Page 36 of Our Little Cliche
And always collateral damage.
Maybe I am better on my own. But truth be told, I’m not always so melancholy. I’ve been managing throughout the chaos, and I’ve come quite fond of Banff. The snow is slowly growing on me, and the people are beautiful. I even go on brief walks in the morning by the lake before my car picks me up. It’s no warm, sandy beach like home, but the fresh air does me good.
ASMR sounds of a thocky keyboard tap away at speeds as fast as light, knocking me out of my daydream. He must be on a mission with this book, I don’t think he’s looked away from that computer in the past ten days, not even to look at me… the way that he used to.
Coming to my senses, I peep the door, seeing the ever so gorgeous, talented C.M Stone—wannabe New York Time’s BestSelling Author—lose himself in his dark and twisted world. After reading his, and a few other dark romance books, it’s a genre that I now absolutely enjoy devouring, indefinitely. A smile pulls at my lip on one side, seeing his contentment.
Damn he’s such a nerd.
A hot nerd.
He does look very smart today, sporting a soft blue button up shirt, a tight, tan woolen vest with a tie tucked under it, and those gorgeous thick, black glasses that make my heart skip a beat. And even though I can’t see from this angle, I’ve witnessed his style enough to know his pants would be cream… and tight.
God, I could look at him all day.
Holly, stop staring. It’s only going to make things worse.
Besides, even if I wanted to gawk at him all day like I’m window shopping for beignets, I can’t on account of the fact the fucker made another office for me in the room next door. Even when I’m not near him I can’t stop seeing his face in my head.
Images of him flicker through my mind like a damn movie, day in, day out. Not to mention that I’ve orgasmed more times in the last two weeks to the sheerwhisperof his name on my lips when I cry it out than I’ve had in my entire life.
I trail off…yet again, mindlessly picturing myself perched on his rough three day growth while he devours the sweet spot between my legs like it’s an ice cream. I just know that tongue could do marvelous things to me, having seen it when he rolls it over his lips in such a way. Especially when I’m certain that he’s holding back from saying something, like he’s doing right n?—
“Are you going to come in or are you going to stare anddroolall day?”
I jolt at the sudden intrusion of his voice in such an absent minded moment.
I’m not…I check my mouth in a panic…drooling.“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t want to disturb you,” I stutter, then place his now lukewarm cup of cocoa on his desk with a piece of the crack.
“Thanks.” Cyrus’s tone is flat as per usual, but it seems like a struggle, then he takes a sip of his drink without breaking from the screen.
I roll my eyes. When will this end? It’s been ten days since he actually looked at me for more than three seconds. Ten days since the moment we shared when I split my lip. I just want to be normal again. I just want to walk around in this house like I’m not unwanted.
Feeling defeated, I head to my desk in the other room and spend my day without lunch. Snuggled at my desk with a blanket watching the wind blow snow on the window, I tell Quinn about an event I found on Valentine’s Day a few cities down, then book a few conferences for 2025, and doom scroll over the thousands of horny BookTok girls that go crazy over the quotes I add into Cyrus’s TikTok and Instagram stories.
Don’t even get me started on those comments. I’ll admit that it makes me jealous, especially now because I know he’s not interested in me, and it’s all my fault—I called him mate. On more than a few occasions, and then gave him the cold shoulder.
God my head hurts. He’s my boss. I shouldn’t be second guessing my actions towards him. I shouldn’t think of him the way I do. I shouldn’t be upset that he doesn’t want me the same way. I shouldn’t be jealous of the women thirsting over him.
Well you won’t be in this mess if you quit.
“For fucks sake, you bloody drongo! Why can’t your life just be simple?” I shout in frustration, slamming my fist onto the table and get up in a huff.Why can’t I just have a normal life and live in a normal house with actual fucking furniture?“Who has a normal career that’s not working for some hot piece ofass.”And date normal men who aren’t cheating, lying, assholes OR my boss.
Well fuck the furniture, I’m going home—HOME, HOME!
I storm out, only to collide with something solid.Oof.
“Something wrong,bloody drongo?” Shit, how long has he been standing there? Cyrus’s sultry tone hums across my chest as he leans on the door frame of my office, inthatway.
Move out of my way, you big moose. I’m leaving!
Chapter Eighteen
CYRUS
Holly’s bodyslams into me with such frustration, pushing me all of 0.01 inches. My gaze gets caught right at her cleavage as I tower above, leaning against the frame to block her from escaping the door… in the least creepy way possible.
“Nothing is wrong!” she snaps.Lies.
