Page 53 of Beautiful Beast

AsanativeNewYorker, I’m used to dense populations. But Hong Kong is more crowded because urban development is centralized in a few key areas. I’d love to come back and explore as a tourist rather than being stuck working the entire trip.

Melancholy sets over me while I’m standing on the hotel balcony watching the city. The view is familiar and foreign at the same time, and I can’t help but wish we were at home.

Uncle Dennis is asleep – he’s doing a lot of resting lately – but surely, he would be more comfortable at home surrounded by familiar places, people, and things.

Maybe he wanted to see me in action in the boardroom, or maybe he was in denial about how hard it would be on him to have a constant audience.

Whatever the reason, this trip will likely be the last one he’ll ever take, and I can’t imagine knowing that fact and still being able to carry on with a smile each day. I’m doing my best to pick up as much slack as possible because the last thing my uncle needs is more stress.

He’s a way better man than me.

When my phone rings, Belle’s stunning face is waiting on the screen.

“You look so sad. What happened?” she asks.

“I’m just thinking about life. How short it is. How unfair it can be.”

“Tough topics right before bed.”

“I need to pay someone to invent a device that can temporarily turn my brain off.”

“Your brain is always working,” Belle agrees. “It’s the second biggest part of your anatomy.”

I didn’t think I had it in me, but I laugh. “What part do you miss the most?”

“Hard call. But let’s just say that I’m not reading books about how to rock your brain.”

Drinking isn’t something I usually indulge in because my father was a raging alcoholic and it fueled his anger, making my and my mother’s lives unbearable.

Addiction has a genetic component, and being a drunk is not a cycle that I want to repeat.

But with Uncle Dennis’ impending death consuming my thoughts and weighing down my heart, I’ve been sipping from a tumbler of whiskey to dull the rough edges of my mind.

I’ll stop with one though – that’s the difference between me and my father and why I fight so hard to keep total control.

“Show me the books,” I say.

She turns from the camera and her shirt rides up when she reaches for them, revealing her perfect, porcelain skin. There’s a sexy grin on her face when she holds up three books, the covers featuring bananas, a shirtless dude with a woman on her knees, and heart-shaped lollipops.

“You’re seriously too much,” I say through another chuckle. “Are you trying to kill me next time?”

“Definitely not. But if you are going to die, or even pass out, at least do it after you fuck me, okay? I’ve been waiting a long time.”

“I appreciate the concern for my well-being, princess.”

She pulls her shirt off and the glimpse of her lush tits in a lacy black bra has me hissing through my teeth.

“Let’s have phone sex. Video sex. Whatever the hell you call it sex,” she suggests.

When the action is coming from Belle, it doesn’t take much to make me hard. Despite protests from my cock, I have to refuse her.

“Real sex,” I growl. “When I get home. I am not fucking you for the first time on the damn phone. That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s all we have at the moment. And you’re so stressed. Are you telling me that you don’t want to come right now?”

That’s the one thing about the male body. No matter what toxic shit is going on in my life, I can always get a boner. My dick isn’t aware that life kind of sucks right now, and he is always down to party.

“I always want to come when I’m near you, talking to you, thinking about you…”

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