Page 17 of A Reluctant Claim

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He studies me for a beat and then chuckles. “Your loss.”

Chapter 4

Liam

Lottie

Where are you, Liam?

Xander

He’s in New York.

Lottie

Are you kidding me? The Locks are coming.

Aren’t you in Paris?

Lottie

Dad made me come since it’s your engagement dinner.

It’s not.

Xander

Mom will geta headache.

Lottie

Exactly and I will have to entertain them.

I didn’t invite them.

Lottie

You were just gone for a month!

I know.

Lottie

Don’t be an asshole. I’m returning to Paris in three days. Will you be back home by then?

Xander

Doubt that.

I’m resigning.

The water beats down on my muscles, melting the past hour away.

I don’t know what’s more shocking. That I slept with a stranger, or that I enjoyed it.

Getting off isn’t a hobby. It’s maintenance. A physiological necessity I usually handle with my hand, or—on rare occasions—an anonymous blowjob.

But what happened next door was different.