Page 71 of Illicit Education

Oh.

Oh.

This was… wow. Okay. I’d definitely spelled it incorrectly.

And it was definitely not macramé plant holders.

Backing out of Etsy quickly, I typed in the correct spelling and giggled as I read the description, then clicked over to images and nearly dropped my phone. I swiftly closed out the screen and looked around, making sure no kids had been nearby when I pulled those pictures up.

Well then.

Another laugh slipped past my lips and I grinned like a fool at my dark phone screen.

This should be an…interestingnight.

I’m not going to say that I took my newly acquired free time this afternoon to shave every inch of my body, but…

I'm not going to say Ididn’tdo that either.

And who could blame me?

I had a date with the most beautiful, powerful man I’d ever seen.

Okay, not adate, but still.

We were meeting up at ten o’clock to go to the Rabbit Hole.

Together.

Date or not, did the wording really matter?

Noooope. This girl was about to get her whip on.

I know, I know, I’m getting ahead of myself. But a girl can dream.

The store was busier tonight than it had been all week, but with the pub across the street busier on the weekends than on most other nights, the influx of people made sense. More revelers meant more lookie-loos, and window shoppers often turned intoactualshoppers.

Plus, Mina had created an inviting environment. People just felt drawn to come inside.

I scanned the store for Reed as often as I could, but my attention was almost always on the stream of customers and I hadn’t seen him all night. I hadn’t smelled him either, which was nearly as disappointing.

By nine-forty-five doubt had begun to settle heavy in my gut. Maybe he’d changed his mind. It wasn’t that unlikely, really. After all, I was hisintern. Interacting with me outside of work was surely against the rules, or, at the very least, highly frowned upon.

And I was ninety-nine percent sure that pleased look in his eyes earlier had something to do with the shareholders meeting this afternoon, and that, I guessed, had something to do with Cabot taking his father’s place as the head of Reed Enterprises. I knew it had been in the works for some time, but my gut told me that change in leadership had been confirmed today.

Which meant… maybe he’d realized he couldn’t spend time with me tonight. Or ever, really. And especially not here.

I get it,I tried to remind myself.It makes sense.

Didn’t make it suck any less, though, honestly.

There was this small, quiet part of me that tried to convince me that getting to know Cabot Reed at the Rabbit Hole was worth more than the twelve-week internship I’d worked my ass off to acquire.

That part of me was an irresponsible harlot, completely consumed by lust, obviously, but she got a little louder as each moment passed and he didn’t show up. Harlot Rylanreallywanted me to track him down and quit the internship, then throw myself into his arms.

I was answering questions about garter belts to the best of my ability when my blood heated, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and my body did everything in its power to alert me to his presence.

Lifting my gaze to the entrance of the store, my words trailed off.