Page 67 of If You Need Me

At the end of the night, I pull into the fifteen-minute parking spot at her building.

She unbuckles her seat belt and smiles softly. “I actually had a good time today.”

I stretch my arm across the back of her seat. “I could come up for a bit and take care of you.”

Her eyes flare. “Oh, uh…my roommate is home tonight.”

“We could go to my place instead.”

Her bottom lip slides through her teeth as her eyes rove over me. “That’s okay. I think it’s better if we don’t. Thank you for offering, though.” Her hand is already on the door.

“Of course. Yeah.” I swallow my disappointment.

Her eyes dart to my mouth, and for a moment I wonder if she wants me to kiss her. But this is Wills. The only reason she tolerated this day with me is so Brooklyn’s mom will stop questioning the validity of this relationship.

She gets out of the car and grabs her bag from the back seat. “Thanks again, Dallas. Have a good night.”

“You, too.”

I watch her walk away. So much for that wish I made.

CHAPTER 24

HEMI

“Idid something stupid.”

“That is not a statement I often hear coming from your mouth,” Shilpa says as she passes me another package of organza bags. We’re making favors for her cousin’s upcoming wedding. “What happened?”

“So you know I have a fun-time friend…” I fill another organza bag with Jordan almonds.

“The pharmaceutical rep?” Her eyes go wide. “Please tell me you’re not seeing him on the sly.”

“Of course not. I know better. The backlash would be horrible. It’s bad enough that I’m in a ‘relationship’ with a player. I’d be raked over the coals if I was caught cheating on him.” I let my head fall back against the cushions. “I may have mentioned him to Dallas.”

“Okay…”

“And how I was minus a stress reliever.”

“You have personal pleasure devices.”

I give her a look. “It’s not the same, and you know it.”

Shilpa sits up straight, and a sly smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. “Oh, Hemi. Dallas offered his services, didn’t he?”

I nod and bite my lip.

“And you took him up on it, didn’t you?”

I hang my head in shame. “I did.”

“Did you sleep with him?” she asks.

“No. No sex.” Though my vagina clenches at the mere fucking mention, the traitorous bitch. “But I am now very aware of how talented he is with his hands and tongue. You know I’ve spent all this time loathing him for being a dick to me, and I figured, what harm could it do? He’s nice to look at. And he owes me. So why not let him get me off, right?”

“Makes sense to me.”

“So of course I set parameters and laid the ground rules.”

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