Page 25 of Exposed Ink

Ah, yes. Last night was their weekly poker date. All the guys get together in my uncle Jase’s man cave and play poker for hours. They’ve been doing it for years.

Me

It wasn’t a big deal. He came in, I tattooed him, he left.

Natalia

Nope! Not having this conversation in text. It’s too easy for you to lie. We’ll have it tomorrow so I can see if you’re telling the truth.

Damn her and damn my face that shows every freaking emotion!

I throw my phone onto the nightstand in annoyance, and when it lands, it knocks the book that’s been mocking me since Julia loaned it to me and I found out it’s about a firefighter.

I glare at it for several seconds and then lean over and swipe it off the table. It’s Friday night, my parents are on a date, and I’ve pushed everyone far enough away that they’ve stopped inviting me out.

I open the book and, despite my hesitancy, get lost in the story. I don’t even realize I’ve been reading for hours, until I glance out my window and see it’s dark outside.

I’m about halfway through the book when the story begins to heat up. The heroine is a virgin who has practically zero experience, and the hero has no problem being her teacher …

“Have you ever given yourself an orgasm?”

Her cheeks tinge pink, giving me my answer.

“Oh, baby. Be prepared to have your mind blown.”

As I read the scene,I can’t help but imagine the characters are Shane and me, and while I’m not a virgin, because it’s been years since I’ve been with a man, he’s patiently walking me through it, taking his time and reminding me how good it feels to be intimate with someone.

I dropdown between her legs and lick up her center, inhaling her sweet musk. While I slowly lick her clit, I reach up and tweak her nipple.

With one handholding the book, my other hand skates underneath my pajama shorts and underwear and lands between my legs. I slide my fingers between my lips and find my clit. I’m turned on from the buildup of the scene, so it’s easy to swipe through my wetness and use it as friction as I massage my swollen nub, quickly bringing myself to a climax.

“Chase,”she breathes. “I’m … I think I’m going to?—”

With a little bit of pressure,my orgasm hits me, and before I can think about what I’m doing, Shane’s name spills from my lips as I come long and hard to the visual of him eating me out.

For several seconds, the release of dopamine and oxytocin helps me forget the world around me. In this moment, it’s only me and Shane and …

Holy shit!I pull my hand out, drop my book, and sit up. I just came to the thought of another man … a man who isn’t my husband.

With that realization, guilt rises, threatening to choke me. I climb out of bed, bringing my hands to my throat as I fight to breathe.

I can’t believe I just did that. I’m married, and I got off to the thought of another man’s touch, of his tongue. I cried out his name when I came.

“I’m a cheater,” I choke out as tears prick my lids and spill over. “I’m a fucking cheater.”

“No, Kinsley, you’re a widow,”I imagine Julia saying to me.“Your husband is no longer alive. You can’t cheat on the dead.”

I know she’s right, but it still feels wrong … dirty.

I strip off my clothes and get into the shower without waiting for the water to warm, allowing the freezing cold drops to pelt my skin like a punishment.

Once it heats up, I wash my body, trying to rid myself of any thoughts of Shane, but it’s no use because the more I try to forget about him, the more I think about him.

“There’s only one way to get him out of my mind,” I say out loud. “And that’s to never see him again.”

Once I towel off my body and get dressed, I grab my phone and pull up the online schedule. I find Shane’s name and hover above it for several seconds before I click on it and then cancel his appointment.

Unprofessional? Definitely.

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