Page 8 of Look What You Made Me Do

Ella raised an eyebrow at the mention of the exclusive outer suburb known for its mansions and acreage. Rosie getting involved with a wealthy political dynasty? That didn’t compute.

“He doesn’t even cuss.”

Smiling at Rosie’s horrified admission, Ella cut to the chase. “So, he’s a challenge?”

“Well.” Rosie grinned. “I do love me a challenge.”

Yes, she did. But for the first time ever since she’d known Rosie, Ella saw a brief hesitation before the confident grin. Something told her Rosie wasn’t as sure of herself as usual.

“Hey.” Rosie brightened. “Maybe Simon can use his connections to help with the school thing?”

Ella shrugged. “Maybe.” She was willing to take any help on that front.

“I haven’t seen Curtis at the house all week,” Rosie said, changing the subject.

“We decided it was best to stop seeing each other.”

“Oh, babe.” Rosie reached across the table and squeezed Ella’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

Ella sighed. “Don’t be. I think it was possibly the dreariest relationship I’ve had to date.”

“That’s saying something.”

Ella didn’t bother to protest her friend’s statement. It was depressingly accurate. In the last two years, in her effort to exorcise the ghost of the best sex she’d ever had with the one man on earth she shouldn’t have had it with, she’d decided to only date Jake opposites.

Men who had proper jobs and didn’t give a damn about sport. Arty men. Intellectuals. Bookish.

“Don’t get me wrong, he was great. But in the bedroom department, he was a bit…”

“Dull?”

Ella shook her head. “Too…”

“Boring?”

Frustrated, Ella searched around for the right word that didn’t make her sound like an ingrate. “Nice.”

Feigning horror, Rosie suppressed a smile. “That’s terrible.”

She shot her friend a quelling look. “You know what I mean. Is there something wrong with wanting a man to take the lead for once? A little bit of masterfulness?”

“So you want to be dominated?”

“No!” Well… maybe a bit of friendly bondage would be okay but no red room stuff. “I want… I don’t know what I want.”

Rosie looked at her patiently. “I do. You want head-banging sex without the emotional vulnerability. The nice get too close and, thanks to Rachel, you’ve spent your entire life keeping men at a distance.”

Sometimes Ella hated how well Rosie knew her. She placed her wine glass down. “Do you know what I found myself thinking about when we were doing it last time? Pythagoras.”

Rosie laughed. “Because A squared plus B squared equals C squared is some kind of math nerd turn on?”

Ella groaned and thunked her forehead on the table. “No. But he was being so… considerate. You know, touching all the places in the correct order as if he was ticking them off a list. It was like… sex-by-numbers.”

Lifting her head, Ella took a drink, propping an elbow on the table and slipping a hand under her head for support.

“And he kept talking,” she continued. “Asking if I was okay. Did I like it? Was there anything I needed? Tell him to stop if I wasn’t comfortable. I mean, I know we’re supposed to want that these days and intellectually, I really appreciate it. But… whatever happened to talking dirty? My mind just drifted.”

“To Pythagoras?”

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