AllFreeNovel
Share Us
David smiled. “That’s right.”
Carly blinked a few times, seemingly still in shock from the oral sex reference to register her abrupt dismissal. When she realized what had happened, she pursed her lips, then turned and left them without a word.
Paige watched her leave before turning back to David.
“What was that?” he asked, looking at Paige with a mixture of surprise and curiosity.
“I’ll tell you what that was, after you tell me who that was.”
He paused before answering blandly, “She’s a client.”
“She’s … a client?”
“Well, at one point she was, but probably not anymore.”
“Oh.”
“Do you remember the photo shoot I had with a newborn the morning after we talked about your abuse, and I was hungover?”
Paige thought for several moments before recalling his text about that—and the screaming baby gif she’d sent in return. “Yes.”
“That was Carly’s daughter. She was really fussy during the entire shoot and wouldn’t stop crying. Carly kept shoving a bottle in the baby’s mouth, thinking she was crying because she was hungry, but all it did was make the baby throw up. For the rest of the day my studio smelled like sour formula. I thought I was going to die, which is why I didn’t look very good.” He gave her an expectant look. “Now it’s your turn.”
Paige took a moment to process the fact that Carly had a baby, which made Paige briefly wonder if there was a boyfriend or a husband in the picture. However, given Carly’s flirtation, it seemed unlikely, but even if she did have one of those in her life, Paige decided that wasn’t something worth focusing on, because it didn’t matter to her. The flirtation was all that mattered.
“She was flirting with you,” Paige finally said. “And I didn’t like it. Maybe I overreacted, but I didn’t like it.”
“I didn’t, either,” he said. “And given the chance, I would’ve shut it down.”
“I know, but I felt like shutting it down. She looked at me and dismissed me, like I was … less than her.”
“She did?”
“Yes. And you probably don’t know what that feels like, but I do, and that’s not something I put up with anymore. From anyone.”
David felt his chest swell at her newfound pride and strength. To him, it was sexy as hell, as was her flash of territoriality. She could say what the two of them were doing wasn’t ‘real life’, but he knew jealousy when he saw it and her actions gave him a huge glimmer of hope that she was feeling something for him.
She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “I guess I should thank you for not calling me out on my lie.”
He leaned in close to her ear. “I didn’t see the point,” he said, his voice low and rough. “Since it’s not going to be a lie for much longer.”
A shiver ran up her spine. “It’s not?”
“Nope.” He glanced at his Tag Heuer. “I’d say … for maybe only another fifteen minutes, or so? Maybe less, depending on traffic.”
“So, we’re not going to the movie?”
“Fuck the movie. There’s been a change of plans.”
Chapter 12
Since her place was closer, David headed in that direction, not wanting to waste any time.
As they drove, Paige tried to calm down by doing her breathing exercises. It was a little challenging, since they had to be done in such a way that David wouldn’t notice—the last thing she wanted to do was to have to explain why she was doing them. Oral sex had never been a successful part of their previous life together—in the handful of times that David had gone down on her, she’d never once come. It had always been awkward for her and she’d ended up faking orgasms just to bring it to an end.
She really wanted this time to be different.
Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
