Two
My ears rang as though I could still hear the crack of his palm against me. I stood staring at nothing for seconds that felt like hours and when my mind quit spinning, I knew I should leave. My legs trembled beneath me as I picked up my purse and my notebook, not unlike they had after I’d first met him just twenty-four hours ago. But I was different now. Changed by one moment in time that seemed to have been the culmination of my entire life thus far.
“Hey, Sloane!” A familiar voice called out and I met Wendy, another employee at the store, with a wide-eyed stare. She smiled and tossed her dark blond curls with a quick flick of her hand.
I gulped and tried to play cool. “Hey.”
“How’s the novel coming?”
I nearly laughed. What novel? Screw that sorry excuse for a book, my life just got a whole hell of a lot more interesting.
“It’s…okay, I guess.”
Her bubbly grin grew and her rosy cheeks rounded. “You’ll get it. Can’t wait to read it!”
A staggering breath fell from my lips and I nodded, forcing a smile. “Right,” I replied. “Well, goodnight, Wendy.”
The hairs on my neck prickled and I turned, compelled to catch the eyes that I was sure had settled on my back. Seeing the blue eyes drilling into me from the office door, I sucked in a sharp breath though my nose.
“Night, Sloane! See you tomorrow?” Wendy said.
A barely perceptible smirk tugged at Leo’s lips, reminding me of their taste, and he tilted his head to one side, yet again examining me from a distance.
“Yeah, maybe,” I whispered as I forced my feet to lead me out of the store without looking back.
***
For the first time in as long as I could remember, I slept like a baby. I woke up to the sound of my alarm instead of my panicked voice crying out from the depths of a nightmare. My body felt as pliable as a down comforter. Dreams spun around my mind a few times in the night—all pleasant. It felt so foreign to enjoy a night’s rest but even more foreign to wake up and want to relive my dreams.
Of course I wanted to relive them. They all starred Leo.
I didn’t know anything about him. One second he was Oliver’s brother, the hot new guy at the store, and the next he was commanding me as though he owned me—an enigma who ruled me for no reason. Who was he? I should know something more about him but I didn’t. With the chemistry we had, did it really matter? In the dim light, with that palpable lust filling the space around us, we were nameless and faceless. All we were was our mutual desire. Nothing mattered but his gloved hand on my body, the sound of my cries through the air, and the primal drumming of my heartbeat.
I stretched my arms over my head and let out a sigh. When I stood to make my way toward the bathroom for a shower, I winced. Hooking a thumb in my panties, I pulled them down and craned my head around to look at my ass. Though not a hint of redness remained, Leo had marked me. The notion made me bite my lip and grin.
***
Ellie stared at me cautiously over the brim of her glass. Ever the worried sister, she’d barely taken a breath in between inquiries. She gulped her water then smoothed her fingers along the linen tablecloth after setting the glass down again.
“Are you looking for jobs?” she asked. She’d asked me the same question a handful of times, a hundred different ways over the past three months.
I stabbed at my salad and shook my head. “You know I’m not. I’m working on the book.”
Ellie sighed heavily, but I refused to look up from my food as she started in. “Since when are you a writer? I know you’ve been going through something—something I still don’t understand—but it’s been almost a year since you moved here and I’m not sure if I should be sending you money or what. How are you affording anything? What the hell happened?”
My eyes slowly rose to meet hers. “If I need money, I’ll ask for it. But I don’t.”
“Are you—” My sister paused then ducked her chin, lowering her voice. “Are you selling drugs?”
My torso quivered and my shoulders bobbed before I registered the noise in my ears as my own laughter. It had been so long since a decent chuckle consumed me. Lips split in a wide smile, I rolled my eyes. “Elle, please. I get that I’ve thrown you for a loop lately, but come on…do you actually believe I’d deal drugs before asking you for help?”
Her face didn’t move. Her entire body looked rigid—paralyzed—as she stared at me from across the table. Firming up her jaw, she swallowed and dropped her gaze to the tablecloth once more.
“Honestly? I don’t know what to believe. I don’t think I know you at all anymore. I almost asked you if you’re whoring yourself out. I wish you’d just explain what happened that made you leave. If you moved somewhere full of opportunities, I might be able to see some benefit for your future, but here in Salem? What are you doing?”
Ellie thought I was whoring myself out here? Despite the fact that I’d let a stranger spank me last night, this town wasn’t the place I’d become a whore. She wanted to know how I could afford to live for a year, write a book (like I had any clue what all that entailed), and never have to get a job…
How did I begin to explain to my sister than I’d spent the last three years of my life having my bills paid for me? I had nearly three years’ worth of my income saved due to Warren’s indulgence. His guilt. His conscious hold over me. At first, I was his girl, the one he loved to dote on and spoil. Then I was his secret, the one he paid to hide and wait and slowly lose her mind.
I wasn’t ready to tell anyone about Warren, least of all my overbearing sister. I took a long drag off my straw, swallowing down icy water that attempted to cure the intense pain that rolled through my chest when I’d thought his name.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. I’m fine. Financially and otherwise. Can you just trust me and be happy for me?”
Ellie tucked her top lip in her mouth and sucked in a breath through her nose, her brows lifting high at the same time. I kept my gaze pinned firmly on her, my question still hanging between us. Finally, she softened, her face falling, and she nodded.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m always here though. When you need me.”
One corner of my mouth lifted in a pained half-smile. I was thankful I’d gone easy on her. Scolding her for scolding me wasn’t what I wanted. She was just doing what she thought she needed to do as my big sister. Ever since our parents died, she’d attempted to be both sister and mother and father to me. It’d never been necessary, but I had a feeling one day I’d need her in one of the three assumed roles. I just wasn’t sure what I needed right now. An electric pulse rippled around my heart when the image of Leo slipping his hands into the pair of black leather gloves flashed in my mind.
Need.
That’s how I’d gone home feeling after our…encounter. I’d needed that. That sweet release. And now, I not only felt as though I needed it again, I also wanted it. I wanted more. I wanted to know all of the endless possibilities of Leo Calloway and that dark, dusty book room on the second floor.
***
I waited three days to go back to the bookstore. Long enough for me to work up the courage to speak to Leo again. The moment I pushed through the front door, I sighed. I nearly groaned at the delicious coffee aroma hanging in the air. Slipping out of my jacket, I made my way to the back of the store near the office where a few hooks waited. My hands fidgeted, already anxious to see Leo. To talk to him, if my mouth and lungs decided to cooperate. I slid my fingers down the sides of my dress then smoothed over my hair, smearing the few misted raindrops that peppered the top of my head.
“Look,” I heard Oliver’s hushed voice suddenly creep out from behind the cracked office door. “Wendy, I just…I’m sorry. I don’t think we…” He sighed and my brow furrowed. I should’ve walked away and stopped eavesdropping but Oliver’s tone held me there.
“God, Oliver. Grow up,” Wendy spat at full volume. “I quit.”
The office door swung open fiercely and Wendy stormed through it, barely glancing at me as I turned to the coat rack again. The watery look in her eyes made my stomach pitch and as I turned back to the office door I saw Oliver, his shoulders sagging as he shook his head and breathed in deeply.
“Oliver?” My voice was a mere wisp.
He pulled his chest up, straightening and met my eyes with a forced smile. “Hey there,” he said.
My lips twisted as I contemplated overstepping my bounds by acknowledging whatever had just happened between him and Wendy.
“Where’ve you been hiding? Haven’t seen you in a few days,” he said, running a hand through his chestnut hair, walking toward me after pulling the office door shut.
“Just busy I guess,” I replied before softening my gaze on him meaningfully. “You okay?”
Oliver smiled. “Ah, don’t worry about it,” he said with a shrug. “You don’t happen to want a job though, do you?”
I coughed out a laugh and opened my mouth, emitting only silent breaths instead of my polite refusal. Maybe a job wasn’t such a bad idea. It would please my sister. Eventually my savings would dry up and I’d need to find something. Why not get paid for being here a few days a week? Oliver wouldn’t need to train me…
His smile grew as he watched the wheels turning in my brain at the idea. I huffed and rolled my eyes with barely upturned lips. His brow rose, urging my answer. With a reluctant but surprising yes on the tip of my tongue, I let my mouth part once more just as I saw Oliver’s eyes look past me, his chin tilting up.
“Leo, tell Sloane what a good boss I am. Help me convince her she should take the part time position.”
My flesh lit up with chills at the sound of his name, a delicious shudder travelling to my tailbone when his smooth baritone voice rang in my ears.
“I didn’t realize we were hiring,” Leo clipped as he came into view. “But I’m sure Sloane would be great for the job.”
His wavy sable hair laid smoothed back perfectly, not a strand out of place, and the straight line of his Roman nose led me to stare at his lips and the soft smirk formed on them. I suddenly couldn’t think of anything other than our kiss. Heated and rushed and the kind of erotic spontaneity fantasies were made of. Coming here to write was one thing. I could hide in my corners and closed rooms and choose whether Leo gazed upon me or not, but if I worked here…
“You should know though,” Leo added, his eyes twinkling, “I own half of the store, which means I’m the boss…too. I know we just met, but you wouldn’t mind taking orders from me, would you?”
Fuck. Staring my sudden sin in the face, I swallowed the rest of my hesitancy and did what I knew had already become a habit when it came to Leo Calloway. I complied—easily, willingly, without a second thought.
“That won’t be a problem,” I said, pulling my eyes away from him and back to his brother. “When do I start?”