Page 48 of Heated
Her lips flatten, her throat working as if she’s physically swallowing her answer. But finally she says, “Because men like you go for women like Val. As you’ve proven.”
“Men like me.” I pause. And here I thought I wasn’t hard to offend. I’m fucking offended. “Explain.”
“God, Cyrus, are you being deliberately obtuse?” she huffs. “Beautiful men who drop three thousand dollars on a suit, drive luxurycars, and think nothing of paying thousands of dollars for a plate of dry chicken at charity events.Thatkind of man.”
Beautiful men.
My dick jerks, focusing on those two words, but my mind zeroes in on the rest of her explanation.
“Better question, then. What makes you think a man like me wouldn’t want a woman like you?”
“Even better question,” she lobs back. “When was the last time you were with a woman like me?”
Shit.
Shit.
At my silence, Zora nods, her mouth twisting into a caricature of a smile. One that cuts me to the quick.
“Right,” she drawls.
After gathering her purse from the back of her chair, she removes several bills from it and places them next to her plate. She rises from her chair, slipping her purse strap over her shoulder.
“Thank you for lunch.”
With a tight smile that doesn’t reach her eyes, she pivots on her heel and exits the restaurant.
Dammit.
That didnotgo as planned.
CHAPTER TEN
ZORA
“You lied to me, wench.”
I look up from my computer monitor as Miriam closes my office door behind her with a snap and stalks across the room. Her brown eyes narrow on me, and even her dyed-blonde curls seem to bounce in outrage. She draws to a halt in front of my desk and crosses her arms, glaring at me. When she doesn’t speak, I sigh and fall back in my chair.
“Care to specify?”
I mean, these days, I have quite the tab going.
“You told me you were cutting off all communication with Cyrus Hart. But according to Jordan, you two are quite the BFFs.” She bends forward from the hips. “But how can that be when you promised me you wouldn’t see him again? Dad would be so disappointed in you breaking the eighth commandment.”
“And Dad would be equally disappointed in you having premarital sex with Jordan Ransom.”
She gasps, splaying her fingers over her chest like a Victorian virgin. “What? How’d you know?”
I gasp right back at her. “I didn’t. But I do now, you hussy!” I jackknife from my desk chair, slapping my palms to the desktop. “You hadsex with Jordan Ransom?” I hissed. “What were you thinking? I thought you’d friend zoned him?”
“I don’tknow! And Idid!” she wails, sinking down into the chair in front of my desk, her hands covering her face. “I swear I’m still confused about what happened. One moment we were on his private range hitting baseballs, and in the next I was playing withhisbat and balls.” She groans while I throw up in my mouth a little. “I’d always rolled my eyes at women who’d slipped and fell on men’s dicks, but now I get it. But it wouldn’t be so bad if it only happened that once. But I did it again. And again. Three times in a night. I’m fucking accident prone, Zora.” She drops her hands and looks at me with such a miserable expression that I’m caught between going and hugging her and laughing in her face. “Are you judging me right now? You’re so judging me, aren’t you?”
“No, of course not.” I round my desk and take the chair next to her. Cupping her knee, I shake it. “Hey, you know I was just kidding when I called you a hussy, right? What you and your vagina do is your business. You’re a fully grown woman, and you don’t have to ask anyone’s permission about who you do or owe anyone an explanation. I was just shocked because I thought you were adamant about not partaking of community peen; that’s all.”
“I was.” She groans again, shaking her head and staring down at her palms. As if she’s still shell shocked. “But apparently there’s a reason why it’s community peen. He knows how to service itrealwell.” She sighs, and her eyes glaze over.
I snap my fingers in front of her face, and she starts, blinking several times. I don’t know where the hell she just went. And I’m afraid to ask.
