Page 50 of Inked Adonis

“I am so excited for you!” Hope trills. “And to think I was worried sick about you all day. Little did I know you were off getting your freak on with Chicago’s hottest bachelor.”

“No one’s getting their freak anywhere.”

Late night cuddles and one tiny kiss isn’t “freaky.”

“Hm. Well, then I hate to break this to you, babe, but it doesn’t sound like you’re doing this sexcation right.”

“Because it’s not a sexcation!”

“Not yet, but there’s still time,” she insists. “All you have to do is make proper use of the handsome billionaire in your bed. Seriously, NoNo, you need to be bold. I’ve watched old videos of Sam playing hockey, and the man knows how to handle his stick?—”

Something inside me snaps like a rubber band pulled too tight. “Samuil Litvinov can take his stick and shove it up his ass!”

The words echo in the cavernous room, and I remember—too late—that he’s listening. That every syllable is being recorded and analyzed.

Well, fuck it. Men like him can smell fear.

I won’t give him the satisfaction.

Matter of fact, if I knew where the security cameras in this room were, I’d look right down the barrel.

“Sideways,” I continue. “Where even all his billions couldn’t find a doctor skilled enough to remove it.”

Dead silence fills the line. “Whoa. That came from a dark place.”

Girl, you have no idea.

I sink onto the carpet beside Rufus and pet his furry head. “I think I might have made a mistake going away with him.”

“Is it because you’re not putting out?”

“It’s not always about sex, Hope!” Especially since having hot sex is definitely not our problem. I put out, alright. And he put me out. Three times in a row.

“Are you pulling a Nova?”

I frown. “Did you just use my name as a verb? I mean, shit, that’s not a verb, but you know what I mean.”

“Only because you have a uniquely bad habit of self-sabotaging.”

My jaw drops. “I do not!”

“Oh, come on, Nova. You’ve blown up every relationship you’ve been in since I’ve known you. Either you pick assholes from the get-go or you pick nice guys whom you dump the moment things start to get serious.”

“Pete and I were together for almost a year.”

“And he was cheating on you for most of that time,” she reminds me.

“I mean… that’s not entirely untrue.”

“Exactly!” Hope cries. “Who forgets about something like that? Someone who has dated way too many alpha asshole types, that’s who.”

“Samuilis the literal definition of an alpha asshole type. King of them, really.”

“Is that the problem, then? Is he treating you badly? If he hurt you, I’ll kill him. He’s big, but I’ll rent an excavator so we can dig the hole for his body to the proper size.”

The fierce protectiveness in her voice makes my eyes burn. If she only knew. But I can’t justify being MIA for two weeks if I tell her the truth about my captivity.

“No, he hasn’t treated me badly.”

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