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Chapter Eighteen
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Two eighty, please.”
He counted out the exact change and dropped it on the bar, the sound clinking over the music. “Do you often go home with college kids who wank more often than they fuck?”
'Wank'. What a wonderful word.
“Why are you smiling?”
I licked my lips. “Wank. It’s a very British word.”
“I’m British, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“I noticed. Somewhere between you hooking my legs over your shoulders and pinning me against my car.” I leaned against the bar again. “Does it matter if I leave work with college guys?”
“You’re free to leave with who you like. For now.”
“For now? That sounds like someone planning to intervene in my lifestyle.”
Ivan drunk his beer in one go and slided the bottle across the bar to me. “That sounds like someone who’s meeting you from work with an offer
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WILD ADDICTION Chapter Nineteen
And that talking bullshit. I bet he wanted to talk—with his cock. Frankly, thought, I prefer his cock talking over his mouth talking. His cock isn’t capable of spouting complete and utter douchery - nonsense.I shivered as I unlock my apartment door. Thinking about his cock isn’t helping matters here. In fact, all it was doing is getting me worked up. It was not getting his arrogant ass out of my head or the tingle of his touch off my skin. It was making it worse.I grabbed my phone to call Dayton, but 1:45 blinks back at me from the bright screen. Huh. Maybe calling her at almost two a.m. isn’t a smart idea.I took a long breath and glanced at Angus curled on the sofa. I turn the key in the lock and headed for my room, intent on calling my best friend in the morning.Dayton asked me to meet her at the coffee shop to talk about something on her mind.“I don’t have long.” Dayton slided into the seat opposite
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Twenty
“What the hell are you doing here?”Ivan smirked, leaning back in his chair. “I’ve never left a beautiful woman sitting alone in a coffee shop.”“Oh, I believe you.” I dropped my phone into my purse. “Luckily for me, I was just leaving.”“Sit down, Bree.”My eyes immediately narrowed at the use of my short name. Only my mother uses my short name. “Call me by my proper name and I’ll consider it.”He sighed like it was a hardship to repeat himself. I’ll give him a fucking hardship. Being stalked by his ass is as hard as it gets.“Sit down, Brenda.”“You never said please.”His eyes met mine, annoyance darkening them. “Are you this annoying normally or do you reserve it for me, babe?”“Oh, I have a special brand of annoying I keep just for assholes who won’t leave me alone, babe.” I
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Twenty One
I’m too exhausted to be at work today, but the afternoon and early evening shift is easy. Five hours, and no rush until 8.00 p.m., when everyone was done having dinner. Perfect.My phone rqng and I dug it out from my purse. My agent’s name was glaring at me. “Hey.”“Brenda! I’m so glad I caught you before your shift. I have news.”I shifted. “Good or bad?”“Good! I’m happy with your edited photos from your last shoot, and I’ve picked out my favorites for you to look over. Are you free on Monday? At two?”I ran over my shifts in my head. “Sure. I’m working at six then.”“Perfect. I’ll pencil you in. It won’t take long. I’d like to get them finalized and sent off.” The shuffling of papers came down the line. “And—oh! I have another shoot for you. What are you working over the next two weeks?”&l
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Twenty Two
I think my vibrator is broken.It must be. I’m not willing to admit the alternative—that my orgasm is maybe a little broken.At least I have my orgasm, I rationalized while pouring a cup of coffee. It was a lackluster and the spark seemed to have disappeared somewhat, but it was still there. It was enough to get rid of the sexual frustration.Of course, I know how to fix it. All I have to do is think about a certain British man and wheeee! There she is. But that is not a smart move.I was beginning to crave a man I barely knew.The sound of his voice, the brush of his fingertips across my palm, the darkness of his gaze. Every minute I spent with him only added fuel to the fire. I was attracted to him in a way that was forbidden, if only by myself. I wanted him in a way that was, oh so tempting.Want and crave are different. Want is safe. You can be on a diet and want a chocolate bar, but it doesn’t mean you’ll give in
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Twenty Three
Click. Click. Tap. Click. That was all I heard for two hours. And don’t get me wrong. I’ve been at shoots longer than this, but I didn’t get in until three thirty this morning. This is not what I wanted to be doing after a long-ass shift, especially not when I’m back there tonight.“You have must have enough now.”“I do, but you’re so pretty to photograph. You make my job real easy, Brenda.” She sighed and set the camera down. “You’re gonna help me finish this degree. I know it.”“Great. Can I get change now?”“One more.” She raised her camera again and I pout exaggeratedly, leaning into her with one hand on my hip. She laughed, snapping the picture. “Okay, okay. I get it. Ms. Model is all tired out.”“Ms. Model has to go to work soon,” I corrected. “And she’s hungry.”Dayton looked at the time on the cloc
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Twenty Four
I collapsed back onto my sofa. Pizza, a late night working, and the 30 Day Shred are not an ideal combination. In fact, they’re not desirable. Not in the slightest.My phone rang, I reached for it lazily, not moving from my slouched position. “Hello?” I groaned into the receiver.“Am I interrupting something?”The British accent made me sit up. I moaned at the ache in my muscles. “Yes. You interrupted my post-workout collapse.”“Post-workout? Does that mean I’m talking to you and you’re all sweaty?” His tone was suggestive, and I wanted to rip his face off through the phone.“If I’m not sweaty, I’m not doing it right,” I retorted, swinging my legs around so my feet are on the floor. “Bypassing the question of how you got my number, why are you calling me?”“Dayton wants me to invite you for lunch.” “Why can’t she call
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Twenty Five
I frantically scanned the room. There was always a towel lying discarded somewhere in the room, but for the first time ever, there wasn’t. All because I did laundry that morning. Damn laundry.Crap. “Um, Ivan?” I called through the bathroom door. “Ivan!”“What’s wrong?” The door rattled as he leaned against it or something.“I, um, I forgot my towel.”He paused. “You forgot your towel?”“Yes, and now I’m getting cold, so could you get me one? Please?” I can’t believe I’m asking this. Fuck my life.“Where are they?”“In the closet behind you. Second shelf.” Oh, God. Please don’t find the Hello Kitty one.“Hello Kitty. Nice.” He laughed.“Can you just pass me the damn towel?”“I would love to, baby girl, but I can’t.”“Why not?&rdqu
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Twenty Six
“We need to go,” he said, walking past me in strong strides.I stayed where I was, my keys in my palm, and stared at him. I’ve never felt tension like this. Wanting like this. He yanked open my front door and turned to look at me.“Brenda! We need to go,” he repeated, his voice just as husky. “Unless you want me to drag you back into your bedroom and remove those clothes, we need to fucking leave.”Those words flipped a switch in my brain and I all but ran past him and down the stairs. I heard his footsteps echo in the stairwell behind me as I reached the small lobby and bursted outside. It was raining again, and no sooner have fat raindrops hit the top of my head than I’m pulled back inside by a strong arm around my stomach.His body was hot against mine, his chest flushed against my back, my ass curving against his erection. One of his hands was flat against my stomach, the other cupping my hip. He w
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WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty Seven
My lips formed a wide grin. “Okay. I think my need for information is sated. For now.” “Good. And now I guess we have to get to my gritty stuff, right?” I nodded. “I fessed up. Now it’s your turn.” “Okay.” He grabbed his mug of tea and drunk half of it before setting it back on the table. He settled his arms around me again, linking his fingers on my back, and looked up. “Let’s see… When we were little, Mish and Aaron were constantly following our parents around. They wanted to know every last bit of the business. My dad tried for about a year to get me interested, but I just didn’t care. I didn’t have the right head for it. “Then we got older, and while they started internships and work experiences, I started sleeping with girls. Yeah. I was that knobhead.” He laughed. “I studied photography at A-level in college just to make up the number of courses I needed to take and fell in love with it. It was so calm and quiet compared to my rowdy, devil-may-c
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty Seven
He pulled on his pants and I grabbed some shorts and a T-shirt from my room. When I came back out, Ivan handed me a cup of coffee and grabbed his cup of tea. I smiled as we settled on the sofa, facing each other, my legs hooked over his. He tugged the coffee table closer so we could reach from this position. Then he wrapped his arms around me and linked his fingers behind my back.“Okay. Just…talk,” he said.“Um. Okay.” I settled my fingers against the top of his stomach. The lump in my throat was the only thing stopping bile coming up—I knew it. “Well, I went to my parents’ house yesterday. I needed to get out of the city to think. Of course, my batshit crazy nana was there, so I got more of an ass-kicking than I did thinking. But anyway, she made me realize that you have to face your fears if you’re ever going to get over them. So. Here I am. Fear-facing.”Ivan’s thumbs stroke my back gently, a
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty Six
Tyler, sitting on the floor, his back against my door, throwing a tennis ball at the wall opposite him. One of his legs was bent up, the other stretched out. I watched him throw the ball, catching it one-handed every single time.I opened my mouth to talk to him, but he beat me to it.“I’ve been sitting here like a fucking idiot for about four hours. I have no idea why. At first, I thought you were in. Then I remembered you went out of town. Fuck knows where. No one will tell me where or why you went. So I sat down and started playing with this. Hit your neighbor’s door a few times. He invited me in, but I said I’d rather sit here. Got hungry and ordered pizza.” He knocked on the box next to him. “Sat here like a fucking teenage boy hung up on some girl he’s never gonna get.”My chest tightened when he looked at me. I’d never seen his eyes so empty, so dull.“That’s what I think. You know t
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty Five
“I nearly lost my life!” I almost shouted. “How is that nothing? What if, next time, it’s worse? What if, next time, I do lose?”Nana’s face softened, but her eyes hardened. She leaned forward in her chair and pointed a wrinkly finger at me. “You listen to me, my girl, and you listen to me well. You’re not afraid of committing. You’re not afraid of hurting anyone. The thing you fear is weakness. It’s commendable, really, but also complete crap. The only person you’re hurting is yourself—and this boy. You’re stringing you both along because of your naivety. That’s what it is. What you are. Naïve. You think love pops up for every Tom, Dick, and Harry?”Her words stung.“It doesn’t. It isn’t something you can throw around. If you can sit there and tell me it wouldn’t kill you to walk away from him, then that’s exactly what you should do.&rdqu
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty Four
“You look like you have a face slapped with a wet fish,” Nana said. “Have you been salmon fishing?”“It’s not salmon season, Nana,” I replied. “And I don’t fish.”“Not salmon season? It flamin’ well is! A bit cold for July though. Hey, Steve. Put the heat on. I’m turning into a snowman.”I raised an eyebrow at Mom. “July? Nana, it’s March.”“No, it’s July. I specifically remember arranging my next visit here for July.”“Mother,” Mom said softly. “You did. We talked about it yesterday. You said you’d come back in July.”Nana blinked at her. “Oh. Did we?”Mom noded. “Yes. You said you wanted to come up in salmon season because you wanted fresh salmon.”Nana tilted her head to the side. “Oh. Oh, all right. That would explain the temperature. Still, get t
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty Three
“I don’t know his past and he doesn’t know mine.”“Because you’re refusing to talk about it. Yeah, we talk. Just because we’re guys doesn’t mean we don’t talk about this shit. I called him a hundred times with Dayton—he’s more like my brother than anything. I know how he feels about you, Brenda. He’s told me. And let me tell you if you’d asked me six months ago if I ever thought he’d be this serious about a woman, I would have laughed at you.” His lips twitch. “I did laugh when he told me. I thought he was kidding, but he isn’t.”“It’s not just a snap decision. I can’t clap my hands together and know. I’m not holding off to protect myself. I’m doing it to protect him.”“Ivan’s a big boy. He can protect himself. I’ve seen him do it several times.”I put my face in my hands then ran my finger
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty Two
I stifled a yawn as I followed Aaron around the new bar. They landed back in Seattle minutes after Ivan and I did, and Day took one look at me and told Aaron to bring me there.She’d taken Ivan to get coffee, and I sworn, if she was pulling her matchmaking shit, I would kill her.“What do you think?” Aaron asked.I looked around the building. Then, it was carnage in there. Builders were everywhere. There was dust and wooden planks and whatever in every single possible place. But looking at the plans in my hand—Aaron’s vision—I saw it.“I think it’s gonna be the best damn cocktail bar in the city,” I said honestly.“Good answer.” He grinned. “It should be ready to go in two weeks. When do you have to tell Donny you’re leaving?”“I’ll go by when I leave here and tell him. I’ll give him a week’s notice then take a week off.”
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty One
“I’m not afraid of relationships. I have an addiction to sex, not a phobia of commitment.” His words stung. They did. Right from my head to my toes. “But yes. That’s the main reason I never pursued a relationship in London. Everyone there knew who I was and what I was worth. Here in Seattle, well. I guess I just never found someone worth having a relationship for.” His gaze burning into me. “Until now,” he finished. “I wish I could be that girl.” My words were so quiet that they were practically a whisper. It was true. I wished I weren’t afraid. I wished I could tackle him with the impulsiveness I tackled Aaron’s new bar with. I wished I could throw every piece of bullshit away and gave him the thing he wanted because He deserved it. He deserved happiness. He deserved smiles and security and certainty. Something I couldn’t offer. Ivan reached across the table and linked his fingers through mine. He lifted our ha
WILD ADDICTION Chapter Eighty
I said nothing, letting the moment linger. Letting his words hover between us, embracing them, holding on to them…getting addicted to them. To the underlying current of power in every syllable. To the smooth way he strung them all together and the way he never stopped to take a breath. To the inflection in the word ‘yours.’ Addicted to the way he didn’t have to think for a second about saying them. Addicted to the way they were making me feel. Safe. Warm. Cherished. Protected. Owned. I took a deep breath that shuddered through my body. The combination of his breath mingling with mine and the tingle of his palm against my neck was heady and intoxicating. The dizzy from his words and the response they’d elicited inside me, I wanted to give in. I wanted to tell him yes. I wanted to tell him we could do that. That, despite our addictions, two opposite poles, we could make it work. But I didn’t. I couldn’t—because I
