Page 48 of The Monster and the Masochist

Fuck. This was such a bad idea.

“Wanna say that again, princess?” she rumbled in that delicious rasp of hers, and I swallowed so hard I was sure she heard it.

“Wh-what? Can you not read?”

She let out a loud, dark chuckle, and all the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I squeezed my thighs tighter together.

“Oh, I can read, baby girl. I just wasn’t expecting to be proposed to today. Especially not over text.”

“I wasn’t proposing to you!” I protested, but this only seemed to amuse Theo more.

“What would you call it then? You just asked me to marry you, Cassandra.”

My face flushed with heat, and I squirmed uncomfortably on my couch.

These feelings were foreign and annoying, and I hated them.

“It’s a favor. We have a new client who won’t work with me because I’m too hot and single, apparently. So… I might have sorta… told the partners I was engaged. And now I need to get married by the end of the week, or they’re going to know I lied.”

There was a long beat of silence, and I held my breath.

My face was so hot it felt like it was literally going to melt off.

“Can you say something?” I whispered, hating how vulnerable and unsure I was suddenly feeling.

Why did it feel like she was judging me?

Why did I care?

Finally, Theo spoke, but to my surprise, there wasn’t a single trace of judgment in her tone.

“Cassandra. You shouldn’t have to marry someone to be taken seriously at work. That’s the most bullshit thing I’ve ever heard.”

She almost sounded angry, and I swallowed again. A thrilling rush of something humming through my body at the rough gravel in her tone.

“Yeah, well, that’s what I said, but… I kind of screwed myself here. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I told them I was engaged, and I can’t really go back on it now.”

Theo sighed, and I heard what sounded like a shower turning on in the background.

Jesus, was she… going to shower?! With me on the phone?

An image of a sopping wet and naked Theodora Fairview standing under a hot stream of water flickered across my mind’s eye, causing me to blush even harder.

“Are you taking a fucking shower right now?” I snapped

“I’m about to. Just waiting for the water to warm up. Why? Wanna switch to FaceTime? I look amazing naked, Princess.”

“Shut up.”

“If we’re getting married, you might as well get used to it. I sleep in the nude.”

“Theodora!”

She snickered, and I wriggled uncomfortably in my seat again.

“Can you be serious, please? I need an answer. For real. Because if it’s a no, I’m going to have to find someone else.”