Page 38 of Flat Out
Marco was giggling like a schoolgirl. “She’s savage tonight. I love it.”
“She’s mean when she’s hungry,” I said casually, dragging my knuckles up her thigh. “You should see her when she’sstarved.”
Her chopsticks slipped out of her hands and clattered onto her plate. I picked up a piece of sashimi and offered it to her. She didn’t hesitate this time, just opened her mouth and let me feed her, eyes locked on mine. "So good for me," I said under my breath. She shivered, and I was hard. Painfully, desperately hard. Had been from the moment I kissed her under the spotlights of that interview earlier. Every little twitch she gave, every soft gasp she tried to swallow down—it was all I could do not to drag her out of here and fuck her in the backseat like a teenager. She was unraveling, and I was right behind her.
“You’re shaking,” Kimi noted, brows furrowed. “Too much wasabi?”
“It’s your personality, actually,” she quipped. I pinched her clit through the lace of her panties. She cursed under her breath and gripped the table so hard I thought it might shatter.
Marco snorted. “Unhinged women are so hot.”
Aurélie smiled wickedly and pointed her chopsticks at them. “If either of you try to picture what’s under this, I’ll stab you with my chopsticks and claim diplomatic immunity. That's if Callum doesn't beat you to it. Apparently he's a tad possessive.”
Kimi blinked. “Noted. But Marco's right?—”
I turned to him slowly, smiling with nothing behind it. “Try that again, mate.”
He looked away. Smart.
I leaned in once more, grazing her jaw with my teeth. “Careful,” I whispered. “Your fucking attitude is going to be dripping down your thighs. You keep mouthing off, I’ll take you to the bathroom and show you exactly what a bad girl earns.”
She turned her face toward mine, pink and wrecked and furious. “Callum,” she whispered. “I swear to God.” She lifted her hair to tie it back, fingers tugging it into a ponytail. It exposed her neck just enough for the bruise under her ear to show. Purple and all fucking mine.
Kimi and Marco immediately zeroed in on it.
“Jesus,” Marco muttered. “You trying to brand her?”
Kimi hollered with laughter.
Aurélie didn’t miss a beat. “Wear your bruises with pride, boys. Some of usearnthem.” I opened my mouth to say something witty, but she smacked my hand away from her thighs. Oh, I was going to make her suffer for that later. "And don't even fucking think about making some snarky remark to that, or Iwillkill you."
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I said.
“How you holding up, Fraser?” Marco asked casually, shifting the topic as he popped a piece of dragon roll into his mouth. “You look like you’ve been hit by a truck.”
I leaned back, casually sipping my sake. “Three painkillers deep and blissfully numb. Never better.”
Her head whipped to me. Just like that: clarity. The haze vanished. Her pupils shrank, her spine straightened. She didn’t say anything; she didn’t have to. It was all there on her face. God, shecared. I loved her so much.
Then she swiped my sake out of my hand. "Hey—what the hell?"
"What painkillers are you on?" she hissed, voice low and sharp, fury bleeding into the words.
I blinked. “Uh. Tramadol, a wee bit of codeine, and… I can't remember the third. It's for the muscle spasms.”
“You arenotdrinking on that cocktail,” she snapped, clutching the cup like she was about to chuck it across the room. “Are youinsane?”
Marco and Kimi both stopped mid-bite.
“Auri—”
“No,” she bit out, eyes locked on mine now, glassy andpissed. “I already almost lost you once. We arenotdoing that again. I don’t care how numb you want to be. If you pull that shit again, I swear to God, Callum—” Her voice cracked. And fuck, I couldn’t breathe.
The room kept moving—waiters passing, chopsticks clicking—but it all faded around the sound of her voice, the way her fingers trembled as she set the sake cup down, untouched and out of reach.
“I’m fine,” I said, softer now. “I promise.”
She didn’t look convinced. She just shook her head, glancing to the ceiling and muttering something in French under her breath I couldn’t fully catch, but it sounded like a prayer wrapped in a threat.
