Layers Peeled Read Online Free

truth, I wanted more myself.
    “I need to
clean up and start work.”
    “You’re still
recovering and need to rest.”
    “Hell with
rest. I need to get those girls out.”
    “You’re not
going out there with my baby. Not yet at least,” he pulled me in. I
liked the way he said “my baby.”
    “Our baby.” I
stepped up on my toes and kissed him on his scarred lip. “I can’t
sit at home for the next eight months.”
    Tristan
buttoned up his shirt and straightened his tie. “I’m fine with you
working, but in moderation. And from your office here, and that’s
only after your doctor clears you and you move back in with
me.”
    I hadn’t
thought about living arrangements, and had assumed I’d remain in my
apartment with Laura. “Why?”
    “First,
because I never wanted you to move out, and second, because I’d
like to keep an eye on you and our little... Puss?”
    “Yeah, by the
way, Emma will be naming our child, and please don’t ask why.”
    “Okay, my
sister has been oddly quiet the past couple of weeks.” He lowered
his hand to my belly again. I liked it when he did that. “Has she
scammed you to find out before me?”
    “No, she’s
been a great support.”
    “For what it’s
worth, I’m glad it’s not a secret anymore. But we still have our
parents to break the news to. I think they’ll be ecstatic.”
    My heart beat
in agreement.
    “And I’m glad
it’s not a secret anymore as well,” he kissed the top of my
head.
    Tristan wasn’t
even upset with me that I hadn’t told him earlier. But that was the
kind of a man he was. Honor, trust, and instinct guided his
actions. I loved that about him. And for the first time in weeks,
actually for the first time since meeting Tristan, I finally
thought my life would settle down.
    Boy, was I
ever wrong.

     

CHAPTER 3
     
    “I should be
in bed!” I screamed over the loud music, peeking at my phone every
five minutes, watching my hours of sleep shorten.
    Laura wrapped
her arm around my waist, saying, “The only bed you should be in is
Tristan’s, and since he’s not available, you’re stuck with us.”
    Because Laura
and I had left the force, the girls from our squad wanted to throw
us a ‘good luck’ party – otherwise known as an excuse to go out –
and the four of us ended up at Kissed, Tristan’s nightclub. And
since Tristan had left this morning for a business trip to
Washington, the night was all for me and the girls. I couldn’t deny
I wished that Tristan could be here, but how could he be? I’d never
heard him mention the club nor seen him go out to party. He wasn’t
the type. But then why did he own Kissed in the first place? Part
of me suspected there was more to his trips to the capital than he
led on, but I knew he’d tell me about it on his own terms when he
was ready.
    The crowd at
Kissed buzzed with life, jumping up and down in a sequence of
waves. Above, half-naked women wearing not much more than body
paint swung overhead. Near the four corners of the dance floor,
metal cages contained pairs of dancers who were grinding their
bodies, twerking, and showing off moves that should have been saved
for the bedroom. I had to say I was curious to see what they’d do
next, which I realized was the whole point of the show. The two
girls closest to us had the largest audience of men, whistling and
gawking, but their enclosures were high enough that no one could
touch them.
    Further away,
in the second cage, a sculpted hunk grazed his slick hands over a
girl’s body. Oil dripped off her as she lost herself to his touch.
The bikini top barely covered her nipples, and her bottoms had
found a hiding spot in her ass crack. I imagined the couple as
Tristan and me, minus the crowd of a drooling audience. Although
the idea of having someone watch us felt pretty arousing as well.
His palms would spread the grease over my arms and chest, just the
way this cage master was doing. A deep yearning tightened in my
stomach. I missed Tristan. The