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Dear Mr var Rorik,

Thank you for the thorough discussion yesterday. It’s a pleasure to work with a client who is so dedicated to ensuring their event will be a resounding success.

Once we have settled on a venue, we can go through the drinks packages they offer. In my experience, guests are always impressed by a signature cocktail on the menu, so perhaps we can draw up some ideas with the bar staff for a signature cocktail that represents Rorik + Stimis.

Also per our discussion yesterday, the Basalt Hotel’s events manager can show us around the ballroom tomorrow at 11 a.m. If that doesn’t work for you, please let me know and I will rearrange accordingly.

Best,

Anita

I hit send before I could overthink it, but that didn’t stop me from overthinking it even after it was gone. Had I said cocktail too much? I was pretty sure I’d only brought it up because I’d been thinking about his dick again, and I’d started wondering if his tail was almost as sensitive. Why was the idea of jerking off his tail like it was a cock so hot?

I squirmed in my seat at the thought of seeing him again tomorrow. Having to be normal while I interacted with him. Having to watch him speak and remember where his mouth had recently been.

Stop it, Anita. You’re perfectly capable of pushing your personal feelings aside and focusing on the job. This will be nothing more than a professional outing with a client.

And eleven was a good time. Eleven was an unsexy time. Eleven was when we’d both start getting hungry and crabby before lunch.

Although him being hungry and crabby was what had led to the situation on The Desk.

But this time would be different. It would be the middle of the day. The Rorik + Stimis offices would be full of people. Lipa would be right outside his own office, and we’d have no reason to even go back there anyway.

We’d just be at a hotel.

With lots of private rooms.

I quickly opened my browser and went to my gym’s website to see if there were any other classes I could take before my spin class at seven-thirty tomorrow morning. Maybe a HIIT workout or kickboxing. Something that would exhaust me so I wouldn’t be tempted to drag him up to a hotel room and ride his face like it was a bucking bronco.

Chapter Fifteen

Anita

N othing happened at the Basalt.

Not that I was expecting it to. Or hoping it would. I’d gone to significant lengths to ensure it didn’t. I was wearing

period-stained underwear and my oldest bra, one that was discoloured and had fraying straps. I’d exhausted myself with a HIIT workout this morning before my usual spin class, which meant I could now barely walk, let alone spread my legs for him to fit between them.

But the main reason that nothing happened wasn’t because of any of that. It was because var Rorik was unfailingly polite and respectful the whole time. He didn’t make a single allusion to what had happened—not even a casual mention of his office or his desk or our “lively discussion”. He maintained his distance after giving my hand a brief shake when we met at the Basalt, and again when we parted ways after viewing the ballroom with the events manager, Guvi.

He hadn’t even spoken over me when I’d been talking to her. He’d been on his best behaviour.

And it had made me really fucking irritated.

I knew that wasn’t fair at all. He was respecting the boundary I’d put in place. He was doing exactly what I should have hoped he would. But just as I’d predicted, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what we’d done the entire time.

When he said my name as he greeted me, all I could remember was him rasping it as he assured me he’d be able to make me come while his face was between my legs. When he shook Guvi’s hand, I’d stared at his in a daze, picturing those long, claw-tipped fingers wrapped around his cock and stroking furiously. His blue-tinged claws biting into my thighs. His thumb smoothing over my clit in slick, mind-numbing circles.

There were a few moments—okay, several—when our eyes had locked after I noticed him watching me, or he noticed me watching him, but we’d both looked away quickly every time.

When he held the door open for me as I was leaving, I’d possibly walked a little closer to him than necessary so I could brush against his arm and furtively breathe in the crisp scent of his cologne. I’d momentarily wondered how much better it would smell on the pulse point of his neck, mingling with the natural scent of his skin and whatever luxury shampoo he no doubt used.

There’d been a split second in the ballroom when I’d almost grabbed his elegant tail and dragged him into a bathroom. Or a supply closet. Or any somewhat private space. It had been when he tucked his hands into his pockets while listening to Guvi explain the hotel’s drinks packages, which had drawn my gaze down to the front of his pants before I could stop it.

That big, barbed dick had been right there, behind just two thin layers of fabric. I bet it was still impressive, even while soft. I wanted to test myself and see whether I could actually withstand those barbs—how much they’d hurt against my tongue or the inside of my mouth or my palm. My hands were pretty callused from lifting weights and gripping the bars of a spin bike, and I never backed down from a challenge. I liked to push myself.

Not that I would push myself far enough to attempt having his cock actually inside me. I was willing to see how those barbs felt scraping my palm or catching on the inside of my mouth, but I drew the line at testing out the sensation of them raking over my vagina.