Free Having Her: Lies We Tell, Book 2 by Jackie Ashenden Page B

what it was like to take pleasure for himself and had found a certain freedom in being selfish. He wanted that again. As much as he could get for as long as he could get it. If he was going to spend the next three weeks worried out of his mind about Ellie and his mother, then shit, didn’t he deserve it?
    The rest of the café faded away as Vin strode up to the counter, his gaze locked onto Kara’s.
    She’d frozen into place, green eyes wide in her flushed face, bringing to mind all sorts of delicious memories.
    “I want to talk to you,” he demanded without preamble.
    Her throat moved, her gaze darting away to her customers then back to him again. “I’m kind of busy, Vin.”
    “Then I’ll say it here.” He was sick of games. Impatient with pretense and denial. “What we did two nights ago I want to do again.”
    Her flush deepened, became scarlet. But there were sparks of anger in her eyes. She put down the metal milk jug she was holding, banging it on the counter. “Jesus, you can’t just walk in here and—”
    “If you don’t want it, just say no and I’ll never bother you again.”
    Kara, her mouth still open, blinked.
    Every muscle in his body pulled tight, waiting for her to answer.
    Please, God, say yes. Please.
    “Vin, I…”
    “Tell me, Kara.”
    She let out a breath and looked away from him.
    No. It was going to be a no. The disappointment was so bitter he could almost taste it on his tongue.
    “Yes,” she murmured, her voice so low it was almost inaudible. “I do want it.”
    For a second he didn’t quite understand, so sure he’d been of a different answer. Then, as disappointment became something else, a satisfaction so deep he wanted to reach over and grab her there and then, he put his hands in his pockets to keep from doing just that.
    “Good,” he said, trying to keep his voice level. “Text me when you’re ready.”
    Then he turned and left without another word. Needing to get out of her immediate vicinity before he did something stupid like haul her away from her café and into his car. Into the backseat where he could pull up her skirt, rip off her panties and bury himself inside her.
    Instead he went back to his office, feeling better than he had in weeks. Which was weird since the prospect of sex didn’t normally affect him like this.
    Then again, it wasn’t just ordinary sex, was it? It was sex with Kara. And he didn’t know why that should make it different but it did.
    He told himself he didn’t care when she texted him, but he kept checking his phone the rest of the morning all the same.
    Tonight. He hoped it would be tonight. And that she’d want to do again what they’d done two nights ago.
    His slave. His property.
    Vin scowled at his computer screen and reached down to adjust the hard-on that had made itself unwelcome in his jeans.
    This was crazy. If Kara didn’t text him soon he’d have to go back to the café again. And this time perhaps he would haul her away from the counter and into his car instead of just thinking about it.
    Someone knocked on his office door then opened it without waiting for him to speak.
    “For fuck’s sake,” Vin growled, irritated with the interruption. It would either be Hunter or Ellie since no one else just barged into his office like that. “Could you wait—”
    The words died away the instant he raised his head to see who it was. Because it wasn’t either Hunter or Ellie.
    It was Kara.
    He stared at her with a certain amount of shock as she closed the door behind her then leaned against it. She had her long black coat wrapped around her, incongruous in the summer heat, and there was a spark of defiance, of challenge, in her eyes.
    Vin’s breath caught, his body tensing. “What the hell are you doing here?”
    She ignored the question. “First of all,” she said, her voice breathless and a little shaky, “you should know that I don’t want a relationship. All I want is sex. So whatever is between us doesn’t mean