Page 53 of Breaking the Sinner

She set down the book she was reading, one of many recommended by an online book club she’d joined recently. Western romances were the flavor of the week. So many horses and spurs…andsex. This felt educational, preparing for what her first time with Cobra might be like. Though she doubted he’d have the manure-encrusted cowboy boots the hero in this book had.

It was four p.m. on Sunday. Admittedly sooner than she expected him to reach out. She grinned as she typed back a message.

GEN: My ass is currently accepting appointments.

COBRA: That sounds dirty.

GEN: Yes it does.

COBRA: Need an immediate appointment with yr ass. Can I come over?

She paused, an idea cycling through her. Curiosity about Cobra’s personal life outside of work and outside of their time together plagued her. She couldn’t stop her fingers from writing back.

GEN: What about your place?

COBRA: Nope.

She frowned. So much about him didn’t make sense.

“What’s up, girl?” Sophie breezed into the room, her black eyeliner freshly winged. She had dark lipstick on, something that danced the line between mauve and black. She was hardly the girl that had left the community ten years prior at age sixteen. Now, she possessed something unearthly, almost witchy. Gen blinked up at her.

“You look great,” she said.

Sophie smiled, white teeth flashing. “Thanks, babe. You look comfy. What’s on deck for you this evening?”

“Um, Cobra, I think.” She gnawed at the inside of her lip, looking at the text again. “He’ll probably come over here. I asked if we could go to his place, but he said no.”

“Does he have roommates? Or live with his parents?” Sophie breezed into the kitchen, going through her standard work prep: fill up a water bottle, grab a frozen meal she’d made earlier that week, grab some vitamin C packets for her water. Gen watched the routine over the back of the couch.

“Not his parents, I don’t think. I don’t know.” She sighed, picking at a thread on the back of the couch. “He doesn’t share a lot. I know something bad happened with his mom, but I don’t know what.”

“Hm.” Sophie rinsed her hands off, pinning Gen with a look. “Those are red flags, you know.”

“What do you mean, red?”

“Like, warning signs. Things you should pay attention to.” Sophie wiped her hands on the sides of her black shorts, then reached for a lunch box next to the sink. “I mean, I know you guys have this arrangement or whatever. But you should know; if a guy never wants you to come to his house, it’s a bad sign.”

“Oh.”

“It means he’s not taking you seriously. Or he might be bringing around other women.”

“We already agreed on not being with other people,” Gen reminded her.

“Sure. It’s just…not ideal, let’s say.” Sophie zipped up her lunch in the bag, glancing around the kitchen. “But you’re not trying to be with this guy anyway. So, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Sophie’s words left Gen feeling hollow. She must have been frowning because Sophie came up to her a moment later, concern etched across her face.

“Are you falling for this guy?”

“Falling where?”

Sophie cracked a smile. “Down the long tunnel of love?”

“No,” Gen whispered, but it didn’t feel true. She couldn’t even look Sophie in the eye. “We have this connection.”

“Yeah? So what do you like about Cobra?”

Sophie’s question made thoughts pop up like firecrackers in Gen’s head. There were so many things. His smile. His secret talent. His strength. His impeccable form. Some things that she didn’t want to admit to, even. Like the way his kisses made her panties wet. Every single time. “Everything. But especially the way that he treats me when we’re together.”

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