Page 38 of Tuned To Break
“Oh, please.” She scoffs. “I tell you about mine. Remember that guy who blindfolded me and fucked me stupid at The Castle? I couldn’t sit right for a week.”
I choke on my wine.
“She brought it up at brunch. Brunch,” Emily says, emerging with a bowl of popcorn.
Megan shrugs. “Was it as good as you dreamed it would be?”
My heart kicks into a gallop, and a slash of need zips through me as I recall the weight of Jake’s fingers around my throat while he made me come so hard I forgot my own postcode.
“Better,” I admit, voice low.
Megan squeals like I’ve just announced I’m engaged. “I bloody knew it! So, what’s the plan now?”
“There is no plan. We’re keeping things professional at work. Taking it slow.”
Emily snorts from behind the popcorn. “How’s that working out for you?”
“It’s been one day.”
“And?”
I think about this afternoon—Jake handing me a takeaway cup with a foam heart in the flat white. No words. Just a wink and a walk-off that made my knees weak. Or the way he brushed past me in the hallway, hand grazing the small of my back like it was an accident. It wasn’t.
“And it’s harder than I thought it’d be.”
“Because you want to jump him again,” Megan says, not even bothering to hide her smirk.
“Because we work together. I need to build a reputation, not sleep my way into a title.”
“Stella,” Emily says, settling beside me, “you’ve overhauled that entire workshop in two weeks. You’re the reason it’s not a flaming dumpster fire. No one thinks you’re sleeping your way anywhere.”
“She’s right,” Megan agrees. “Didn’t you say Arden practically gave you his blessing?”
“I said he hinted,” I remind her. “But that doesn’t mean the rest of the team will be cool with it.”
“I bet they’re already onto you,” Emily says. “Do you really think that lot haven’t noticed the sexual tension thick enough to fog up safety goggles?”
My phone buzzes on the coffee table. All three of us stare at it like it might explode.
“Is that him?” Megan asks, already grinning.
I pick it up and see Jake’s name. My pulse immediately quickens.
Jake
How’s girls’ night going? Telling them all my secrets?
I can’t help but smile as I type back.
Stella
What secrets? That you’re secretly a romantic who makes heart-shaped foam art?
Jake
That’s not the only thing I’m good at making with my hands.
My cheeks flush. I try to keep my expression neutral, but Megan’s watching me like a hawk.
