Page 96 of Healed

“No. I was just going to—”

“Furiously masturbate in your room again?” he asked, and my cheeks instantly flamed.

But he wasn’t mocking me. His eyes were dancing with laughter, his lips twitching.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” I said. “You really couldn’t have given it an hour, no?”

“I doubt I’d have had an hour, based on how quickly you were running out of here. I figured it would be best to just be upfront. I heard you.”

I hate him.

“You heard me?”

I wanted to die. I actually wanted to curl up and die.

“Sure did. And, if you were a little bit quieter, you’d have heard me, too.”

I love him.

“Come on,” he said, holding his hand out to me.

“Where are we going?”

“Well, ideally we’d be going upstairs, and you’d be giving me the live show, not just the audio version.”

“Die, Luke,” I muttered under my breath, causing him to bark with laughter.

“But judging by that reaction, I can see luck isn’t on my side.”

“You think?”

His smile just got wider and wider.

“Come on. Lighten up. I’m going to give you the grand tour. Put your walking shoes on. It’s gonna be a long, fast-paced day.”

Immediately my mind went to other fast-paced activities and that stupid bearded behemoth laughed again.

I hate him.

“Five minutes, Gabby. See you outside.”

He pushed past me and I had to stop myself from inhaling deeply, dragging in lungfuls of his scent.

Great.

An entire day in Vienna’s company, with the visual of him doing that in my head.

Today was going to destroy me, I could see it now.

“Where are we going first?” I asked a little while later, having quickly thrown on some clothes and brushed my hair.

I’d had a stern talk with myself in the mirror, reminding myself that I was in my thirties. I was not ruled by my hormones, and I was not going to allow them to make a mockery of me again.

I didn’t quite believe it, but it was a start.

Vienna held out a jacket for me, and I pushed my arms into the sleeves, pulling my hair out of the back, aware that he was watching my every move.

“We’ll start from here and work our way around. You’re already pretty familiar with the place, so it’s just showing you the changes, really.”