Relentless throbbing pain shot through my brain as the phone next to my head buzzed. I rolled over and looked at the clock, a loud groan escaping from my mouth. It wasn’t even seven yet. I didn’t need to look at my cell to see who was calling, I knew it was my Mother.

‘Early bird catches the worm, Chloe,’—I could still hear her high-pitched mantra singing in my head, even after all these years. She’d woken me up every morning as a child with that stupid saying and it was forever etched onto my brain.

There were times where I was certain I was adopted or switched at birth. Considering she’d raised me alone, you’d think that would have bonded us more, that maybe I’d have adopted some her characteristics over time, but we couldn’t have been more different or more distant.

Not only was she an early riser compared to me being content to sleep way past noon, but she was so fucking ambitious. She never stopped. She never took a day off. She never took her eye off of the proverbial prize.

I was more of a ‘be here now’ kind of girl. I stopped and smelled every rose in my path, savored every morsel of life that I could. I could sit for hours, letting the day float away and just people watch.

Not my Mother. She was constantly moving, insisting time was money all along the way. It was exhausting. She was exhausting.

And the fact that she was attempting to wake me up way before seven in the morning on a fucking Saturday was exhausting. I threw the phone across my bedroom and shoved a pillow over my head.

I’d call her later. After I’d had time to think.

I’d been so blown away by my experience with Bear last night that I’d come straight home, cancelled my plans with my friends, and sat on my couch getting up close and personal to a cheap red wine. I did my best to make some sense out of what had happened.

It didn’t work.

I was still just as confused as I had been when I’d left. I was also very sore—in the most absolutely delicious way.

My body was still on fire with Bear’s touch and now that I was awake again, thanks to my Mother, I couldn’t ignore the fact that all I wanted was to feel him inside of me again.

“So much for sleeping,” I groaned, throwing the covers off my naked body. I’d fallen asleep with my hands tucked between my legs, desperately trying to quench the fire that Bear had ignited within my body, and now there they were again—furiously rubbing at my clit, hoping to find some magical illusive release that would give me a break from thinking about him, yearning for him, if only for a few minutes.

Dizzy and fuzzy, my brain began replaying the scene from yesterday like a movie in my head. I could still hear his voice, see those deep blue eyes peering into mine as if he was pouring himself into my soul.

I barely knew this man but somehow he’d managed to crawl inside of me and take up residence, in a spot so deep and dark that I never even knew it was there. In the depths of my intoxication last night, I’d imagined Bear doing things to me that I’d never thought of before. I’d gone places I’d never taken myself, holding his hand the entire way.

What had happened to me?

Look, I wasn’t one of those naive girls that really believes some magical man is going to show up with some magical, rainbow-shooting cock that is going to transport to me to some everlasting heaven.

I know those books I read aren’t real. They’re fantasies. An escape from the ho-hum days of boring routines we’re all forced to play out just to survive and put food on the table.

As much as I wanted them to come true, I didn’t really expect Mr. Toe Curler and all my fantasies to actually materialize.

I was a reasonable girl. Hell, part of me didn’t really even believe that stuff existed at all, especially after enduring all of Harlan’s bullshit. I’d put up with so much shit from him and gotten nothing in return.

Not one heart-racing moment.

Not one breathless kiss.

Certainly not an orgasm.

It wouldn’t have taken much to make me happy right now. I would have been satisfied with a short-lived butterfly or two in my stomach from a first kiss.

That’s why I never, in a million, gazillion years, thought something like this would be real. That a man like Bear Dalton would be real. That a man like Bear Dalton would want a woman like me.

There were times when Harlan’s possessive nature might have been a turn on, but he did everything wrong. His every move was selfish.

With Bear, something was different.

Very different.

Bear made me quiver with every word he’d uttered. His demanding orders had only made my body shiver with exquisite anticipation. He left me wanting more in the most perfect way possible—because it had been so delectably wrong and so precisely satisfying. It was like someone handed him a map to my body. Once he’d started fucking me, it was obvious he knew exactly how to please me.

He’d found the spot.

That spot in my brain that had been begging for someone to turn it on. The spot that was desperate for the kind of attention a man like this could demand.

I don’t know how he found it.

I don’t know why it was him, of all people.

I don’t have any idea what the future holds, but I do know one thing—I wouldn’t turn this opportunity down if my life depended on it.

And maybe it does.

Maybe this will turn out to be the worst thing I’ve ever agreed to in my life. Maybe it’ll even be worse than Harlan. Maybe I’ll go running back to Portland with my tail between my legs.

But maybe I won’t. Maybe it’s exactly what I’ve needed all this time.

My hands worked faster and faster, my fingers sliding inside of my pussy faster as I imagined it was Bear’s throbbing cock inside of me. I felt the first waves of my orgasm crash as Bear’s face was front and center in my imagination. Those teasing, demanding eyes beckoned me as I submitted to his memory one more beautiful time.

* * *

“Hey Mom,” I finally answered one of her many phone calls two hours later. I’d dragged myself out of bed, showered and eaten and was finally feeling strong enough to face a conversation with my her.

“Chloe, please tell me you aren’t just waking up,” she said.

I rolled my eyes and ignored her question completely. She didn’t really want to know or care, she only wanted to judge me. I could do that just fine on my own.

“What’s up, Mom?” I asked.

“What job did Dalton offer you?” she asked, getting right to the point. She was never one for small talk or beating around the bush.

“Didn’t you ask him that?” I asked. I had no idea what job I would be doing. So far, the only work I’ve done wasn’t anything she wanted to hear about. If Bear had other ideas, he hadn’t communicated them to me.

“He was vague,” she said. I could almost see her eyebrows wrinkle disapprovingly through the phone.

“He was vague with me, too,” I said.

“How much is he paying you?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Mom,” I replied, growing frustrated with her inquisition.

“Then why would you accept?” she demanded.

I sighed, knowing there was no way in hell I could tell her the truth. Part of me hadn’t figured out the answer to that just yet. All I knew was that I’d never felt more alive than those few moments alone with Bear and I couldn’t help but chase that feeling.

“I love you, Mom,” I said. “I just want you to be happy.”

“Bullshit,” she said. “He really didn’t mention a salary? Benefits?”

“I’m sure it’ll be plenty of money. Besides, isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?”

“But what about your career?” she asked. My breath caught in my throat for a second. Was she really thinking about what was good for me? “You just graduated with an art degree. That’s hardly going to transfer to working for a development company. I don’t know what Bear was thinking…”

I wondered the same thing. What was he thinking? Was he thinking about me? Was he at home somewhere thinking about me right now? Was he laughing about the naive woman he manipulated?

“Mom, I’ll figure it out. It doesn’t matter about the job. If I don’t like it, I’ll find something else once we get settled. I’m doing this for you. Besides, you’ve been trying to get me to take an entry position with the company for years.”

“Yes, but Bear Dalton can be a demanding boss,” she said in a tone of warning.

“Maybe that’s exactly what I need right now.”

“Hmmm,” she murmured. “I guess that’s always a possibility. Chloe, I really think you’ll find that New York has a lot of opportunities for a woman like you.”

“I know, Mom,” I replied. “I learned from the best.”

“That’s sweet,” she said. “Okay, I’ll get everything arranged. The movers will be coming to your place to pack up and ship all your things on Monday…”

She launched into business mode, her rare show of warmth replaced by her short, clipped barrage of instructions.

No wonder Bear wants her to be his CFO, I thought to myself.