Page 54 of The Woman on the Jury

But then, suddenly, the spell was broken as he stepped back.

“Go get some rest in the guest room. We’ll talk in the morning.”

Then, before I could think of something to say to that, he was striding past me.

I heard the whoosh of the sliding door. Once. Then twice.

Despite myself, I swiveled my head around to see him out on the balcony, his back to me.

“Oh, God,” I whimpered as I felt the cool air wash through the room from outside, prickling over my bare skin, making me reach down, yanking my boobs back into my shirt as my heart hammered.

What the hell had I just allowed to happen?

Somehow, I’d been able to pretend like I’d had no hand in the whole robe thing in the hotel room.

But this?

There was no way I could act like I hadn’t been a willing participant. And eager one, even.

Heat flushed my face as I slid off of the island.

I couldn’t leave.

Even if I thought there was a safe way to do so, somewhere to go that I wouldn’t be found.

I had no purse. No money. No ID.

I didn’t even have my phone.

My only choice was to walk on wobbly legs toward the guest room I’d left a while before, close the door, and try to pull myself together, to find a way to be able to face Cosimo again without it seeming like the whole fingering thing hadn’t gotten to me.

It had.

God, it had.

I couldn’t think of a time I’d come that hard or fast.

A lot of the time, I kind of got in my head about things, and psyched myself out of a good orgasm. Or any orgasm at all. I usually had to concentrate to make it happen.

But in the kitchen… there’d been no concentration.

I’d simply been completely overwhelmed by him.

And I was just going to have to live with that.

Because it was never going to happen again.

“Get it together,” I mumbled to myself as I walked through to the bathroom, flicking on the light, and wincing at the too-brightness of it, making the headache that had been nagging at me get stronger until it was a steady drum beat behind my eyes.

I dimmed the light before looking around.

The colors were muted shades of gray in here, nothing as dark as the rest of the penthouse.

I made my way toward the shower, turning it on, and working on scrubbing the bottoms of my feet, suddenly acutely aware of having walked my bare feet across the filthy sidewalk. I would never be able to sleep until I knew I’d thoroughly cleaned them.

Finished with that, I went through the drawers in the sink vanity, finding paste and packaged brushes, and working on my teeth before flicking off the light, and going back into the bedroom.

Where I found that Cosimo had come in while I’d been in the bathroom.

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