Page 87 of No Longer Safe

I stopped my thoughts in their tracks before my dick could get excited. “What’s that?”

“I got a job.”

My first thought was—why does she need that?My second thought was—I’m not going to be able to spend as much time with her as I’d like.Third thought—I can buy the company out and then have her fired discretely so she has to spend all of her time with me.

“Oh?” I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t want to say anything else. I was devastated. “Are you excited?”

“It’s with that publishing house, James & Evers.” She sounded like she was holding back on her excitement.

Wait.

Fuck, I definitely couldn’t buy them out.

A smile stretched across my face, even though it was painful. “That’s incredible! Did you apply?” I really didn’t know how job hunting went. I was very out of touch with the simple life it seemed.

She turned back to the bookcase and ran her finger down the spine of a book. It set my mind on fire. I was trying so hard to stay stoic when all I wanted to do was pin her on the bed that separated us.

“You didn’t…” She trailed off and shook her head. “You didn’t do something about it, did you?”

Once again, all of my thoughts skidded to a halt. “What do you mean?”

She turned back toward me and ran her hands down her face. Her mascara had begun to smear under her eyes and once again, I was struggling to remain in the moment. “You don’t know the CEO of James & Evers?”

If she hadn’t been so serious, it would have almost been comical. A small sound that almost resembled a laugh escaped me. “I don’t read for fun or for anything other than to learnor when it suits me. There would be no reason for me to know who owns James & Evers.” Even though I did know who he was, I didn’t know him personally, I hadn’t ever cared to introduce myself. He was present at most fundraisers around the city that I was dragged to by my parents. “My father knows him but they don’t exactly intermingle. My father wants the kind of change people are fighting around here. James wants good change, my father is the villain around these parts.”

Her face fell for a moment. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed.”

I closed the distance between us quickly and took her face between my hands. “You have every right to expect the worst from me, but know this, I won’t get you a job,Malaya. I will prevent you from working if anything, so you can spend all of your time with me.”

“Why on earth would you want to spend so much time with me?” Her eyes jumped between mine searching for her answers in my gaze.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

She shook her head and I decided that she would have to let my body tell her everything that my mouth couldn’t.

Chapter Fifty-Five

Audrey

No matterhow many times I tried to take care of Alexei or get him to take care of the both of us, he wouldn’t. He claimed that I was too drunk for us to have sex but I wasn’t too drunk for him to go down on me again and again. The sheets were twisted around my legs as I woke up the next morning rested, but not satisfied.

Alexei was up already and taking a phone call in the living room. I couldn’t believe I was in his bed. I rolled over and inhaled the scent of him on the pillows.

Everything he said the night before played on a loop in my brain and I was so happy I hadn’t been too drunk to remember it all. He was everything I needed and the complete opposite of everything I’d known. Was it too good to be true? Was he being genuine? I was almost certain.

I pulled his t-shirt down over my thighs and tiptoed to his bathroom. I didn’t have a toothbrush but at least I could freshen up to the best of my ability before he made it back and tried to kiss me with stinky breath. His bathroom wasn’t as big as Ace’s but it was just as impressive. The white tiles on the floor gleamed in the light and the shower looked similar to Ace’s.

The wondering of shower sex immediately entered my head. I found Alexei’s toothpaste in the top drawer on the right side ofthe bathroom and squirted some on my finger before I scrubbed my teeth the best I could. I wasn’t going to snoop through his drawers even though I wanted to see if the rest of this place was as neat and clean as it seemed.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe he’d allowed me in his bed a sweaty mess and hadn’t let me shower before having his way with me. The thought made me clench my thighs as I fumbled with the buttons on the wall.

Immediately, the shower kicked on and steam rose as it hit the tile. A girl could get used to this. I didn’t want this to be my last time in his home but was him not being a reader a huge deal? Did I need to be with someone that liked books as much as I did? You wouldn’t be able to tell I was a huge reader because I hadn’t brought many belongings with me from my old home, but my e-reader said otherwise at the bottom of my purse. I had a lot more time to read now, such as on the plane to exotic places, or while we lounged beside the pool. I’d let my love for reading go when I’d gotten serious with Brian.

My love for reading wasn’t the only thing I’d let go of when I’d been with him. Everything I loved took a backseat to the man I thought I needed to be with. But worst of all, I’d let go of my love for myself.

Gritting my teeth with the turn of my thoughts, I yanked the T-shirt over my head and stepped under the glorious rain shower heads. My troubles and rotten thoughts seemed to melt away with the pressure and temperature of the water. It was all so perfect. How long could it stay like this?

“Knock, knock,” Alexei’s voice echoed around the space and I smiled to myself, I guessed it could get a lot better. “Care for an extra hand to help you wash up?”

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