Page 3 of His

And there was something more than that. The boys I’d dated... they’d always been vanilla. Maybe it was all of the books I’d read, but I wanted more. I wanted the whips and ties, the spanking, the whole shebang. But I had always been too shy to bring it up except once, and the guy had looked at me like I was crazy.

Maybe I was crazy. Maybe nobody actually did that in real life. I couldn’t help but dream of a man who could dominate me the way I really wanted, even if he didn’t exist. I shook the dream out my head. I definitely wasn’t telling Jules any of that.

“Plus, they would never go for me. I’m not even a student here anymore now.”

Jules pushed the elevator button and held out a fist in front of me.

“Look. Do you see this? What is this?” She waved her fist inches from my nose.

“Um. Are you going to punch me?”

“No.”

“Are you trying to teach me sign language?”

“No.”

“Is this you coming out to me as a member of the Black Panthers?”

Jules opened her fist to show an empty hand.

“This.”

“There’s nothing there.”

“Exactly. This,” she said, waving her empty hand around, “isall the fucks I giveabout you not being a student. I don’t care.Nobodycares. All the guys looking to get laid do not give a single solitary fuck about you not being a student.”

“Fine. Fine.” Jules may not have had the most eloquent way of getting a point across, but it got there. “You tell me what to do to get a boyfriend, I’ll do it.”

Jules held the elevator door open for me. I pushed the library cart in. She followed and smashed the elevator button for the third floor with her fist. I winced.

“Okay, look. The next cute guy you meet, you have to kiss.”

“What?!”My pale skin immediately blushed red hot. “No way.”

“Way.” Jules raised an eyebrow at me. “You said you would.”

“I...” I looked over at my co-worker. She raised a fist, and I knew my pleas would fall on deaf ears. She truly gave no fucks, and she also might punch me.

“Fine,” I said, plotting to leave work early so I wouldn’t have to get dragged to a bar. If I never saw a cute guy, I wouldn’t have to kiss him. Right? Right. My plan would work perfectly.

“Fine?”

“Fine. You know what, fine. I will.”

“Good.”

“If it’ll get you to shut up about my dating life.”

“Or lack thereof.”

“Or lack thereof,” I repeated.

“Excellent,” Jules said. “You might escape a life of boring tedium yet.”

“And I’ll have nobody but you to thank for it.”

The elevator jerked to a halt at the second floor and the doors opened. The man standing in front of the elevator doors took a step forward. He was dressed in a crisp white button down shirt and black pants, with dark brown hair and a sharp jawline that hinted at a five o’clock shadow without admitting of stubble.

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