Spent (Wrecked #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

“What are you planning on getting into tonight?”
    A hum rose in Derringer’s throat. “Sexy chocolate just moved in next door.”
    Bailey covered her ears. “Nope. Don’t want to know. Regretting I asked.”
    Derringer’s laughter followed him to the door. Bailey smiled at the sound. As if he knew she was no longer covering her ears, Derringer spun right before leaving. “Prude.”
    Since he said it with love, Bailey returned the endearment. “Whore.”
    Derringer’s dimples were full force as he backed out the door. “You should try it sometime.” With a final kiss blown her way, he was gone. Thank goodness, since Bailey could feel her confessions rising to her lips. To the grave. She was taking the night before to her grave. The bell above the door jingled. Bailey glanced up, ready to spar more with Derringer, only to find Lucien filling the doorway. His gorgeous smile took her breath.
    “I thought he’d never leave.”
    In her surprise, Bailey said the first dumbass thing to come to mind. “You’re back.”
    “Yeah, well,” Lucien said, sounding a little shy. “I didn’t get my tattoo.”
    Bailey absently touched her cheeks at the unfamiliar ache growing there. This man. He made her mush and she couldn’t stop smiling. She cleared her throat, trying to sound unaffected, even if she didn’t look it. “As it happens, you’re in luck. My appointment book is completely clear for the night.”
    Lucien made a show of flipping the sign to “closed” behind him before turning the lock. “I’ve changed my mind about the ink.”
    “Then it’s a good thing I didn’t get started on it last night,” Bailey said, biting back her laughter. It wasn’t every day a sexy man locked her inside her place of employment. Lucien’s eyes flashed with mischief as he closed the distance between them.
    “I’ve decided I want something else entirely.”
    Bailey’s voice sounded every bit as turned on as she felt when she found it. “What’s that?”
    “You, or more specifically, your pussy on my lips.”
    Clasping her hands behind her back, Bailey tried her best to keep from jumping on him right then. “You’re going to get me fired. As much as I’m kicking myself for saying this, I need this job.” Was that her still talking? Bailey wanted to slap her own face.
    “I won’t let you get fired. Promise,” he added, making it so easy for her to trust him. Just as he said, he didn’t get her fired that night, or the next, or the one after that.
    * * * * *

    “The doctors tell me you only exist in my mind.” Bailey swallowed past her fear, adding, “They say you’re someone I’ve made up, because I can’t accept the reality of what I’ve done.”
    The affection shining in his dark eyes caused an unfamiliar sensation in her stomach. No one had ever cared about her. At least, not since her mother’s death.
    “What do you think?”
    Bailey shrugged. “My mind plays tricks on me. What if you’re not real?” Panic rose in her chest at the idea. What if he wasn’t? Maybe she was sitting in her room, staring into nothing and having a conversation with herself. Why was life so confusing? Reality should be easier than this. Sometimes, she fought the urge to carve her eyes out. They were liars. They saw things that weren’t there. Made her do things she couldn’t take back. Her heart raced. Her lungs fought for life-giving oxygen, but her blood pumped too fast to deliver.
    Warmth engulfed her hands. When had he moved closer? “Can you feel me?”
    Bailey nodded. “You’re always so warm.”
    A wicked smile touched his lips. “It’s hot where I come from. Now close your eyes.” As always when he spoke, Bailey obeyed. His hands slid higher until his fingers skimmed the insides of her arms at the elbow. “If you can see something, feel it and taste it,” he added, skimming her lips with his and nearly stopping Bailey’s heart, “then it’s real. Even if it’s only in your mind.”
    A loud knock