Page 66 of Blue Line Lust

“Morning, P.” He clears his throat awkwardly. “Sorry, I slept in. Violet was sick last night.”

“Explains the sleepover.”

Paula’s eyes flit to me. She doesn’t say anything, but I can tell that she knows what happened. There’s an air of I told you so in her gaze.

I squirm under her judgment. I thought it was a dream!

You idiot—literally no one on earth is dumb enough to believe that.

I could cringe. But I have to remain professional. Something petty in me also doesn’t want to give Paula the satisfaction in thinking that she got under my skin.

“Just seemed easier for us both to sleep in here,” I say stupidly.

“Hm.” She looks at Reese and goes back to ignoring me. “You have a few virtual meetings coming up soon. You should get dressed and ready.”

With that, she leaves.

Soon as she’s gone, Reese lets out a sigh. “Whew. That was?—”

“You should leave.” It comes out quickly. Reese looks up at me, surprised and… hurt? Impossible. He’s not capable of it.

Something passes over his face, something I can’t decipher. But he sighs and stands, dusting himself off like a little kid who fell off his bike. Like that’s all this thing was. An accident.

Whoopsie-daisy, my dick almost fell inside of you. Clumsy me!

I still feel hot between my thighs. Wetness clings to the fabric of my pajama shorts, just reminding me how turned on I was. I wanted Reese to fuck me right there. I was begging him to. For one hot second, I would’ve done anything to have him fill me.

The thought lingers as he slips out of Violet’s nursery. My instinct is to follow him, but my duty is to the little girl in my arms.

So I stay.

And God, it hurts so bad to do that.

29

OLIVIA

Violet is doing much better by the evening. I keep us secluded in her nursery and run the humidifier on and off to help her little lungs. The whole time, I wonder if the door will open and Reese will come back in. I’m not sure if I’d rather him come finish what he started, or swoop Violet up in his arms with that look of terror meets I’d burn the world down just to keep her safe in his eyes.

It doesn’t matter either way. He doesn’t come.

That’s probably for the best.

Anxiety has a firm stranglehold on my throat all day, though. Hearing the sporadic clack of Paula’s heels throughout the house makes me nearly jump out of my skin.

I recall her words about the way that Reese just disposes of women. Is this part of a game? Get my head so wound up I do something stupid like nearly sleep with him? Twice?

When Violet settles down for the night, I retreat to my room and start pacing. The way I see it, I have two options. I stay here—and probably get caught red-handed in another compromising position with Reese—or I quit while I’m ahead. Even if he isn’t attracted to me, there’s some godforsaken chemistry that keeps pulling us together. I can’t take the risk of succumbing to it.

So that makes it an easy choice. I have to quit. I can make up some excuse to tell Judy. Maybe lay it on thick how impossible a client Reese was. It wouldn’t be hard given his reputation, though it’s definitely a backstabbing kind of move. Mama wouldn’t be proud of it if she ever found out.

As if on cue, my phone begins to ring. My heart leaps into my throat, choking me. Ma’s ringtone.

Is it an omen? Or is it bad news?

I answer rapidly. “Hi, Ma? Everything okay?”

Her laugh tingles in my ears and soothes some of the anxiety crackling through my veins with every pulse. “Via, you always answer like you’re expecting the worst.”

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