Page 118 of Lotus

Oy.

Gabe slaps his father on the back with a hearty guffaw. “Yeah, so, pie. Made fresh, straight from the Walmart bakery.”

Travis slips his hands in his front pockets as Gabe leads him into the kitchen, sighing in a way that a condescending rich person might. I don’t know any other rich people, so I can only assume.

I remember Travis being so much cooler when I was a kid.

Facing Oliver, I pull out the pouty lip. “Your stepdad hates me.”

“Surely not. That’s impossible.” A frown appears, and his hands clutch my hipbones with a possessive urgency. “You’re exquisite in every way.”

Exquisite.

In all of my almost thirty-years of life, that adjective has never once been used to describe me.

Messy. Complicated. Sarcastic. Blasphemous.

Those words I’m familiar with, butexquisite? I melt into him, my lips grazing the center of his chest as Oliver’s fingers dig into my waist. His proximity, his masculine scent, his heat, his adoration radiating into me… it’s intoxicating.

I love him.

And I really want him to be naked.

Hands trailing up his dress shirt and landing on his shoulders, I lean in and whisper, “I want your mouth on me.”

Oliver audibly gulps, his eyes darkening. “Where, specifically?” he asks with a hitch.

“Two words…” I hold back my giggles and try to sound like the world’s most come-hither sexpot. Eyebrow arched, boobs jutted out, I breathe against his neck, “Moist. Muffin.”

A processing pause, and then Oliver breaks out into laughter, his forehead falling to mine as his shoulders shake. “Vixen.”

“A very moist vixen. Let’s go.” Snatching his hand, I drag him towards the staircase, shouting my goodbyes to Gabe and Travis. “Merry Christmas! We’re taking off.”

Travis lifts a halfhearted wave from his perch against the kitchen counter. “Good to see you, Sydney.”

“Shit, hold up.” Gabe trots over to us, smacking a piece of gum between his teeth. He gives Oliver’s shoulder a squeeze before tugging me to him by the Rudolph nose on my ugly Christmas sweater. “Thanks for the badass gift, Syd. You know you’re welcome over for a drink anytime.”

“Oh, you know I’ll—”

Something in me goes still and my feet stick to the carpet as I lean into Gabe for a goodbye hug. There’s a snap inside of me, like a tree branch breaking beneath my boot.

And then I’m frozen, chilled to the bone.

I’m in my bedroom, pressed into my mattress by a hard body, a knee jammed between my thighs to hold me in place. I’m fighting, I’m flailing, I’m writhing, I’mhelpless.

He’s looming over me, dark and determined.

“You just had to do this the hard way.”

No, no, no.

The stranger is snarling, spitting, overpowering me with terrifying ease.

He’s breathing on me.

He’s breathing on me, and his breath smells strange, like…eucalyptus.

Gabe’s chewing gum.

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