Watch Me - Page 86

“Did you grow up around here?” he asks after a few seconds.

“No.” I don’t elaborate. I don’t want to encourage him.

“You have this girl-next-door vibe that says you aren’t from the big, scary city. Kind of vulnerable.”

My gaze sharpens on him. I’m not weak. I’ve been helpless before, but I won’t cave to anyone else.

He holds up his hands. “No offense. Really. It’s sweet and refreshing. Those other dames scared me with their sharp edges.”

The other women. I wonder if the guys will ever tell me about them. How they felt about each of them? Did they ever love any of them? My gut churns at the thought of the men looking softly at another woman.

Fuck, I shouldn’t be getting attached. Yes, the arrangement will be for the foreseeable future, but it isn’t permanent. I’m not permanent to any of them, which is fine. If I try to give them my heart, these guys could destroy me.

I need to keep myself in line.

“Hey, you checked out there for a moment.” Fox smirks.

“Sorry, lots to do today and still not feeling entirely well.” I give another little cough.

“I think I saw some soup in that order, so make yourself a bowl. You’ll be right as rain before you know it.”

When the elevator stops, he exits into the lobby. His gaze holds mine for a moment. “Stay sweet, Madison.”

* * *

After I put away the groceries, I head up to the office and try to get as much done in the remaining hours as possible. The guys each swing by my desk offering me water, coffee, a sweet. It’s nice, and I feel taken care of, but I need to focus, and they are huge distractions.

I barely notice the fading light. Then the guys head out for the day, except Seth. He remains in his office while I’m busy trying to figure out a financial problem Noah has me looking into.

“That’s time, princess.” Seth flips off the light in his office and comes out to my desk. “Shut it down. You need dinner and some downtime before bed.”

I want to argue with him about the downtime. I barely had downtime during college. It’s a luxury I’m not sure I can afford. I have so much to learn and do that I’m afraid I’ll always be behind.

But instead of protesting, I turn off my computer and grab my purse out of my drawer. I know I don’t technically need it, but if I want something from the vending machine, it’s easier to have access to my money than to stop at the apartment first. Not that I’m allowed to go to the vending machines on the lower floor right now.

When I stand, Seth takes ahold of my elbow and leads me to the elevator. “Did you get a good nap?”

Was I fucked into a coma? “Yes.”

“I’m sure the days will get easier as the week wears on.” The elevator arrives and we step into it. “Did you look over the list?”

I shake my head. “I can look over it tonight.”

He nods thoughtfully. “You don’t need answers for everything, but we need to know what you definitely don’t want so we don’t cross any lines.”

“I thought that’s what the safe word was for?” I tip my face up to his as the elevator stops. We walk to the door, but he stops before we go in.

“There are things none of us will be into.”

“Then why are they on the list?”

“It’s a comprehensive list. We’ll each fill one out for you for Friday to tell you what we want.” His lip quirks up but not into a full smile. “But there are things, if they’re a hard limit for either of us, we can avoid. That way, you don’t have to say stop as someone is peeing on you.”

“Ew.” I didn’t even consider golden showers. And I’m not going to. “That’s definitely on the not-in-this-lifetime list.”

His low chuckle fills me so full. “So look over the options and make your hard limits list. On Friday, we’ll get into soft limits and enthusiastic yeses.”

I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot of enthusiastic yeses with these guys.