Page 87 of Chandelier Sin
Even in her absence, I felt the lingering potency of her aura.
It was good to take a shower.
Piping hot water pummeled my flesh and cleansed the day off me. This was also me trying to cleanse Eve Roper from my consciousness.
Relaxing was a challenge—I kept listening out for someone breaking in to deliver yet another personal message.
Or worse.
Perhaps Eve had reported back to Roper that I wasn’t so easy to scare. They’d have to up the level of terror.
Seeing her again reminded me why I’d risked my life for one taste. But I didn’t like her coming to my place of work.
I’d shut that down.
This distrust for her was a new level of torment. My mind was telling me to stay away even as my body craved her.
My hand found my cock as I thought up erotic fantasies starring that mysterious woman. I stroked myself intoa tight ball of tension, engorged and deviously aroused as my fist acted as a piston chasing after a well-deserved release.
Fuck, no.
Not with thoughts of her.
I snapped my hand away, as though Eve might sense I was indulging in self-pleasure inspired by her.
I adjusted the faucet to the coldest water and stood beneath the showerhead, enduring the freezing assault, my thoughts scattering. My teeth clenched as I bit back a yell.
My dick was still rigid and not liking this plan at all.
Get a grip.
I’d done more than flirt with a married woman. The husband had a track record for sending souls straight to hell.
So, there’d be no flirting with her in the future.
Shivering, I turned off the shower and dried myself with the large plush blue towel hanging on the rack nearby, feeling the heat return to my flesh as I rubbed the moisture out of my hair.
With the towel wrapped around my waist, I padded barefoot down the stairs to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I grabbed a Modelo. Didn’t usually drink beer on a weeknight,for fucks’ sake, but then again, my life wasn’t threatened most days.
I should hate Eve.
I was close, but that nagging sense she might be a victim herself wouldn’t let up. She was too closed off, too deeply embedded at Pendulum to let me in.
She might still prove useful, too.
With my beer in hand, I made my way into the sitting room and peered out the window to enjoy the ocean view. It never got old—even after a decade of living here.
Maybe what I needed was to stroll along the pathway outside. This hidden gem was quieter at night. Who needed a house when living in a beach condo meant you could step right onto the golden sand.
That view…the sky ablaze with color as the sun set on the horizon. Even nature was over this drama, the kind I usually avoided. My life was normally streamlined into surgery at Cedars and downtime spent with friends at Chrysalis.
More recently,thatfavorite club had been switched out for Pendulum. I missed Chrysalis. Missed the atmosphere, the serenity. I missed the faces of the sweetest subs.
Cameron had sensed this, too, reminding me to return because we all needed what it had to offer—a sanctuary like no other.
Next time I visited Pendulum, I’d seek out Eve. And maybe I would seduce her into revealing more about the private parties.
Use her like she’d used me.
