AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s never not fucking hard around you, you tease.”
I grin. “That’s what you get when you have a girl who guards her heart with sex.”
Tyler doesn’t reply. He studies me across the table, his gorgeous eyes flicking over my face. He scratches his jaw, still watching me thoughtfully, and leans back. “I have to ask you something.”
“Um, okay?”
“Stone Advertising is throwing a party—it’s a celebration for Aaron. In one year, he smashed every expectation anyone had. He pushed the company into the billion-dollar threshold and managed to secure a five-year contract with the newest, hottest fashion designer before anyone had even heard of her.”
“Impressive.” I sip my hot chocolate, keeping my face impassive. I think I know where this is going, and I’m trying to ignore the thump of my heart.
“It’s next weekend. Saturday.”
I’m not working Saturday. Dammit.
“I’ve been invited. So have you.”
“Good to know. Where are you going with this?”
His lips twitch. “I want you to go with me.”
“It’s not really a good idea if we’re seen together at a company party. Don’t you think?”
He laughs. “I knew you’d say that. But here’s the thing—I’m not employed by Aaron. And neither are you. You employ his agency.”
I open my mouth but immediately close it again. Dammit. I don’t have an argument for that.
“So it doesn’t really matter if we go together. We’re not breaking any rules.”
“Um.” My mouth is dry. I drink, but it makes no difference. “When you say ‘go together,’ do you mean like…”
“A date, Liv. Yes. I’m asking you to come with me as my date.”
I exhale slowly. Ooookay. “Um. I… I have to go. I can’t think right now. I…” I close my eyes and stand up. “I’m sorry. Please let me go think.”
He looks like he wants to argue. To fight. But he doesn’t. He simply nods once and I run out of the restaurant.
My head pounds as I walk through Seattle. I’m not paying any attention to where I’m going. I’m just walking.
A date. That’s…a big, almost nonexistent line. Sure, the drink in the bar and the drink just then could have been constituted as dates. Hell, the time we had dinner with Day and Aaron and Tyler pinned me against my car and kissed the fuck out of me could have been a date.
But none were ever defined. And I can deal with that. I can deal with a hazy fog of not knowing because then I can convince myself that it’s not real and I don’t crave his touch or the sound of his voice or the flick of his tongue and oh my god.
I am so fucking fucked.
I lean against a wall and bury my face in my hands. Here it is—my admission to myself.
I’m getting addicted to Tyler Stone. Not only my mind, but my body, too. And quite possibly my heart.
That’s the worst. The heart. If I agree to this date, I’m agreeing to let my heart get addicted. It’s one thing for my body to crave him. It’s something quite different if my heart does.
Because bodies can’t be destroyed by love. Hearts can. Even minds can be.
I learned that the hard way. No one ever told me how brutal love was. They never told me how, coupled with addiction, it could shatter you. Ruin you.
Because when you get addicted to something, that something becomes your whole world. It becomes the central point for your existence. You live for nothing but the addiction, and every minute you aren’t feeding it is a minute you’re craving it.
Walking away from it takes willpower. It takes mental strength and determination—something that’s easy to come by when you don’t want what you’re addicted to. Then you have a reason to say no. You have a reason to turn your back.
