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“This is what we at E-Volve call the realities of online dating. With our app, we connect people not by the lies of retouched profile pictures and inflated bios but by social mapping.”
“But what if I’d wanted to kiss you? And not to give you the kiss of death?”
“I don’t think we’re ever given anything. We work for it. Swindle sometimes. Beg, borrow, and steal, but in my experience, we’re rarely gifted good things.”
lips are. He tastes me. Teases. Savors me like I’m a delicious dish. My head lolls back against the headrest as he draws away to press kisses along my jawline, one hand slipping to my breast.
“You mistake me, Olivia. It’s you I want.”
“What most people don’t understand is that offence exists not within the insult but within any reaction to it.” Her expression clouds at my words. “Most people find difficulty with the concept, not because it’s terribly far-reaching or beyond the understanding of most, but rather because they’re too emotional to see the beauty in this. To put it bluntly, your opinion is so irrelevant, I can’t be bothered to take offence.”
I’ve imagined the dozen ways I’d take her—a bed, a wall, over a table, her mouth and her pussy wet and open for me.
“I want to fuck you,” he states baldly, almost knocking me from my chair. “I wanted you then, and I want you now. Does that make you happy? Soothe you? And yes, I want it all in a contract because I refuse to give you an excuse to back out.”
“But you should know, diamonds don’t truly shine. They reflect.”
“But failure is not final. What’s important is having the courage to continue, no matter what else.”
“The issue was that you were determined to take it personally. If you hadn’t been so ready to be offended, you would’ve heard what I actually said. Which is that I choose not to become emotionally invested in people’s opinions of me. Their words have no power; therefore, their opinions are insignificant. It’s a thought process.”
“A diamond doesn’t lose its value due to a lack of admiration.” My thumb rubs over the sparkling stones I’d slipped onto her slender finger just a little while ago. “Value your own worth, Olivia, for it is great.”
“Just. Suck on me. Lick me there. Touch me.”
And I have so many plans. So many ideas. One night won’t be enough. Who knows, six months may not be so.
“You take my cock so well.” She’s so hot and tight, and the angle is so much deeper this way,
We may hide things from the people we love, but it seems entirely possible for us to also hide things from ourselves as I refuse to acknowledge her grandmother’s other words of advice.
You can be right, or you can be happy. It’s up to you to choose.
“Come sit on my face, and I’ll show you exactly how nice I can be.”
The experience is raw and it’s overwhelming as one word repeats over and over inside my head. Mine. Mine. Mine.
“Please, it’s too much,” I whimper between panting breaths. Before I can process what’s happening, Beckett stands. He turns me to deliver a savage kiss, a kiss of possession. My back flat against the wall, I’m like a butterfly pinned as he pulls my knee over his hip, and his fingers slip between my legs again.
His forehead touches mine, our lips just a whisper apart, and it’s then I realize that it’s taking him some effort to execute his tease.
Something, an awareness, maybe, causes me to turn my head. My hand springs from my pajama pants like I’d, well, like I’d been caught touching myself. Because I have. Beckett stands at the doorway, a hungry longing in his eyes. With a groan that’s probably closer to a whimper, I roll onto my side away from the sight of him.
“Olivia.” Beautiful, tempting Olivia. “You should make it a personal rule to only be friends with people who are worthy of you.”
I don’t deserve her. Not her taunts nor her kisses. But she is worthy of my worship. I wonder if she ever notices the strength of need in my kisses. If she knows I feel like my arms can never hold her tight enough. That I can’t seem to be inside her long enough or fuck her hard enough. That I’m not enough.
But the problem with pretending and with lies is, that after you’ve been doing it for a while, it’s hard not to be seduced by it all yourself.
“Have you forgotten our story already? I fell at your feet, then fell in love.” I realized right then that I might not be pretending anymore.
“You know what they say,” she adds. “You can’t have a relationship without fights, but you can make a relationship worth the fight.”
“How can you be so oblivious?” The truth will set you free? I don’t think so, but it is flying fast. “I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d leave me. And I’m not ready for that, Olivia. You can’t leave yet.”
With an annoyed little pout, he twists his upper body, reaching for the paperwork from his desk. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I loved you.”
“I say, stay married to me, Olivia. Not for a contract or a company. Not for six months or six years, but forever.” His gaze burns with sincerity. Which is just as well, considering his next words. “Say yes, darling. You know you want me, or why else would you keep falling at my feet?”
“Just be with me, Olivia. Let me love you forever and I promise you I’ll do whatever I can to make you happy… short of roasting my dick over an open flame.”
You see, as I’d said to Olivia in the beginning, everyone has their price. And I’m worth nothing without her. So today we commit ourselves to the other. For better or worse. I’ll endow her with my world, to the letter of the law as per the paperwork.
“You are my church and my chapel, my darling. And I’ll worship you for the rest of my life.”
