Page 69 of Good Girls Beg

Stars exploded in my vision. The only thing I knew was bliss and his touch.

I moaned as I came back down for a second time, my blood racing through me like a tsunami.

Only then did he lift his mouth off me, slide his fingers out and step away.

"Good girl."

I blinked a couple of times to clear my vision and my mind. He looked pleased with himself. He wiped my release off his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

While he did that, something occurred to me. Something I should have thought of long before now.

“How did you know I spoke to Victor?"

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

TEDDIE

"It doesn't sound like you hate living there," Lyra remarked.

I glanced down as the edge of a wave covered my feet before drawing back out again.

"It's complicated," I said. "On one hand, I'm happy I'm not imposing on you anymore."

"I didn't mind," she said quickly. "You know that, right?"

“Yeah, I do, but you deserve your space." I glanced over at her, insisting she not argue with me. I couldn't go on sleeping on her couch, even without the guy's proposal.

"Okay, okay, I surrender." She threw her hands up in the air and dropped them back down. "So, why is it complicated?"

Where did I even begin to answer that?

When I’d asked Hel to explain why he knew what happened after Oak left the restaurant, Fade conveniently came to the door, with some story about a job. He'd been amused to walk in on us like he had. I'd stared him down, but all he did was grin back.

Hel gave me a glance before putting my panties back in place and handing me my shorts. "I'll let you get dressed." He hadn't said another word before stepping out of the office and closing the door behind him, leaving me to fix myself up.

That was four days ago. I hadn't had a chance to ask him again but I’d thought about it. In the end, I concluded the server must be working for him. Her, or someone in Heartbeets, told him about Victor. Saltgrave grapevine at its finest. Apparently, I couldn't do anything without it getting back to the three men I was living with.

I thought they might, but none of the rules said I could’t talk to other men. Instead, they were relatively harmless things like wearing a particular shirt over a black bra, or eating extra kale with dinner. If that was what got them off, I could accommodate it. Even the kale.

I let out a soft sigh. "Would you believe they leave the toilet seat up all the time?" That seemed like a small infraction compared to getting angry at some random man for talking to me in a restaurant.

Lyra laughed, her head tipped back. "Yes, I completely believe that. It's exactly what three men would do. That's why I grabbed the chance to live by myself when it came up. Although…” Her expression sobered. "I should have picked somewhere big enough so we could both live there without being on top of each other. Figuratively speaking."

"You picked a place you like that's close to your work" I pointed out. "You shouldn't have to worry about me when choosing where to live. I'm a big girl, I can more or less look after myself."

She hooked her arm through mine. "I know you can. You're the big badass Theodora Ward. No one would dare call you anything different."

"I'm pretty sure they would," I said with a laugh. Fade called me sweetheart. Hel referred to me as a good girl. Those words still got my pulse racing. Who knew I was into praise that much?

What would Oak call me? Probably not something nice. Nosy bitch came to mind.

"They can go through me," Lyra declared. "I know how to give a death stare that will make them piss their pants." She scrunched up her face, giving me a glare that made me burst out laughing.

"Was I supposed to wet myself laughing or be scared?" I ducked away before she could elbow me in the ribs.

"You were supposed to be terrified." She grinned. "Are you saying you weren't?"

“Oh, absolutely," I said jokingly. "I'm going to need therapy after that. Lots of it.”