Page 36 of Bad & Bossy

A muffled shriek ripped from her at the same moment her knees gave way, and I took the brunt of her weight with my knee and the hand she rode. Frantic little breaths came from her nose, and only when I was completely convinced she wouldn’t alert everyone to exactly what was happening, I removed my hand from her mouth.

“Good girl,” I cooed, pressing my lips to hers to absorb any other little sounds. Her body shook, little aftershocks sending spasms through her as I finally stilled my fingers.

Chapter 12

Dana

My body was on fucking fire.

Cole’s hand slid from between my thighs and out of my jeans. In the low light of the janitor’s closet, I watched as he sucked his two middle fingers into his mouth, licking every little drop of me off of them. My cheeks heated.

This wasn’t a good idea and I fucking knew that, but he was too good at dragging me down with him.

“Cole,” I breathed, my legs shaky and my mind fully in a haze. Think straight. Come on.

“You have no fucking idea how good you taste,” he grunted. He wiped his saliva-covered hand on the inside of his suit jacket.

“Cole, stop,” I said, my voice far weaker than I intended. His body went rigid for a split second before he took a step back, releasing me entirely, and I took that moment to catch my breath and try to organize my thoughts.

I was in dangerous territory. The need for him was growing stronger, and even though I’d tried to keep my distance, it wasn’t going away. A part of me was terrified of this becoming a regular thing—if the rumor of him being in rehab was true, I knew the likelihood of relapse. I knew every part of this journey from the ten or so times my Mom had tried to conquer it and failed.

And I didn’t want Drew anywhere around it.

But another part of me was desperate for a proper connection with the father of my child. And a deeper, guiltier part of me was screaming to tell him that Drew was his son so that he could have a father figure.

“Was that…?”

I shook my head. “It’s fine. I would have fought you if I didn’t want it,” I rasped, pushing the little stray hairs that had fallen from my ponytail out of my face. “I just…. This shouldn’t happen here.”

Cole’s eyes went wide for a second as he watched me fumble for my phone in the darkness. I checked the time, I still had ten minutes before my tour. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, that was really fucking obvious,” I said. “If this is going to happen here, we need to be discreet. I don’t want to get shit from my coworkers.”

“If they give you shit, I’ll talk to them?—”

“No. No. I don’t want them to give me shit in the first place. I don’t want them to know. You talking to them will only make things worse.”

“Right. Fine.” His expression turned sour as he reached for the door handle, but then he paused. “Why did you leave?”

I blinked at him. Well, I guess we were having that conversation here in the janitor’s closet. I could only avoid it for so long. “I wasn’t feeling well,” I lied.

His brows knitted together as he flicked on the light. His cheeks were tinted pink, his lips swollen from kissing me. “Why didn’t you just wake me up?”

“I didn’t want to bother you with it.”

“You couldn’t have just texted me to let me know? I mean, you’ve been dodging me at every opportunity?—”

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” I pressed. “We’re not really a thing, so I felt weird about it. I figured we’d just go back to being awkward again and figure it out from there.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, even though I did want more. But there was only so much more I could handle while keeping things from him. “Unless you want it to be a thing?”

“Is it bad if I want to see you more often?” he asked, the corner of his lip twitching up into a smirk. “I mean, I don’t want to just fuck you and abandon you.”

“What does that even mean, though?” I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling far too vulnerable. “I have things I have to consider here, Cole. Future plans and people in my life. I have responsibilities. I can’t just fuck you whenever you want it then go about my day-to-day life, especially when what happened between us still hangs over my head every time I see you.”

Everything about him softened at my words. “I’m sorry about that,” he sighed. “Genuinely. I was at a fucking low point in my life and I burned a lot of bridges because of it. I’m working on myself and I’m doing a lot better, but I never wanted you to get hurt.”

I eyed him warily. Working on myself. He seemed sincere, but they were quick, easy words. Words that didn’t erase what he’d said before. I needed time to think over his apology before actually accepting it. “Look, I have a tour in a few minutes and I need to get out there. But maybe we can talk about it later, okay?”

He watched me for a moment before letting out a breath and opening the door, gesturing to it. “Alright.”

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