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“It’s that you actually believe the ridiculous nonsense that comes out of your mouth.”

She did have a point.

“Not all of it, but most of it,” I corrected.

She turned suddenly and reached up to my face.

I held very still, caught, fascinated, enthralled by the idea of what she’d do next.

She ran her thumb slowly over my bottom lip, once, twice. My eyelids drifted shut, but I forced them open to watch the way she was looking at me.

It was insane, with the amount of hedonistic delights I’d buried myself in over the years, but I’d swear it was the most sensual thing I’d ever experienced.

I was trembling. I’d never wanted anyone like this. Her thumb on my lips was more intense than full on penetration with another woman. It was bedlam.

I told myself, in some twisted attempt at comfort, that I only felt this newfound level of desperation due to the simple fact that I’d been depriving myself, but even I had a hard time buying it.

Deprivation alone could not account for this.

My hand moved, I watched it, though I didn’t control it at this point, to caress her breast.

I took a deep breath, then another, my need rising up to the surface until I was choking on it.

“Not to be overdramatic,” I told her gruffly, rubbing her nipple through her thin white blouse, “but if I can’t get my dick inside of you soon, I think I might die.”

She laughed, the sadist.

She moved away, but she was as affected, as unsteady, as I was. She went behind her desk and sat down heavily, like her legs couldn’t hold her weight anymore.

I put my hands up in the air, backing toward the door. “I get the hint. But if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”

She just watched me, her eyes eating me alive, and I wondered how a virgin had perfected a soul-sucking stare like that. It was out of fucking line.

She stopped me when she spoke.

“You’re overwhelming, Thorn,” she said quietly and with no expression. “Too much of everything.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Not even close.”

I squinted at her. “Are you sure?” It was worth a shot. I could spin anything. When she didn’t respond, I changed tactics. “You know, you’re pretty overwhelming yourself.”

When she squinted back like I’d made her curious, it felt like a small but pointed victory. “Is that a compliment?”

I smirked. “Absolutely.” I walked away.

I was still receiving my usual texts from women. Somehow I wasn’t even a little bit tempted, in fact I’d taken to categorically discouraging them.

For some reason none of them took me seriously.

A name I vaguely recognized sent me a particularly close up, detailed picture of her vagina.

Me: No ty. I’m a vegan now.

Her: Lol. Want me to come over tonight?

Me: No, I’m out of town indefinitely.