Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I just need my libido to get the memo.
Subconsciously, I shaved my legs, underarms, and vagina in the shower. I even buffed my thighs until they resembled the smoothness of a baby’s bottom.
They were probably the first clue to Saka that I was being deceitful. He knows I only go to town with a razor when I’m going on a date.
That doesn’t mean I’ll let his accusation slide, though.
“Just because you're pissed at Taylor doesn’t mean you can take it out on me.”
“Hey,” Taylor gripes from her station at the side of the kitchen.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, genuinely apologetic for throwing her under the bus for the third time today. “I get bitchy when I’m horny.”
“Then stop whining and do something about it.” Saka’s eyes shoot to the floor as Taylor pulls open a drawer most households would have filled with kitchen utensils, to dig through a sex-store-sized collection of vibrators. “Small and mighty or large and fast?”
“I don’t need a vibrator.” I’m full of lies today. First, I told Polina I had no interest in being wined and dined by Matvei, and then I made out to Saka my period hadn’t tapered enough only to need a panty liner. “I need…”—when I spot two gawking expressions, I change my reply—“space. I need space.” After throwing my hands into the air, I stomp toward my bedroom. “I’m going to bed. Whether you believe me or not, I don’t care.”
“Nat—” I whip around so fast I can’t testify if Saka says my full name or just the first three letters. The waft of my spin is deafening.
“Let it go, Saka,” Taylor intervenes before we say something we’ll later regret. “Everyone is a little tense right now, and we’re throwing out words like grenades.” She focuses more on Saka than me when she adds, “We could all do with a breather.”
I wonder what I missed when Saka’s response to the torment in Taylor’s voice is more concerned than arrogant. With Polina letting slip that I caught a customer's eye, I haven’t had the chance to ask Taylor how her date for three went. I’ve been too busy staring at the clock, counting the minutes remaining until I stand up a man as devastatingly attractive as Matvei while occasionally nodding during Saka’s hour-long lecture.
Your past always influences your future, but it feels wrong this time around. For one, I wasn’t attracted to the last man who thought I could be purchased. There were no butterflies or zaps of electricity. He was older than my father, and in the short time I was in the same room as him, I wondered if he was more interested in my mother than me.
It is different with Matvei. He’s older and has a reputation like the one my mother so desperately wanted to sink her nails into when she arranged my marriage without my permission, but the sparks and crazy chemistry excite me as much as they scare me.
I doubt I'd have an issue if an excessive amount of funds wasn’t on the table.
Since it is, I’m the most torn I’ve ever been.
“I think we could all do with an early night.”
After squeezing Taylor’s arm and mouthing to Saka to play nice, I collect Sookie from my feet, then head to my room. His happy purrs are the only vibrations I’ll need tonight. His contentedness always calms me.
When I read the same paragraph three times and still can’t make sense of the string of sentences, I shut down my kindle, store it on my bedside table, then roll over to cuddle my pillow.
Try as I may, I can’t help but stray my eyes to my cell phone. It displays I’m more of a lightweight than Polina.
I could have sworn an hour had passed.
It hasn’t even been fifteen minutes.
“Do you think he’s waiting for me?” I ask Sookie, who is passed out on my pillow with his tongue hanging out. He’s a worse nose-breather than me.
As the digital clock on my nightstand clicks over to nine, I exhale a quick sigh.
It is drawn back in when a deep voice from across the room booms, “I should have informed you that I am not a man who appreciates tardiness.”
As my heart thumps in my throat, I scamper up my bed in fright. “Matvei… What the… How did you get in?”
Even with the bulb in my lamp being low voltage, I can’t miss the curve of his plump lips as he smirks at my fright. He’s seated on the reading chair in the corner of my room, which is usually stacked with books, wearing the outfit I selected for him.
I can’t help but grin when I notice the high rise of the cuffs of his pants. Since I didn’t allow any room for movement, they’ve risen up his calf, exposing his cartoon-printed socks.