“I didn’t think you were.”
“Then tell me,” she coaxes, her voice lowering to a murmur.
“I was thinking about what you’re doing right now. Are you in bed? What are you wearing? And also, I wish you were next to me in my empty, cold bed.”
“Is that your British way of wooing me?” Violet teases with a playful laugh, which doesn’t help my growing erection.
“Yes, and it’s working.”
Another laugh tumbles over the line to me. Light and carefree. “And how would you know that?”
I can’t stop the grin on my face as I answer her. “Well, firstly, you haven’t hung up yet, and secondly, you haven’t refused a second date yet either.” They’re both facts. And she cannot dispute them because she’s gone silent. “Which means, my charming personality is clearly working unless you just like listening to my accent as you lie in bed, naked.”
“I am not naked!” Her outrage is playful, the giggle that greets me is music to my ears, and I want to hear it again.
“How do I know?”
“You will just have to believe me.”
“I’m sorry, I’m going to need proof,” I taunt her. The banter has my dark mood from earlier dissipating, and I enjoy the laugh that she gifts me.
“You are getting no proof,” she bites back. “I don’t send photos to guys I’ve just met.”
“How many dates does it take to get nudes?” I question, earning me a gasp of surprise. “A guy’s gotta try anything he can in this day and age.”
“You’re so annoying,” Violet declares, attempting to sound serious, but her voice is tainted with amusement.
“But, I’m making you smile.” It’s a challenge. This time, I’m not joking around. I’m serious because she is smiling, and she cannot deny it. If there’s one thing I learned in life, if you make a woman smile, she’ll end up giving you her heart. And I may not be that far down the line with Violet yet, but gut instinct tells me I will be in the near future.
16
Violet
“Smooth, Mr. B,” I tease with a grin. I feel like a teenager, talking to my crush on the phone, but deep down, that small niggle of doubt continues to take hold of me.
“Mr. B?” he questions, and I can hear the smile on his face.
“Yeah, Mr. Brazen Bachelor.” It’s the moniker they gave him for the line of underwear. He chuckles through the line, and I can’t deny it does things to me. Just the deep huskiness of his laugh sends shivers down my spine, and heat pools between my thighs.
“I think you like the fact that I’m cheeky,” he flirts. “And I think you’re lying on your bed thinking filthy things. All of those I promise to bestow on those perfect curves of yours.” His words hit me right at my center, and I have to bite my tongue because if I don’t, I will moan.
Silence fills the air between us. And I wonder if he’s hard. If his hand is there, on his cock as he talks to me. But I shake my head, hoping to clear it of all the dirty thoughts that are racing through my mind.
“Isn’t that right, Violet?” His challenge is clear. He wants me to admit how much I really like him. But I can’t, not yet.
“I think it’s time you went to bed,” I dodge instead. I’m skirting around the subject, and Colton can read right through me because he chuckles.
“I am in bed.”
“Well, go to sleep.”
“Oh, I will,” he informs me. “And I’ll dream of you.” The promise is there, and I don’t want him to take back what he just said. “Goodnight, Violet. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Before I have time to tell him anything else, he hangs up, and I’m left with a needy body and a black screen.
I glance down at the sheets tangled between my legs and wonder just what it would feel like to be beside Colton right now. How he’d feel. He definitely has my mind spinning with what he said, because yes, I had been thinking about going all the way, but then, so have many other females.
The thought of any other woman out there touching him, wanting him, or even looking his way makes me insanely jealous, but he doesn’t belong to me. Nobody owns anyone else, and I just don’t know if I would be okay with dating a man who possibly every female on the planet wants.
Sighing, I roll over, pull the sheet over my head, and allow sleep to steal me. Tomorrow is another day, and an exciting one at that.
By the time I reach the office, I’ve checked my phone for messages from the boss lady, but there have been none. The traffic was insane today, and it was the first day I chose not to take the subway. Of course, I was stuck four blocks from the office, which has now made me fifteen minutes late getting to my desk.