Page 34 of Illicit Illustration

“Gross. It wasn’t on this couch, was it?” she asked, moving to stand.

“No,” I chuckled, pressing a hand against her thigh to keep her seated beside me.

“At least you had the decency to take her home with you, I guess,” she muttered, returning her attention to the tablet in her lap. The once delicately placed marks had become angry, dark streaks, and I placed my hand on the back of hers to keep her from ruining the piece.

“First of all, I never take them to my place. Second, I said we didn’t fuck on this couch, not that we left the building.”

“Ew, ew, ew. Not on the couch in your office? I’ve sat on that.”

“Not exactly,” I laughed, knowing that I should shut this down before too much damage was done, but something about seeing Hazel jealous was a little addictive.

“But it was in your office?”

I nodded in confirmation.

“On your desk?” she asked, glancing down the hallway.

“Not with her,” I replied. But there had only been a few I’d taken in there. Considering my track record, there could have been a lot more. Most ended up pressed against the wall in the hallway after everyone had gone home for the night. Although, I should probably think about replacing the couch in my office.

“You’re a pig.”

I used to be, was what I wanted to tell her, but of course I goaded her instead. “It was all consensual. It’s not like I came onto any of these women.”

“Just into them.”

“Not that either,” I laughed. Accidentally putting my random partners or myself into a precarious situation had me pulling out half the time and coming into the condom outside of them. While I was kind of indifferent about having kids, there was no way I wanted to raise one outside of a committed relationship. Not that I’d ever had one of those.

“I don’t even want to know.”

“Yet you’re the one asking for details about my sex life.” And I was dumb enough to tell her about them. But it was bound to come up, eventually. She knew I was far from innocent.

“I asked about a tattoo. Not for a blow by blow of your sexcapades,” she laughed, shaking her head as she smiled at me.

“Now thathashappened on my couch. And my desk, and on this…”

“Stop!” Her hands covered her eyes, and she shook her head as her giggles filled the air between us. While I knew she didn’t like my history, I also wouldn’t hide it from her. I was who I was, and I couldn’t change my past.

“She had her hands braced on the back of my office door. I didn’t want to disturb the fresh ink on her shoulder.”

“What is with you and standing up during sex?” She uncovered her eyes, staring straight at me with expectation. She probably didn’t want to know the real reason that it was easier to keep things casual if I didn’t spend time with these women in a bed. Most of the time, we weren’t even undressed all the way.

I’d certainly never felt the need to worship a woman like I’d done to Hazel a few days ago. And my fingers itched at the knowledge of what she felt like underneath all those bulky sweatshirts she wore around the bar.

“Don’t knock it until you try it, Haz.”

As she stared at me, clearly thinking about it, I shifted my hips, fighting the urge to pick her up and pin her to the nearest wall to show her exactly how enjoyable it could be. But she deserved so much more. And it wasn’t the right time either. I was supposed to be trying to win her heart—not give her orgasms, but I’d already failed at that part.

She held mine in the palm of her hands. She truly didn’t know how hard I was falling for her the more time we spent together. Both as Seven and during whatever it was we were doing in real life.

And Hudson could never, ever find out how hard I’d fallen for her before I figured out how to win her for good. Because I knewmy best friend. He would hold this against both of us if things fell apart, no matter how platonic the arrangement was for her.

Hazel

Staring at the directmessage that had just shown up in my Instagram account, I blinked, trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to pull this off. I couldn’t ask Reid to do this.

I wasn’t even sure Icouldset up shots to capture exactly what this author was asking for. Logistically, I could, but yeah…this scene might be a little much for my determination to resist my brother’s epically sexy best friend. Although since it didn’t require us being in the same room, I might be able to just ask him to send me his part—minus the whole actually showing certain parts of his anatomy—and take care of fumbling through trying to get mine.

Reid: Did your instructor appreciate your truly impressive shading skills?

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