Chapter 85

I hide the book behind my back.

Beau gives me a flat look that screams, Really?

Archer still looks like he wants to set the building on fire.

“Need some tips, Nanny?” Beau asks. “That little Tide boy not pleasing you enough?”

Tide? What the hell does Tide have to do with anything? “None of your business.”

I say it to get them to butt out. What I do, or read, or enjoy has nothing to do with them. But Beau only seems more bemused. Archer meanwhile is tensing every single muscle in his body.

He suddenly starts forward.

I don’t want to cower to him, but some of my survival instinct kicks in and I step backwards. I don’t get far before I back straight into a makeshift wall of impulse-buys the store has set up to define the checkout lines.

Archer just keeps coming. He reaches out and grabs the shelf behind my head with both hands, totally boxing me in with his body. I know I’m in a store, but all I can see is him, and those fiery eyes burning into me.

“Who has tried to touch you?” he growls.

I shiver. Gods, I’ve missed him. Even his angry side. He’s so possessive and growly, I want to drop to my knees. Or have him through me on the checkout counter. Gods, I don’t care which.

The Hayes brothers made me lose all of my senses. Impossibly gorgeous assholes.

He brings his face closer to mine. I have no choice but to look up at him.

“Do you think me and my brothers would let you go out and fuck someone else? You belong to us. You are ours.”

I swallow hard.

I hold the book in front of my like a shield. He glares down at it with distain.

“Archie,” Beau sing-songs. “She knows where she belongs. Don’t you, Nanny?”

I couldn’t see him, but I could tell this was a rescue.

So I nod.

He exhales long and slow. “You don’t smell like anyone else.”

It’s none of his damn business, but, “I’m still a virgin.”

His gaze snaps back to my face. His pupils blow out wide. His hands tighten on the shelf so hard it’s cracking.

“Archer,” Beau calls again, a little less playful now, a lot more annoyed. “Stop embarrassing yourself.”

That chills Archer as effectively as a bucket of ice water over his head. He pushes away from the shelves, from me, and backs up to his brother’s side.

Beau rubs his forehead. “She’s the nanny, for fuck’s sake. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Mind your own fucking business,” Archer snaps.

They turn to leave, apparently satisfied with my public humiliation.

Oh, wait. Nope. Not yet. Beau turns back around.

“Read chapter 6,” he calls. “You’ll love that one.” He smiles and waves, and then he and Archer walk away.

The woman in front of me in line, who turned to watch the show like everyone else, whispered to me. “That is a good chapter.”

My face burns the whole time, but I came here to buy this damn book. So I grit through my embarrassment and buy the damn book.

Then I go to class.

I’m determined not to read chapter 6. If I read the whole book, I will purposefully skip that chapter just to spite Beau. That would show him.

I sigh in the middle of class. No one notices but Debbie, who gives me a curious glance. When I show her the book later, she gives me a thumbs up.

I duck out of class early so I can return to my room and have an hour alone before I need to get Mia per the schedule.

When I get home, I usually carefully set aside by book bag and relax with a shower, but this time I throw my belongings to the side and flop on my bed instead, my book in my hand.

The anticipation is killing me.

But I won’t read chapter 6.

I open the book and start at chapter 1. People are talking. That’s nice. That’s great.

I check my clock. It’s already been 5 minutes. Do I really want to waste my alone time with talking when I bought this book for one singular purpose?

Sighing with disappointment at my own lack of self-control, I flip the book open to chapter 6.

The chapter starts with a woman on her bed. Her lover binds her hands to the headboard with a soft length of red rope.

“You forgot to take my shirt off first,” the woman says. She giggles because she’s nervous. Glancing down, I notice she giggles a lot. I get the nervousness, sure, but maybe not the giggles.

I can’t imagine giggling while Archer or Neil made their move.

“Oh, did I?” Her lover grips the front of her shirt and straight up rips it off her body.

Okay, well. Waste. But, I can see the hot factor. He wants her naked enough that he’s impatient. I can get that. Seriously though, he only just tied her up. Surely this guy could have taken the shirt off first.

Whatever. It’s fine.

Next, he’s holding up a blindfold.

“It will diminish one sense while heightening others.”

Is that how that works? Hmmm. I suppose that could be interesting. Worth a try, anyway.

This seems like something Neil would be into. He’s a control freak. He’d probably get off on being able to determine when and what I can see. And feel.

I lick my lips. I’m starting to see the appeal of this book.

Holding the book open with one hand, I start to trace my other over my thigh.

So, by now, the girl is tied up and blindfolded. Her lover’s ripped off her shirt, and has since done the same to her pants.

They’re kissing. That’s nice.

Then the guy places his hand at the base of the girl’s throat.

I stop reading. Everything stops.

Beau recommended this chapter. There’s no way he knew about me and Neil, right?

Though we were just in the hallway. Anyone could see. He didn’t… He couldn’t…

My face burned hot with embarrassment, yet I couldn’t feel shame.

Giving myself to Neil doesn’t seem like something I should be ashamed of.

Maybe Beau wanted to give me actual advice?

Oh, gods, why does that feel even more embarrassing?!

I skimmed a page or two ahead and nearly dropped the book.

The lover has his mouth on the girl’s tits, lapping at her nipples, and she is thrashing against her binds. The blindfold is working, according to her, making her even more sensitive. And he’s showing her no mercy, pushing her to the brink of her pleasure and then beyond.

He’s insatiable.

Even… relentless.

When the lover tucks his fingers into the girl’s panties, I start to dip mine under my pants.

He’s searching for something. Her clitoris, right? And when he finds it, she screams.

Huh.

I close my eyes, trying to imagine myself blindfolded, with Neil leaning over me. My hands are softer and smaller than his, but I try to pretend. Would he know where to find the clitoris? Would he go straight for it or would he tease me?

I trace around it with my fingers.

He would definitely tease me. He’d want to own my pleasure. He wouldn’t just give it to me upfront.

But then, just like the book, he’d go there and he’d –

“Chloe?”

I snap open my eyes.

Neil is standing in my doorway, one hand on the door handle.

His eyes are wide, taking me in. His gaze stops at where my hand is down my pants, and suddenly gains heat. It nearly ignites when he sees the book laying open on my stomach.

He steps into the room and closes the door behind him.

“Show me what you are reading, Chloe.”