Page 34 of Hidden Ties

What a sad life he was beginning to live. Never in his life had he had to use video games to sleep with a woman, which was quite shocking considering who he was.

Fuck. Am I that desperate that I’ve had to resort to these measures?

When Valerie had to step past him to sit down on the edge of the bed beside him, she gave him her back, thinking that was the better way to squeeze by, but since he was leaning forward a bit with his hands between his knees, his knuckles grazed the soft skin of her legs, and he got a full view of her ass covered by his shirt.

Swallowing hard, he found himself awfully thirsty.

Desperate times call for desperate measures …

“I’m hot,”Sal announced before lazily taking his shirt off. “Are you hot?”

Holy fuck. Hell yeah, you are …she couldn’t help but think after getting a glorious look at his tanned back.

As he pulled the material over his head, the action had flexed his back muscles, revealing that he wasn’t that lean after all. His thick suits had just hidden all the goods.

Licking her suddenly dry lips, she tried to get a hold of herself. “N-Now that you mention it, I could use some water.”

“Be right back,” he said, getting up to head downstairs.

The bed having released some weight rose quite a bit, showing he weighed more than she’d thought, too.

Unable to keep herself from gawking, she watched his back and every muscle he had like a hawk until he disappeared down the steps.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuckity fuck!” Valerie whispered harshly for only her ears.

And she had Cheeto Puff breath.Great.

She tried to desperately reprimand herself for having thoughts of kissing him; she didn’t want herself getting any more ideas.

“He has a girlfriend! I know he has to. Hell, he probably has three! Just look at him—”

Her voice quietly trailed off when the front side of him came back into view from up the steps. His backside had nothing on the front. Those hint of abs dipping into his low-waisted gray sweatpants should be a fucking crime.

God … please forgive me.

By the timeSal made it back upstairs, he thought he had control of himself.

Keyword:thought.

All that silly self-control was gone when he caught sight of her eyes slowly moving lower down his body.

There was no woman on Earth who had resisted him after that move. Was taking off his shirt pathetic?Yes.But it worked a hundred percent of the time, every time.

He held out the fresh glass of water; he had actually downed a glass himself downstairs real quick, and now he could see the thirst on her lips.

Hook. Line. And sinker.

FOURTEEN

RENDERING VALERIE SPEECHLESS

Taking the offered water, she desperately began drinking the contents, swishing it a bit in her mouth while he went through the menu of the game.

Sal was right; it was scorching in here. He’d brought her one measly glass of cold water when she needed a fire hose to put out the flames he was raising in her body.

Scooting into a more comfortable position, she rested her back against the headboard, then pulled her legs together in a lotus position that she had learned when she had briefly taken up yoga to help her quit vaping. It was one of the less extreme measures she had taken, while the more extreme ones had involved acupuncture and hypnosis. She wished she could say they worked, but each one had been a failed attempt to meditate away her cravings. Only when she had switched one craving for another—aka her vape for snacks and candy—had she been successful.

Hoping her yoga classes weren’t all for naught, she breathed in like her instructor had taught her, trying to meditate away the new craving Sal was giving her. It was working about as well as it had in removing her smoking cravings.

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