Page 38 of Taboo

She sighed and tossed her mobile on the seat next to her. What was it about the man? She’d had crushes when she was younger, and she thought she had been in love with Gregor. And maybe, in her own way, she had been. Maybe she wasn’t incapable of falling for anyone because trust wasn’t something that came easily to her. And Gregor had made sure to ruin any chances of her moving on to be a better person with that.

Irritation ran along her spine, and she gritted her teeth. She didn’t have enough caffeine in her to fight the hangover and think straight. She hadn’t gotten so pissed she forgot what she did for years. It was something she avoided for a long time. And now, she didn’t know what she had said in the voicemail. God only knew because alcohol and with David there to egg her on…it could be really, really bad.

Her brain was fuzzy, so it took her a few minutes to realize she could look at her outgoing calls on her mobile.

It showed that she didn’t send any texts at all. But there was one phone call that lasted three minutes at one that morning. God, she was relieved that Alek apparently slept through her call. Unfortunately, there was now a recording out there with who knows what on it.

She closed her eyes and thought back over the night and a bit of it emerged. The shots, David telling her to call someone, and her…oh, no.

She had called Alek and proclaimed him the King of Orgasms.

How did she get herself into these things? Well, this time, it was tequila. That and David.

She didn’t want to, but she felt she needed to contact Alek and apologize.

Julienne: I’m so sorry.

Alek: Ah, you remembered?

Julienne: Yes. I’m sorry.

Maybe if she was super apologetic, he’d pretend it didn’t happen.

Alek: No worries. I kind of like the title.

She rolled her eyes.

Julienne: I would rather just forget about it.

The three dots appeared then disappeared twice before she finally got the message.

Alek: Forgetting is not an option with you.

What the bloody hell did that mean? And why did it make her so happy?

Julienne: Still. As a favor to me?

Alek: I would try, but I have a feeling that every memory I have of you will be set in my brain until I die.

She blinked and tried to fight the warmth that filled her chest and left her entire body tingling.

Alek: Gotta go. I will be calling you.

She sat there in the back of the town car trying to figure out what the hell she had gotten herself into.

chapter twelve

A weekafter Jules went back to Oahu, Alek was still obsessing about her. Well, not obsessing. He just checked out her social media and did some internet sleuthing. He also might have reached out to a friend he had in London who knew who she was.

Okay, he’d turned into a total creeper, but he couldn’t help it. There was something in her that called to him, that made him want to be near her. Not just sexual either. It had been a long time since he had fixated on one woman. He wasn’t a man who slept around. His work had kept him from doing that, but he had never seen the lure of being a slave to his libido. He had brothers in arms who engaged in it as a stress reliever. And that was fun—at times—but it wasn’t his first choice as a stress reliever. That would be running and tai chi.

But now…now he wanted to use sex as a stress reliever, every damned day. As long as Jules was the woman who helped him with that relief, he was okay.

And that worried him more than anything else.

Even without seeing her, he thought of her, dreamed of her…got off to her. He could still remember the way she sounded moaning his name, how it felt to have her pussy grip his dick so hard, pulling him deep within her warm body…

He closed his eyes and tried to get his body back under control. It would be embarrassing if he had to get off in his private bathroom. Again.

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