Page 71 of Ink & Desire

“My legs were numb,” I lie, moving slowly and groaning as I stand.

Avery’s eyes track over my body, assessing. “It was your idea,” she says. “Besides, you still look pretty spry to me.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Was that an old man joke?”

She laughs and walks over to me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Absolutely not,” she murmurs. “You are far from old.”

Bringing my arms around her, I pull her against my naked body, my hands skimming under the hem of the shirt to cup her bare ass.

“Damned right,” I say, bending down to kiss her smiling lips.

Leaning back, I eye her. "How old are you, anyway?"

She grins. "24."

I close my eyes. "Fuck. I'm way too old for you."

"Nah," she whispers, pulling me down for another kiss. "You feel like just the right age to me."

Again, I have the thought that I need to leave now, before I no longer want to.Do I want to?I can’t tell anymore. I know Ishould. But I don’t think I truly want to go. And that’s a problem. This thing with Avery is temporary. It’s just for fun. I’m not supposed to want to stay here with her all night. I’m not supposed to want to spend time with her when it’s not sexual. But that’s just what I find myself wanting. Which is why I pull myself away from her and reach for my clothes. I need to put some distance between us before I do something stupid like ask if she wants to be the big spoon tonight while we sleep.

Seriously. What the hell is going on with me? I’ve had casual sex before. I’ve even had friends with benefits. Hell, I practically invented the secret fling. But this thing with Avery? It doesn’t feel like those other times. If I were being honest with myself, I’d have noticed it that first time we hooked up. But I’d been blinded by lust and a pair of hazel eyes. Not to mention really fucking good sex.

“I’m going to head home,” I say, keeping my gaze focused on pulling on my pants so I can’t see whether Avery looks disappointed.

“Yeah, it’s getting late,” she says.

I can’t tell from her tone if she’s bothered by my leaving. Besides, it’s not like she’s asking me to stay. Maybe she’s ready for me to go so she can crawl into bed and sleep alone. I wonder if she hogs the covers. Does she sleep sprawled out like a starfish? What does it say about me that I’m dying to know?

“I’ll see you Tuesday,” I say.

Avery walks me to the door of her apartment, and I lean down to kiss her one more time. I can’t get enough of her mouth, her lips, her taste. But I keep the kiss brief, the urge to flee warring with the urge to beg her to let me stay.

“Goodnight, Corbin,” she says.

“Night, angel,” I say, giving her ass a playful swat.

“Hey!” she says through her laughter. “What was that for?”

I grin and shrug. “Call it preemptive. You’ll go back to being bratty tomorrow.”

Smiling, she says, “Yeah, but you’ll love it.”

I don’t argue. We both know she’s right. I’m still smiling by the time I make it down the stairs and out to my car. Despite my earlier revelation about wanting to spend more time with Avery, my chest feels lighter than it has in years. I don’t let myself delve too far into the reason why. I want to just enjoy the moment for as long as I can. Tomorrow is soon enough for me to worry about all the reasons this thing is bound to end in disaster.

Chapter 28

Avery

I can’t believe Corbin finally gave in. I hadn’t really expected him to when I made that phone call the other night. I’d just been following more of Cass’s advice. I called her after work to tell her that my plan to seduce Corbin was failing miserably. I also confided in her that I was worried that maybe I was wrong about our night together and maybe he hadn’t enjoyed it as much as I did.So, she told me to call him and ask if the sex was bad. I laughed at first, but then I realized she was serious.

It took me a few minutes to psych myself up for the call. Corbin can be intimidating in the best of times. I wasn’t sure how he’d react to being put on the spot. But the call went better than I hoped it would. He all but admitted to me that he wanted me again. So, I followed another piece of Cass’s advice. ‘Always leave them wanting more.’ It sounds cheesy, but I’ve seen it work for her, so I tried it. I ended the call on a high note and went to grab my vibrator from my bedside table. I wasn’t going to send him a nude photo. I don’t know him well enough to trust him with that. But I snapped a photo that made it clear that I was planning a solo session with my toy. I sent it quickly, before I could talk myself out of it. Then I dropped my phone and the toy and hid my burning face in my hands.

When the phone rang less than a minute later, I was shocked but pleased. Then, I felt a jolt of anticipation when Corbin gave his dark order for me not to come without him. By the time he knocked on my apartment door, I was so worked up that he could have taken me right then. But I’m glad he didn’t because what we did was so much better. Had I thought our first time together was the best sex I’d ever had? Because nothing could have prepared me for that. It’s been 3 days, and I can’t shake the memory of his mouth and his hands, his filthy words.

I don’t know how this is going to go now that we’re officially hooking up—now that it’s no longer a one-timething. I know we’re keeping it just between us. I’m totally on board with that. I don’t want Noah and Jessie thinking Corbin is taking advantage of me, or that I’m leveraging my ‘relationship’ with him to keep my apprenticeship. This thing we’re doing has nothing to do with my tattoo education. And Corbin isn’t the kind of man to take advantage of his employee. Regardless of those facts, I’m happy to keep this thing just between us. I don’t want to answer a bunch of questions when it comes to the others. Besides, I’m enjoying it.

We’ve managed to work together around the others without acting any differently. It hasn’t been easy, though. I find my gaze straying to Corbin at random times throughout the day. I can’t help it. The man is hot. It doesn’t help that I find all that broody, intense focus sexy as fuck. It’s all I can do to keep my attraction to him under wraps when Jessie and Noah are around. But when the others leave for the day, we don’t need to hide anymore.

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