Page 40 of Deacon

However, the sting didn’t touch the agony inside me.

I wanted the pain gone, freakin’ erased tonight.

Nashami slid back into the booth, her long fingers brushing my forearm.

She took one look at my face and raised a brow.

‘Your mood’s shifted fast. What’s going on in that handsome head of yours?’

‘Nothing at all,’ I said, dropping my timbre into a deeper register. ‘Just realized I’m wasting time not giving a drop-dead gorgeous girl my full attention.’

She smirked, leaning into me across the small table, hand stroking my jawline, her eyes glittering with promise.

‘That’s more like it, big guy.’

We knocked back a few more rounds.

The liquor took the edge off my senses, flaming my former precautions, making me reckless and edgy.

At some point, Nashami’s hand wound around the back of my head and pulled me down to hers.

I went for it, mouth hard against hers, nipping and gliding at the same time, driving her wild as the flavor of her sweet berry gloss blended with the bourbon.

‘Let’s get out of here right now,’ she whispered on my lips. ‘My place is ten minutes out.’

‘Yeah,’ I growled as my last shred of discipline snapped, and I threw caution out the window.

What was I holding onto Ana for anyway?

Her heart now belonged to some suave movie star, leaving me in the dust.

If she could move on, why the hell couldn’t I?

Nashami and I tumbled out the side door into the humid night, hands all over each other, lips melding until she pulled back to summon her car.

The Rolls-Royce rolled up to the curb, the chauffeur stepping out to hold the rear door open.

We piled onto the leather back seat, mouths colliding again before the door even clicked shut.

Nashami fumbled for the privacy-glass toggle, slamming the button to cut the driver off.

The sound of feverish breathing filled the cabin as the limousine glided up the winding coastal roads.

I scarcely registered it when we reached her rented hillside mansion.

She slipped out of the car as soon as her driver opened the door for us, and pulling at my hand, she led me inside her rental home.

We raced up the stairs and into a spacious bedroom.

With a laugh, Nashami pushed me, and I fell onto her silk sheets as we shed our clothes.

Naked, I flipped her below me, mouth to hers, hands all over her lean body, small tits and muscled thighs.

She reached for my cock, her eyes glittering with invitation.

I parted her legs and positioned myself, ready to finish what I started.

That’s when a cold slap of reality hit me.