Page 12 of The Weight of Love

“Thanks for the motivation.”

2:32 AM:

Cowboy: Stella, I want to do this without making this more difficult. You’re amazing, really. And please don’t take this to be anything you’ve done wrong. It’s so not that. I don’t think I can do this no-strings, hook-up thing.

I think maybe we need to stay friends and work out buddies but keep our cardio sessions strictly in the gym and not naked. I don’t think I can live with myself being that kind of a guy, but I also don’t want to disappear and ghost you.

2:40 AM:

I’m home. Don’t worry, Moral Mouse.

And for the record, if you’re feeling guilty about it, for my sake, don’t.

This was pretty much a giant compliment and ego boost. So please, don’t feel guilty for my sake. I enjoyed it—100%.

3:42 AM:

Cowboy: I’m glad you’re home safe.

And thanks.

I think it’s just more that I need to be able to live with myself when I look in the mirror. I do hope to see you around the gym later this week. Have a good night, Stella.

Chapter Seven

Stella

“Coffee,” I groan from where my face is smothered into my crossed arms plastered to my desk. “I need all the coffee, please, Steve.”

My assistant is noisily moving around my office, rattling off the day’s schedule, and I can’t focus on what he’s saying for the life of me. He sounds like the muffled teacher from Peanuts.

“Who schedules a meeting for eight in the morning? They need to be found and shot, please.”

The whole event with Clark last night is still lurking under my skin. I ache deeply from the absolute abuse my pussy took. Sore in the absolute best ways, and for the life of me, I cannot get him out of my head.

I also didn’t make it home until close to three in the morning, and after showering and collapsing into bed, I only slept for a few hours before my meeting,

I close my eyes, and I can still feel his hands on me. It’s intense. I haven’t felt anything like it before; I’m a little afraid to admit it to myself. It was worse after he pulled such a rapid mood shift as we were leaving.

I hear Emily and Steve exchanging some sort of morning greeting, but I’m still not functional enough to process as a human.

“Coffee, Em. No coffee, no people.”

“Okay, Robot Stella. We’ll get you some coffee since you have no choice but to people. We have the board meeting in fifteen minutes with those new investors, which coincidentally gives you at least that long to explain who the guy you had ‘following you around like a puppy’ was last night. At least that’s how Leslie is describing it.”

I push my head up and look at my tall friend from across the office, only to be met with an amused grin on her face. We’ve been friends for six years and business partners for 2. She is the closest I could ever possibly have to a sister, and she absolutely knows what a mess I am with men.

“Puppy, that’s a much better nickname for him than Cowboy since I need to put him back on the bench and not keep him. He’s like a foster puppy. It is fun to play with him for a minute and then send him on to his forever home.

“Oh God, Cowboy? This is going to be an over-lunch story, isn’t it?”

“Oh, definitely.”

“Nice, I’ll tell John. Ready to present for these investors and the board today?”

“Hell no, I’m flying by the seat of my pants as usual. You know me too well to think I’d actually be prepared. Wait a second, you set this meeting time, didn’t you?”

I narrow my eyes at her as she sips her coffee with a smiling shrug.

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