Page 40 of Heart Stopping
"He's cute." She slid me a sly look. "I guess you took our advice and gave him a chance."
"I might have." I checked to make sure we had enough tomatoes for the next couple of days.
While trying not to look like I was looking at Cass.
While looking at Cass in the corner of my eye.
"Come on, give me something here." She gave me an 'out with it' gesture with her fingers.
I handed her an overripe tomato.
"Is this for throwing at you because you're not giving me all the juicy details?" She threw it up in the air, caught it and made a face when it squelched. Hand covered in tomato juice and seeds, she tossed it into the trash.
I snorted softly. "I think that's what they call instant karma."
She glanced over at me as she washed her hands. "I want you to be happy, is that so bad? You took care of me when I needed it; I want to return the favor."
"You want to catch up on the gossip," I told her.
She grinned and swiped her hands on a towel. "Maybe a little. There's nothing wrong with harmless gossip. Besides, I'm only interested because I care about you. You and him are adorable together."
"We're just friends," I insisted. "I should go check on him."
"He's probably due for a top up on his milkshake," she said, as if the drink was dirty in some way. "If the office door is closed, we won't come a knockin'."
"I'm starting to rethink that apprenticeship," I said, giving her the eye before I filled up a milkshake glass with chocolate milkshake and slid a straw into it.
She laughed. "I know you love me. Make sure he's good to you. Otherwise he'll have me to deal with."
"I'm sure that will put the fear of God into him," I said sarcastically.
She was adorable, but if he needed to be dealt with, I could do it myself. I was almost certain it wouldn't come to that. So far, he hadn't given me any reason to think I needed to be violent with him. Unless it involved mutual pleasure.
I briefly wondered how he felt about paddles.
Shaking my head at her, and a little bit at myself, I carried the drink over to the office, placed it on the desk beside Cass and picked up the glass he'd emptied.
"Perfect timing." He looked up at me and smiled, apparently oblivious to the fact one of his lenses was completely obscured by his hair. "I was feeling thirsty." He leaned over and sucked on the straw.
I couldn't help remembering the way his mouth felt on my pussy. The way he'd made me come so hard. The feel of the shibari rope against my skin. Would he do more with the smooth rope than tie my wrists? Would I let him? The amount of control I'd have to give up to let him tie all of me made me want tosquirm in both an arousing and an uncomfortable way at the same time. That might be something we could work up to.
One thing I was sure of: there was a lot more to Cassius Titmus than he let on. I was looking forward to digging down deeper. Between him and Boner, I was being spoiled for orgasms. At some point, I'd have to tell them about each other. Outside of hunting predators, I didn't do sneaking around. Or anything that might be perceived as cheating. If anything more than friendship developed between me and either of them, or Archer, everyone would know and understand what was going on. If they wanted to walk away, that was their choice.
As if thinking about him conjured him out of thin air, Boner walked in the front door of the restaurant, whistling a tune that sounded like the Ed Sheeran song, “Azizam.”
"Morning, love," he said in his usual chipper voice. "This all looks very intense. Friend of yours?" He waved a hand between me and Cass before kissing my cheek.
"Yes, he is," I said. "Cassius Titmus, Edward Bonegard."
"Call me Boner," Boner said. After a beat he added, "Does anyone call you Tits?"
"No," Cass said. As if he remembered to be self-conscious, he pushed his hair off his face and his glasses back up his nose.
"Shame," Boner said, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Still, any friend of Harlow is a friend of mine."
He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Clearly wanting to know if Cass was the person I said could look into Granger Fairfield.
I responded with a tight nod. "Cass is looking into the security of my computer system," I said. "He's very good with computers."
