Page 103 of Never Quiet

She sat on the end of her bed in a t-shirt. He tucked his tie in his jacket pocket and went to his knees between her legs.

“We have the annual gala at our estate in a week. Will you come with me?”

“Yes.” She smoothed her fingers over his face. “Listen to me, Hayden. I don’t want you to feel conflicted. If you do, we’ll work it out. I wouldn’t trade my relationship with you before, during, or after this for anything. You are amazing. Remember everything we talked about. I’ll be okay.”

He pulled up her t-shirt and rested his ear over her heart. “It beats so softly for how powerful it is. I don’t want to break it.” Kissing the slope of her breast, he sat up. “I’m using you.”

“You’re not. Let’s get things resolved for you, Hayden. Let’s answer some questions, probe a little deeper, and find you happiness before you lose another year.” She smiled. “I have plenty of time.”

He kissed her aggressively, pushed her to the bed, and his hands were everywhere. After three days of intense focus, he had the power to make her come in under a minute. His mouth ravaged hers while she moaned through another climax.

Then he gentled the kiss and his touch, removed his fingers from her body, sucked them, winked, and left her apartment.

She stared at the ceiling for a long time, breathing heavily.

Roark asked from the door, “Are you alive?”

“Um…”

He snorted. “You deserved that marathon after your training in Florida. Good for you. Shower and let us feed you something that isn’t loaded with sugar.”

“I, uh, don’t think I can stand up.”

There was a snicker as he crossed the room to her bed, lifted Amanda to her feet, and shoved her tangled mass of hair over her shoulders.

“Hayden looked damn good when he left, Amanda. I’ve known him fifteen years and I’ve never seen him so calm.” Hand on her shoulder, he added with a serious expression, “Also, maybe a little bowlegged. Be gentle on the aged.”

“Oh, goodness, please don’t tease. I’m so embarrassed.” She could feel the nuclear blush on her skin. “We should, uh, get the cleaning people to maybe go through the place.” She whispered, “No surface was spared. Thank god you guys didn’t come out.”

“Oh, we did. Several times.” She covered her face in utter mortification. “At one point, we were in the kitchen and kind of fascinated. Heterosexual couples are so sweet to each other. Really gentle. It’s nice.”

“Roark…oh my lord.”

“Come on. Ash started your shower.”

The smaller man appeared in the door of her bathroom. “You okay? I think you drugged. Ladies not that much usually. Animals in wild. Um…” Roark said something in Hindi. “Heat! Yes.”

Hysterical laughter bubbled up and Amanda said, “I’ll never be able to look either of you in the eye again.” She started walking to the bathroom.

Roark called, “Okay but bear in mind that we’ve seen your naked ass as well…excellent flexibility, by the way.”

Whipping her gaze back, the couple didn’t even try to hold back their raucous laughter as they left her room.

Stepping under the spray, Amanda let the water beat down on her without moving for several minutes. She liked to think in the shower, to review things with the benefit of hindsight.

She needed to contact her family so they didn’t worry. During her training, she’d barely had the energy to press buttons on her phone by the end of the day.

With no downtime for three months, their conversations were short, stilted, as she hid her inner turmoil and exhaustion. The move to New York had put them back in the normal rhythm and she could tell they were relieved.

Being offline for three days while she fucked Hayden all over her apartment probably had them worried.

She hadn’t seen Davis since Colorado but he sent her text messages when he could to let her know he was thinking about her. She missed him and wished they could talk face to face about the current man in her life.

Thinking about her time with Hayden made her entire body heat. No matter what happened in the future, he’d certainly schooled her on the logistics of pleasure.

The night she spent with Erick was wonderful, but there would always be part of her that knew she had to ask him to be with her. He’d been good to her, gentle, and said things that regularly drifted across her mind.

Still, she’d never know if he would have been with her without the bounty or her request.

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