Page 25 of Rock Bottom

“Be honest with me,” I said. “Do you want me to stop?”

His frown deepened. “Stop what?”

“Flirting with you.”

He huffed. “You don’t mean it.”

“Why do you think that?” I crossed my arms and leaned against the sink.

“Because I’ve seen your bank statements. You spend more on escorts and porn every month than I’ll make on this whole job.”

“I’d rather watch you than porn.”

“That isn’t…” He shook his head, blushing again. “Why would you say that?”

“Come on. How can you not know you’re the sexiest thing since sliced bread?”

“I didn’t realize bread was sexy.”

I smirked when he took the bait. “It is when you’re the one being bred.”

Church sighed. “I walked into that one.”

“Yeah, you did. As for if I mean it or not…” I put a hand on his shoulder and stood up on my tiptoes to lean in. “Want to know what I was thinking about last night when you caught me jerking off?”

He swallowed loudly and turned his face toward me. “What?”

“How perfect you’d look on your knees for me.”

Church shuddered and bit his lip as I ran my thumb down the back of his neck.

“I thought about it this morning, too,” I whispered, moving my thumb in small circles. “Twice. And I bet you’re thinking about it right now, aren’t you? So why are we dancing around this, kitten?”

He shook his head and pulled out of my grip. “Because it would create a conflict of interests. I can’t protect you as effectively if I don’t stay objective.”

“I’m still not hearing a no.”

Church said nothing, turning back to the dishes.

I sighed. This dance was getting old fast. He was interested. I knew he was. The giant erection tenting in his pants attested to that. What was it going to take to get him to relax a little and enjoy himself with me? We could have our fun and move on at the end of the month, no strings attached. Nobody even had to know.

But maybe he wasn’t that type of guy. Maybe Church was the type who liked roses and dinner dates, a romantic at heart. Of course he would.

I sighed and tucked my hands into my pockets, trudging toward the door. Maybe it was time to admit defeat and just resign to jerking off three times a day for the next thirty days. If that was the case, I was going to need a lot more lube, and my phone back.

“Dante?”

I turned around in the doorway. “Yeah?”

He looked up from the sink, his face flushed. “Don’t stop if you mean it.”

“I’m a lot of things, Church, but a liar isn’t one of them,” I said and walked away.

“Milk, protein powder, eggs, celery…” Bowie tipped his hat back and squinted at the shopping list I’d handed him. “What’s this here?”

I leaned forward. “Non-alcoholic beer.”

“Now that there’s a sin if there ever was one. What the fuck’s the point?”

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