It wasn’t possible.
7
“I’m surprised your parents didn’t come and investigate.”
Hours, minutes, days later, she stirred at James’ voice.
He was still atop her. His body a heavy weight that should have cramped her breathing, but was reassuring instead.
This was transient. A fleeting moment. She knew that.
He was James Arias.
Why would he stay with black sheep Hailey Sawyer?
“Their room’s downstairs. You know that,” Hailey said, stunning herself with her raw-sounding voice. If she’d needed proof that orgasm had been out of this world, well, this was it.
“Still. We made some noise.”
She snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure they really would have wanted to walk in on you spanking my ass.” A huff of breath escaped her. “I still can’t believe I let you do that.”
“You needed it,” he reassured her, his face smashed into the pillow, so his words were muffled.
“Are you into that kind of thing?” she asked after a few minutes of processing that.
“Nope.”
“Then, I asked you before and I ask again, how do you know I needed that?” she pushed.
James lifted his head, then rolled off her. She wished the question back because she’d enjoyed the proximity, but he didn’t get up to leave, made no move to climb off the bed, just readjusted himself so that his leg was flung over both of hers and he was pressed close to her side.
She tried to hide from how nice that felt, but couldn’t.
“When things get tough at work, Aidan and I usually beat the shit out of each other at the gym.”
She scoffed. “You still train together?”
“Krav Maga,” James said silkily. “It’s brilliant. We tear into each other and then after, everything settles down again.” His tone grew lighter with amusement. “I didn’t think you’d appreciate being tackled to the ground. Spanking seemed more politic.”
A hoot escaped her. “Politic? You’re on another planet, James Arias.”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “You enjoyed it, didn’t you?”
The hoot turned into a long sigh. A confused one at that. “Yeah. I did.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure what that’s about.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry. You haven’t turned into a deviant. It’s just... you needed the release. In more ways than one.” He paused, then asked, “When did you break it off with your ex?”
“Last week.”
“Mind if I ask why?”
Did she mind? She wasn’t sure. Still, it was hard not to be lulled into security by their pillow talk. “He was great at work. A brilliant boss. But at home, he was controlling. It used to drive me insane how he needed to account for everything. All of a sudden, I noticed he did it with my friends. Would pout and get mad if he didn’t like who I went to lunch with, and gradually, I realized he’d take over my entire
life if he could.”
Throughout her short speech, James' tension had grown exponentially. “Did the bastard hurt you?”
She frowned. “No. Of course not. If he had, I’d have been out the door a long time ago.” She blew out a breath. “I just… he was too controlling and what with the work situation, that was the last thing I needed right then.”