Off Limits / Ruled. Anne Marsh

get Hughes to take you home.’

      The words seem to be spoken in a foreign language for all the sense they make to me. He’ll get Hughes to take me home? Is he fucking serious? Am I being dismissed?

      I smile, even as my mind is reeling from the sheer rudeness of that statement. ‘I need to finish something at the office.’

      I am amazed by myself. How do I sound so unbothered? So casual? It’s a bald-faced lie, but it’s the best I can come up with while my body is numbed by shock and fulfilled desire.

      He nods. ‘Fine. He can take you there.’ Another tight smile. ‘You’re okay to let yourself out? I’m going to grab a shower.’

      Jesus fucking Christ. Is he indeed?

      ‘I think I can find a door without a map,’ I drawl sarcastically, reaching for my phone without so much as a smile.

      I flick it to life and load my emails, but the words swim before me like one big puddle of grey matter.

      Which is what his brain is going to be against the crisp white wall if I don’t get the hell out of there.

      He walks towards a door across the room and I continue staring at my phone. Yet I know he’s paused and is watching me. So I smile at an imagined joke on my phone, then pretend I’m typing a reply.

      If you’d asked me an hour ago what could go wrong I would have said exactly this. Pushing past the boundaries we’ve always wisely obeyed, only to have Jack reinstating them just as fast as he’s able—brick by brick, blocking me out.

      My fingers move over my phone but I’m play-acting, doing what I can to distract him from the fissures running through my heart, my hopes and my confidence.

      Eventually Jack moves into the bathroom and I hear the shower running.

      Arsehole.

      It might have been the best sex I’ve ever had, but I’m pretty sure it was also the biggest mistake of my life.