah. What’s that look for?”
I blinked. “What look?”
“That death glare.” She sat up straight and smirked. “Is that for the breaking of girl code or the seducing your man part?”
“He is not my man. He never was my man. He will never be my man!”
“That’s quite the denial there, Rose.” Susan opened my gate. “The chickens are coming.”
“They’re not the only ones.” Isa snorted.
That little…
Susan blinked. “Ooh. Isa, have you found a new man? Have you moved on from the hot vet already?”
“Ha!” I laughed so loudly that Hades awoke with a start.
Isa glared at me. “Don’t start with me, sluttypants. Do you want me to tell everyone what you’ve been up to?”
I froze.
Shit.
She had me.
She was going to blackmail the hell out of me with that.
I cleared my throat into my fist before scooping the cat out of my basket and removing the blanket he’d been sleeping on. “I would prefer if you didn’t discuss my private business with other people.”
Susan wrinkled up her face. “Then don’t discuss your private business in public, dear.”
She made a very good point.
Either way, that put the conversation to bed. There was no way we could continue discussing my little mistake with Susan around. If anyone found out I’d slept with Oliver, it was no exaggeration to say that my life would implode.
But it wasn’t my fault.
I couldn’t help it. My base desires took over, and I’d been powerless to fight against myself. No—I hadn’t wanted to.
I knew full well that I could have pushed him away and said no. If I’d done it, he would have respected my wishes without question. I could have ended things at any time, and he would have done exactly what I wanted.
I’d simply been unable to, especially when he’d said he’d fuck me so hard I’d hate him all over again. It’d sounded just like a challenge, and I couldn’t back down where he was concerned. I had an innate need to fight and argue every little point with him. I had nobody to blame but myself, and now, I was kicking myself for my weakness.
Especially because I was wondering if I really did hate him.
If I truly, honestly despised that man the way I claimed to, there was no way on Earth I’d allow myself to be swept along with his whims. I wouldn’t have ended up leaving the police station with him, much less going back to Hanbury House and taking a bath like it was some kind of hotel room.
I had no idea how I’d look him in the eye ever again.
Good Lord—the things I’d said to that man!
There was no way he didn’t think of me as some kind of wanton woman with a hate-fuck fetish.
Well.
It wouldn’t be an entirely incorrect assumption. My behaviour had been kind of wanton, and at the time, I’d most definitely wanted to sample such sex.
If only I’d been drunk, and it hadn’t been the middle of the afternoon in his office.
Where his mother stumbled upon us right after.
That was nothing short of humiliating. Perhaps more so than the way I’d spoken to Oliver when I was in the undeniable throes of lust.
Ugh.
Undeniable throes of lust?
Where did I get off talking like I was in some raunchy historical romance novel?
Had sex taken over my brain? Was I now… Isadora?
Gasp.
The thought was too much to bear.
“Hello?” Isa’s voice cut through my mental reverie. “Of course she’s not answering her phone. She’s tit-deep in chickens right now, Paula.”