Page 36 of His Kingdom

My thighs shake. I don’t know if my body can handle another night of Louie’s attention. I’m sore.Everywhere.But the thought of what I know he can do…? Yeah,thathas me forgetting all about the pain I’m currently in. It also has me wanting to drag the man into the bedroom right now. His meeting can wait a few minutes or hours, right?

“Fuck me, you make it hard to walk away,” Louie groans. He presses his lips against mine. “I’ll be back. Stay inside the room.”

“Have a good meeting,” I tell him

Have a good meeting?Really, Charlotte, that’s the best you could come up with? God, I’m so stupid.

* * *

An hour and three glasses of wine later, I’m sitting in Louie’s living room, bored out of my mind. I decide to call the girls. I need to talk to someone.

“You’re alive.” Evie is the first to answer my video call.

“I am.”

“You’re dressed up. You going out?” she asks.

“Soon. Hopefully. What’s going on back home? How bad is the town gossip about me?” I wince, not sure if I want to know.

“It’s not that bad. Where you going?” Evie’s change of topic and non-answer tell me the gossip is bad.

“Out dancing. I’m waiting for Louie to finish his meeting.”

“Why?”

“Ah, because he wanted to take me out but had a meeting,” I tell her.

“Okay, who has meetings this late at night? What does this Louie guy do?” Evie presses.

“He owns a few businesses here,” I explain, while leaving out the part that he owns three whole casinos. I’m not entirely sure, but I don’t want them to judge him before they meet him. Even if they aren’t likely to meet him.

This fling will live out its time, and I’ll go back home. It’s not that serious.

“Why do you look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders?” Rachel asks, her face appearing on the screen.

“She’s going out with Louie when he finishes his nighttime meeting. Oh, and we learned that Louie owns businesses in Vegas. But Charlotte is being sketchy about the details of what those businesses actually are,” Evie fills Rachel in.

“I’m not being sketchy. It’s just not that serious. I don’t care what he does anyway. He’s nice to me. Like really nice. I don’t think I remember ever being treated the way he treats me, and he barely knows me,” I admit.

“So, he’s good at sex then,” Rachel says.

“The best I’ve had.” I laugh. “It’s next level, like things I’ve never ever thought of doing before.”

“What sort of things?” Evie questions.

“Yeah, I’m not talking about that.” I can feel my face heating up. “So, what are y’all up to? I miss you.”

“I was getting ready to jump into bed. I’ve got an early start tomorrow,” Rachel says around a yawn. She’s a pediatric surgeon in her first year of residency. She works really long hours.

“What about you? Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. Just out. Dancing,” I tell her.

“Why aren’t you out exploring the town while you wait for this Louie guy?” Rachel asks.

“He didn’t want me going out alone.” I shrug.

“And you agreed? Charlotte, you just got out of a long-term relationship with someone who was suffocating you. Do not let someone else do the same thing,” Evie says.

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