Page 59 of Burn With Me

Settling on Thai, we place an order, and I change into a pair of his boxers and an Oxford University shirt.

“Why Oxford?” I ask as I walk back down the stairs.

He tenses for a moment before shrugging. “All the Tailor men go to Oxford then finish at Harvard. I did it because it was expected of me.”

Thinking about my stranger, I try to hold back a smile, but Jackson sees and gives me a funny look. “What?

“Nothing,” I answer, hopping onto a stool and propping my chin on my fist. “I just totally have a thing for English accents.”

“Sorry, Red. I couldn’t do an accent to save my life,” he says before quickly changing the subject. “How was your time at NYU?”

We spent the rest of the time waiting for our food, talking about my days at NYU and how I always knew I wanted to go into my line of work because I’ve always wanted to help others.

I just don’t tell him why.

Once we’re finished eating, we clean up and go back to the game room to pick another movie. At this point, it goes unspoken that I’m going to stay the night. It doesn’t go unnoticed how easy the night has been, but something still holds me back from completely opening up to him.

Later, when he’s spooning me as I’m spooning P-Kitty, I summon the courage to ask, “Who is Viki?”

“Someone from my past. No one I want to have a future with,” he answers immediately.

He kisses my neck softly, and I close my eyes, just relishing the closeness that we’re sharing. How normal it all feels. Him, me, and the cat. I want this all the time, but when I try to open my mouth to tell him, the words don’t come out.

It’s frightening, the idea of being so honest and the possibility of him shooting me down. His words and actions tell me that maybe he wants it, too. But he’s stillhim.

And I’m not sure he’s capable. Or even wants to be.

As I drift off to sleep again, he nuzzles my neck andwhispers in my ear, “I said what I did to your brother to ensure he left. I didn’t mean a word of it. I promise.”

“Shh,” I tell him softly, though a smile now graces my lips. “Go to sleep, little dream minx.”

“Teach me how to give a blow job.”

Amber liquid spews from my stranger’s lips, dripping from the inside of his mask as he coughs and beats his chest to clear his airway. “Come again?”

Tucking my legs underneath me, I sit up on my knees, eagerly looking at him. “I’ve never done it before. I don’t want to be bad at it.”

After I woke up this morning, wrapped in Jackson’s arms, I tried once again to initiate oral sex. Again, he turned me down. Kissing my forehead, he told me I could shower in his bathroom while he used the one in the hall.

Jackson—the man who makes sexual innuendos every chance he can.

The man who oozes sex and can probably make a woman come just by looking at them.

Has now turned me downtwice.

It left me wondering if he could tell I’d never done it before. Fearing that the reason he keeps saying no, is that he doesn’t want an inexperienced woman testing out her lack of skills on his prized joystick.

We’d showered separately. Then, he dropped me off at my apartment before going to work. His eyes were glued to his phone the entire ride, making me feel like the night before had been a dream.

He was affectionate but not overly so. Attentive, but not suggestive.

Veryunlike himself.

“I don’t think you could be bad at it if you tried, LittleEmber.” My stranger laughs. His crisp accent is throaty from the coughing but doesn’t hide the amusement dripping from his cadence.

“But I need to learn how to do it,” I pout, squeezing my arms together to push my boobs higher.

I discarded my wings as soon as I stepped foot in our room. My outfit tonight consists of a tight black leather bodice with an attached lace bra and skirt. Black bows sit on the garter straps attached to thigh-high stockings. It’s more cute, instead of sexy—at least I think so.

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