Page 59 of Mr. Hook-up

Drake

The elevator wouldn’t move any faster. I slammed my finger against the button to my floor repeatedly, as though each hit would force the speed to double.

But it didn’t.

As the lift rose, the pace was more like a crawl, and I wished, just in this moment, that I’d leased an apartment on a lower level—anything that would get me home quicker.

Because ...

That taste.

That feel.

That ... mouth.

My other hand brushed my lips, back and forth, as though I were memorizing the texture of my skin. But instead, with each wipe, memories were exploding in my head.

I’d studied two weeks’ worth of data—expressions, gestures, scents—and the results were so apparent after tonight, especially once he’d pointed toward his building and I’d caught a glimpse of his tattoo.

The one on the inside of his bicep.

The one that confirmed every other sign I’d witnessed.

And felt.

I no longer had to test.

To analyze.

I knew.

And I’d been staring at the answer the whole time.

I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen it, why I’d refused to see it.

Or, maybe, why I didn’t want to believe it.

I just needed one more layer of confirmation and—oh God, I didn’t know what would happen then. What truth I would be facing at that point.

But first, I needed to get to my computer.

Finally, I reached my floor, the elevator door just starting to slide open when I squeezed through the tiny crack, running down the hall and waving my fob in front of the reader beside the door. Once I was inside, I rushed into my office and shook the mouse to awaken my monitors, typing my credentials into Hooked’s system.

The database of all users.

I sucked in the deepest breath as I entered BostonLifer into the search bar. The system took less than a second to provide the user’s information.

Name.

Address.

Billing date.

All the data we collected and stored on members who were both active and inactive but had exceeded their thirty-day trial period and become full members.

Something I’d never done. I’d quit before I had to provide any personal information.

But BostonLifer had provided that data.

---