Page 81 of Root

“I’m good.”

She doesn’t seem to hear me.

“And Rush? He’s not what you think. He might look like a…what were you going to call him? A fuck boy?” She laughs stiffly. “But that’s only because you’re not looking closely.”

I drop a dishwasher detergent cube in the right place, set the machine and close the door. Then I turn to her. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Hurt him, you hurt Nikolai, and that’s bad, but to be honest with you, it’ll be me—I’ll be the one to destroy you. Rush is family, and he’s worthwhile. He likes you. If you’re here to fuck with him, go. And don’t look back.”

With that warning, she leaves as Rush and Nikolai appear. Her husband is stunning. The three-piece suit has red pinstripes and his silk shirt matches her dress.

They’re mouth droppingly gorgeous.

I can see that.

But really, they don’t hold my interest.

Rush does. That shining blond hair, the marks from my mouth on his throat, the long look that makes all my insides smolder.

Put him in a suit and you’d have to scrape me from the floor.

Nothing at all might be even better.

I want a cock ring with his name on it. Oh, imagine fucking him with that on, through him coming and me riding him into my own oblivion.

There’s a slow horror that creeps over me.

When I snap out of my erotic fantasy, we’re alone; Rose and Nikolai have gone. And I’m staring at him like he’s an ice cream sundae I’ve saved all month for.

“Hey, Jessie,” he says, waltzing up to me, spinning me in his arms and stopping so I’m pinned against the fridge. He nibbles a path along my collarbone. Then, he looks up. “Where were we?”

“I was cleaning up your mess.”

“I’d have done that.”

“You mean you would make Mia do it,” I say, forcing myself to pull free of him. He lets me go. It’s not disappointment pricking my skin, it’s not at all.

Rush laughs and pulls me once more against him, this time walking me backward through the kitchen. “Fuck no. She’d beat me up. Or worse, tell Nikolai.”

I need to get away because he climbs inside me and undoes me from there, and it’s not fair, no matter how much my idiotic body craves it. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“Good idea.” His eyes light up. “You wanna scrub my back first? Or should I soap up your pretty puppies?”

“Pretty—” I try to shake him off, but he pulls me flush against him.

“Kidding.” He kisses my throat and heat sinks deep. “I’d never call your tits puppies. So. Wrong.”

“Let go, Rush.”

He does. A little. But the glitter in his gaze says he’s not done. “You know if you’re curious about me, you should snoop in my rooms. What do you say? I can put on some sexy music, pour some drinks…”

“I’m having a shower and going to bed.”

“Bed?” he calls as I walk off. “It’s not even seven p.m. Wuss!”

He’s right. I’m a wuss.

I need to untangle the warning from Rose. I think it was a warning. I mean yes, there was the obvious warning, but it was more than that. Like she seemed to think I could hurt Rush in an emotional way.

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