Page 6 of Big Nick Energy

But I hadn’t spoken to him.

Not in real life.

My imagination was a whole other thing. There I spoke to him, to daddy, on the daily.

In my dirty daydreams and filthy fantasies, Nick Marsh was always in control.

Dominating and loving.

Sweet yet firm.

He’d call me his. Just the thought made my tummy flutter. With his deep voice, his words instructed me how to come time and time again. There hadn’t been a night I hadn’t pleasured myself to the image of that man in my head.

I was sad. Pathetic, really.

Nineteen, about to turn twenty, and I hadn’t dated anyone since Noah. Not because I hadn’t been asked out. I had. There were two guys at work, my age or a year older, who liked me. They’d both asked me out on separate occasions, and I had turned both of them down. There was even one guy at the gym who aways went out of his way to talk to me. I just hadn’t been interested.

Not in them or anyone else.

Not the guys at school or the ones I talked to at work or at the gym. And I honestly had tried. I needed to get my ex-boyfriend’s dad out of my head, but it felt impossible.

I was seriously and hopelessly in love with a man I hardly knew.

I just wish I knew how to get over him.

3

Nick

Three months later

The temperature had dropped,summer was long gone, and we were in the thick of fall. Thanksgiving had been okay. At my place. My kid had gone with some friends to ski in Colorado. My best friend and business partner had come over and was still here even though everyone else had left.

Christmas would be around the corner, and before I would know it, I’d be ringing in the new year. Alone. Again.

It wasn’t lost on me that once again, I had spent the holiday when you’re supposed to feel nothing but a full heart filled with gratitude feeling nothing but emptiness. It didn’t matter how much money I had in my bank account or how bountiful the square footage my main home was or how many properties I’d invested in.

I wasn’t happy.

Not really.

Not in the way that mattered.

I hadn’t been happy since that day in the mall a year and a half ago. And it was a damn shame because I had a lot to be grateful for. My one and only child was doing better. Noah seemed to finally be growing and maturing. Long gone was the little asshole douche player he had tried to be in high school. He was away at school, and from what I could tell with the grades he was making, he wasn’t doing too badly. My parents were happy and retired in Florida. My business partner, who was also my best friend, was seeing someone. I had never seen him as happy as he was with her, even if she hadn’t come to Thanksgiving dinner tonight, in a long time. I had my health, and even though I knew that was important as hell, it was my damn heart that had a problem.

“You look like the world is on your shoulders.” My best friend and business partner, Winston Nash, noted. I turned to see him standing at the doorway and rolled my eyes.

“Win,” I warned, but he shrugged. I watched as he strode in and sat down in the chair in front of my desk.

“Is it finally time?” he asked, and my brows bunched. My gaze bounced to the big wooden wall clock behind him then back at my friend.

“Time for what?” I asked, trying to remember if we had something on the books, but I couldn’t think. I couldn’t focus. It was impossible when all I could think about was my sweet little forbidden princess.

“To talk about what you’ve been avoiding.” I frowned. “Or are we still acting like you’re not in love?” he laid out calmly, almost like he was talking about the color of the sky. A muscle under my eye ticked.

“I’m not—" I started to say, but Winston’s gaze locked with mine. Challenging me, daring me to lie straight out not only to him but myself. I swallowed hard. My Adam’s apple bobbed heavily before I ran my fingers through my hair. “What makesyou think I’m in love?” I asked, and the asshole he was, Winston laughed.

“Really? That’s what we’re going with?” His laughter rang through the room, and I sighed.

---