Page 42 of The Woman with the Target on her Back (Grassi Family)

Completely satisfied.

That was how my body felt.

But my mind?

My mind was restless.

Looking for an excuse not to go back out there and face him, I went toward the soaking tub, turning it on, and dropping in one of the complimentary bath bombs.

I watched the red bubbles and dried flowers float across the water, looking a bit like blood, and finding myself unsettled by that as I lowered myself into hip-height water.

It was fine.

Fine.

August was not the kind of jerk who would hightail it out of town just because we’d had sex.

I mean, even if he was that big of a douche, Aurelio would never let him go.

So it was going to be okay.

We were adults.

Neither of us were starry-eyed virgins.

We could chalk it up to a heated moment and move on.

There wouldn’t be any more fuck-ups like that.

We had to focus on the situation, not our hormones.

By the time the water cooled, and I climbed out of the tub, I had myself almost convinced that it had nothing at all to do with August.

I had just been overdue for sex. For an orgasm.

I’d been busy lately. I wasn’t even sure I’d taken things ‘into my own hands’ in weeks. Months? God, maybe. I was usually at work late, and by the time I got home, I barely had energy to shower before I fell into bed.

There’d been no time for dating.

And, honestly, I’d never been any good at relationships anyway.

It usually went one of two ways: I was too prickly and difficult, or the guy was too much of a pushover and I lost interest.

Either way, things always fizzled out within a couple of weeks. I really didn’t even try anymore.

I had work.

If I needed a hook-up, I had exes to text.

And I went ahead and let myself believe that was enough. Because, quite frankly, there just didn’t seem to be another option, and I figured it was useless to want something that didn’t appear possible for me.

I got myself changed, then climbed into bed, telling myself I was glad when August didn’t knock or barge in.

But, as I drifted off to sleep, I have to admit that some little part of me was disappointed.

Luckily, the stress and frustration of the past few days had caught up with me, and I was out before I could really get in my feelings about it.

I woke to sunlight streaming in through the windows, muted slightly by the mirrored tint on them, but way too bright to be my usual wake up time.

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