AllFreeNovel
Share Us
• • •
Electra
What the hell are you doing? I asked myself as I got out of the warm bed that held no appeal without Champion in it.
Getting my feet on the floor, I paced the length of the room while he was in the bathroom. I was in deep, deep trouble with him. I couldn’t spend the day with him. I would only find out more about him that appealed and be hurt worse when I ended it.
I had to end it. I knew that. All the reasons why remained. I just didn’t want to let him go.
One more day, I thought, bargaining with myself. After all, I was leaving the next day.
A phone rang, breaking me free from my thoughts. I stopped pacing and glanced around, but it wasn’t my cell. It was Champion’s.
The edge of his phone was lit up where it peeked out from the pocket of his pants. He’d draped them over the chair by the balcony at some point.
It was less than a foot away. Curiosity getting the better of me, I inched closer and peeked at the display.
Mercedes Bennett calling. . .
My throat closed. I immediately wished I hadn’t looked.
Did Champion give my boss as many orgasms as he gave me? Jealousy and hurt swirled around inside me. I didn’t have a right to either emotion.
This was just a hookup. I’d set the terms, yet jealousy clawed at the inside of my chest at the mere thought of him with her.
I jumped when Champion emerged from the bathroom. He glanced at me where I stood with my hands clenched and my expression a billboard, advertising my emotions.
Without a word, he crossed to his phone. It had begun ringing again, but he didn’t answer it. Clicking off the ringer, he dropped his phone onto the chair and grabbed his pants.
“Who’s Mercedes?” I asked, accusation lacing my tone.
I shouldn’t ask, but I wanted to hear what he would say. Maybe I needed to hear him make an excuse, because I was a fool thinking one night meant more, and because I was coward, unable and unwilling to end this right now like I should.
“Just a woman I’ve been seeing back in Dallas.” His chiseled lips thinning, he looked at me, his gaze steady but hooded.
He didn’t refer to seeing her in the past tense. There was no mention of ending it. Of course he wasn’t going to end it.
The reason I needed, he gave me. My chest so tight I could barely breathe, I nodded.
“Right.” I licked my dry lips. “Thanks for being honest.”
“Electra,” he said and took a step toward me. “She’s not—”
“You’d better go.” I took a step back and wrapped my arms around myself, avoiding direct eye contact. “So, I can get ready. Like you told me to.”
“Right.” He studied me a moment.
My emotions were running amok, but I imagined opening a door and sweeping them inside. Out of sight, out of mind. I’d process them later, or better yet, not at all. I was pretty good at compartmentalizing.
“Okay,” he said.
I pulled in a needed breath as I watched him turn away to locate his shirt. As he punched his arms into the sleeves, I mourned the view of his torso sans shirt. I would mourn the rest later. But less than if I let this continue, right?
He withdrew his keys from his pocket. His gaze lifted, finding and holding mine. That connection rocked me, just like the first time.
Not real. Temporary. Just a fantasy conjured from a tropical setting and your wishful thinking. But those descriptors felt more like lies.
My nipples tingled. My pussy ached. My heart longed for more. But I had given in once to this insane attraction between us, and I refused to be drawn in again.
