Read Online Strip Me Bare by Marissa Carmel - Free Book Online Page A

up onto one hand, and he’s
smiling. A huge shit-eating grin.
    Cocky bastard.
    “I could do that all day,” he moans in my
ear.
    “I could let you,” I laugh.
    “I want to be the only person who does that
to you,” he slides his nose up and down my cheek.
    I bite my lip. “One thing at a time,” I tell
him.
    “I’ll take whatever I can get,” he kisses me
compellingly and digs his hard-on into my hip.
     

     
    A noise wakes me. It sounds like an alarm. I
pick my head up and see Ryan reaching for his phone. We stayed in
bed all day, and it was, amazing? Remarkable? Incredible? None of
these words really encompass it.
    No sex, just discovery.
    Ryan shifts, kisses me on the forehead, and
then slips out of bed.
    “Where are you going?” I ask groggy.
    “Shower, then work.”
    I bolt upright, “Work? But it’s
Thursday.”
    “Yeah? I work Thursday, Friday and Saturday
nights.”
    My heart sinks into my ribcage as reality
sets in; I have to share him with other women. I cringe as I think
about last week, watching him bump and grind all over Emily. And
now he’s going to go do that to some other girl tonight. I feel
sick. After the day we had, how am I supposed to let him out the
front door?
    “Alana, are you okay?” Ryan asks. “You look
pale.”
    I gaze up at him. He’s standing by the
hallway, a towel draped over his shoulder, looking all hot and sexy
and deliciously edible.
    Oh God, oh God, what do I tell him? Not to
go? That I’m too insecure with his career choice? That the thought
of his hands on another woman makes me want to break something?
    I throw the covers off and hop out of bed; I
grab my clothes and dress hastily. Maybe if I get out of here fast
enough we won’t have to talk about this.
    “Alana?” Ryan is suddenly grabbing my arm,
“Don’t leave.”
    “What am I supposed to do Ryan, hang around
here by myself while you’re out humping other women?”
    I’ll go nuts.
    “I thought we talked about this?”
    “We glazed over the subject, we did not talk
about it.”
    “I don’t want you to go,” he says
forcefully.
    “I can’t stay here forever Ryan, I need to go
home eventually.”
    “Alana, they don’t mean anything to me,” he
says tensely. “It’s just a job.”
    “So you’ve told me,” I bite.
    “Alana-”
    “Don’t, Ryan.”
    “Alana, I don’t have anything else. I need
this job.”
    “And what about me?”
    “I need you too. Just give me a little time.”
He scrambles, “I’m trying to save some money so I can start my own
business. You know, being a convicted felon my future’s fucked. No
company worth shit will ever hire me. And I don’t want to end up on
my ass somewhere with nothing to show for my life.”
    Shit. How do you argue with that?
    “What kind of business?” I ask uneasily.
    He goes over to his dresser, opens a drawer,
pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to me. My breath catches
when I look at it. “Is…Is this supposed to be us?”
    Ryan nods. Now, I can’t pretend to know
anything about graphic design, but the picture I’m staring at is
two people who look like avatars from a video game. They’re sitting
on the beach, a handsome boy with light eyes holding a girl with
long blonde hair. They’re watching the sunset on a blue and white
hemp blanket, just like we used to do.
    It’s almost surreal.
    “You made this?” I look up at him.
    “It was my final project. I got my associate
degree in prison. Graphic design.”
    I immediately recall an echo of a
conversation from our past. Even though Ryan was three years older
than me, he didn’t have a college degree or really know which
direction his life was headed. He was so artistically talented
though, always doodling on napkins or sketching something in the
sand. So I suggested he do something with graphic design. And right
now, I’m unexpectedly holding my advice in my hand.
    I can’t believe the detail; the color of the
sand is almost perfect. The sunset looks like watercolor