Gabi Moore - Mindgasm - A Bad Boy Romance With A Twist

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NORA:

H appily ever afters ?

No such thing.

Life isnt a fairy tale. Once you kill the dragon and rescue the princess, you start to wonder if maybe the princess and the dragon needed each other, and before you know it, another dragon appears, and the slaying starts all over again

Suddenly I have everything Ive ever wanted. And so much more. Sometimes I wake up at night and have to remind myself that Im not dreaming, and that the gorgeous man sleeping bare-chested in the bed beside me is 100% real.

He loves me, and I love him. But theres something dark inside me.

Now Im afraid of what Im capable of, afraid of how far Im pushing things. If flirting with death like this could ruin everything I love, could destroy my entire world and everything I fought so hard to hold onto then why does it feel so damn good?

DEAN:

Nora scares me. But she scares me in a way that I cant look away. I dont want to look away.

Every man feels like the woman he loves is nothing like all the other women; he feels like shes another creature entirely, not of this world, a rare prize hes won. And I felt that way about Nora.

But if I want to keep up with her

I dont even know where were going anymore. Money is my thing. Im a businessman, I excel in the world of solid rationality, of action, and there hasnt been a puzzle yet that can stump me for long. But Nora Nora deals in a stranger currency. Her beautiful body is a riddle to me, her mind is a maze.

I would do anything for that woman, for that naughty glint she sometimes gets in her eyes when she looks at me but says nothing. Anything for the taste of her lips, anything to hear that secret sound she makes when shes on the brink of ecstasy.

But even Im not sure if I have what she needs from me

P ain is a gift .

A beautiful, sharp knife that slices away at the nonessential and leaves only the raw, bleeding truth behind.

You dont want pain. Youre afraid of it. You dont want to submit, and you dont want to let go.

But you must submit to it.

And you will.

At the center of the world is a great, whirring engine, the glowing heart of the machine that keeps everything running, and this engine is pain. I hear you say, no, that cant be! but it doesnt matter that you think that. In the end, all our illusions are ripped from us, whether we are prepared for it or not, and when yours are taken away, it will hurt. Oh, it will hurt a great deal.

Pain is the fuel that powers the mechanism you know as your life; its the fuel to your every thought, every feeling, every twitch and roll of the muscles under your skin. And if your view wasnt so narrowed, you would understand pain for the miracle it is, for the beautiful source of energy it always has been, humming at the middle of your universe like a sun.

You think its all about love.

You think its about kindness and truth and beauty.

But just wait.

Pain has yet to have its way with you. It still needs to roll you around on its rough tongue and chew you up and spit you out, and teach you that deep, stinging lesson that youd give anything not to learn. You are right love is important. But you are flawed, and small, and fearful. The distance between you and endless love is great.

Nothing will get you there, nothing is powerful enough to catapult you from the mundane rut of your life to that love you crave, nothing is strong enough to shatter the things youre holding onto so your hands are empty for something better.

Nothing except pain.

Pain is a gift.

I love you.

And Im going to hurt you.

R emember when we used to do this but with cocktails? I said, and held up a jumbo pack of diapers before tossing it into the cart.

Melissa smiled drily and carried on scanning the shelves.

Nah. I dont think Ive ever had a cocktail in my life. People tell me I was young and carefree once, but I think its all a big conspiracy, she said and winked at me.

I looked down at our haul.

Cauliflower. Toilet cleaner. Bin bags. Apple juice.

I sighed and pushed the cart along after her. It had felt like a good idea at the time. We barely saw each other anymore, but we always needed to shop, and shopped at the same store. So why not have a grocery shopping meetup? That those words had ever crossed my lips now made me cringe.

What do you think that hot cashier would say if we went over there with a cart filled with cucumbers and lube? I said, as we walked past the condom aisle. She chuckled under her breath.

Cucumbers and lube? Wed have to add something else to get a rise out of him I think. A bottle of vodka. And some cable ties.

How many items do you have to add to a cart of cucumbers and lube before it stops looking shady and starts looking normal? I said idly and looked down at my shopping list to see if Id forgotten anything.

Oh, its definitely six. Theres probably a mathematical formula for it.

We rounded the corner and went back again through the produce section.

Melissa?

Yeah?

Melissa, Im bored to death.

She stopped the cart and looked at me.

Youre the one who wanted to shop together.

I mean with everything. Im bored with everything.

She slowly started pushing the cart again.

Ill never understand you, Nora, she said and began to examine the blueberries. I thought things were going well for you.

They are. Theyre wonderful.

Youre married to a man who adores you

I know.

You have a beautiful, healthy little girl.

I know

And youre doing a job that you love. Right?

Yeah. Right.

So, wheres the problem?

I grabbed a box of blueberries from her hand and chucked them in the cart already.

Ugh, thats the thing. It doesnt feel like I deserve to be unhappy about it, does it?

Well sure, you can be unhappy, but I dont get why. This is what you wanted, isnt it? This is your happily ever after.

I sighed.

The thing about happily ever afters is that well, theyre the