The Wild One (Forever Wild #3) by Magan Vernon Page B

They always treat me like shit and I know coming home, crying, and eating butter doesn’t do anything, but it’s better than letting these guys see me fall. I’ve been working sixty-hour weeks for these juiced up douchebags, trying to improve their membership rate with social media campaigns and I do it. I do it because I’m actually pretty damn good at my job. They tell me that over the phone and by email, but when I have to drop something off to them, and they see me in person, they treat me like I’m the biggest piece of shit."
    She sighed and wiped the makeup from under her eyes. “I know I’m young and not in shape, but that doesn’t mean I suck at my job, you know?"
    “If they don’t want to listen to you then why even try? Forget about them and move on.” I placed my hand on top of hers.
    “I wish I could.” She let out a deep breath. “But it’s my job. I’m just ready to move on to the next round of clients, but I keep getting stuck with everyone else’s grunt work. Sucks about being a first year.” She sucked in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “Sorry to bitch to you about it. I’m just having a pity party.”
    “Darlin’ , you don’t need to apologize to me. I’m here for you. I don’t mind listening.” It sounded cheesy, but there was no other way I could say it. I did like listening to Valerie. She was real and I loved that about her. She never fed me bullshit just because she thought that’s what I wanted to hear. Everything that came out of her mouth was exactly how she would talk to anyone. The girl didn’t have a filter and those things were only meant for vacuums. And vacuums suck.
    “I shouldn’t be sitting here and telling you my problems when you just had to spend your morning with Mrs. Flowers. I should probably be on my knees and thanking you for biting that bullet.” She sniffled and pushed her hair back before smacking her lips together.
    I took my hand off hers and placed it on my knee. I didn’t want her to get the idea that everything we did had to lead to sex. That’s not where I was going. Sure, the sex was great, but that’s not all that I wanted from her.
    “You don’t have to do that.”
    She raised her eyebrows, sliding her fingers along the inseam of my shorts until her fingertips were at the head of my cock. The fine touch of her nails at the tip instantly brought me to life, but I wasn’t going to go there. I saw the pain in her eyes just a few moments before and I saw the pain in her eyes when that dickwad, Max, showed up at her apartment the other night. I wasn’t going to be another guy who took her sorrows away with sex.
    It took everything in my power to grab her hand and pry it away from my cock and put it back on her lap. “I said, you don’t have to do that.”
    She narrowed her eyes. “Seriously? Now you don’t want me either? Do you just prefer old ladies like Mrs. Flowers now?”
    “What? What the hell kind of assumption is that? ” I flinched involuntarily and prayed she didn’t see it. No such luck.
    “Did you just wince like I was going to hit you or something? Were you with so me sort of stripper dominatrix before me?” she practically spat the words.
    “Will you cut all that stripper bullshit? One job mistake in my life and you brand me with that forever. I don’t want to be known as your stripper husband by mistake forever.” I said the words much sharper than I intended and this time it was her who flinched, like I did slap her. I regretted the words the moment I said them.
    “Hey ...” I put my hand to her cheek, running my index finger along her jawline. “I didn’t mean that to hurt you. I was upset and didn’t mean it.”
    “I feel like there’s a lot you’re hiding from me, Wes. Something that you don’t want me to know,” she whispered, looking into my eyes with something between longing and sadness that I could n’t look away from. They hypnotized me and I was glued to the spot.
    “I’m not