Twenty minutes later, the phone sat silent on the bedside table. Pike crawled into bed and turned out the lights.
He told Oakley he’d always respect a no.
Now he just needed to learn how to accept one.
THIRTEEN
Oakley stared at the ceiling, her body on fire and her mind on high-speed blend. She’d followed Pike’s instructions word for word, had tried hard not to think too much but to act instead. It had worked until he’d turned the tables. Now she was lying in bed in a silk cami and lace panties and panicking.
He wanted her to make the next move. To call. But she knew what would happen then. They’d do what they’d done the other night. She wouldn’t be able to resist. Her libido would steamroll her good sense. It already had.
No. She couldn’t call. She would take care of this herself. Beyond the stuff she’d bought at Wicked, she now had an arsenal of things to satisfy her needs. She would shut her phone off and test a few out. As soon as she got an orgasm out of the way, this insanity would abate. This was simply hormones. They made her daring, reckless, stupid.
She glanced at the clock. The five-minute time limit had long passed. If Pike had been waiting, he wouldn’t be anymore. This would effectively end their—well, whatever this was. Nice and clear message. Thanks but no thanks.
She let her hand drift down to the band of her panties. Her skin was fever hot beneath her fingertips and her clit pulsed, her entire body growing more and more impatient. But when she touched where she most needed, instead of providing relief, it only sent a frisson of restlessness through her. Frustrated, she grabbed the little bullet vibrator from her bedside drawer and flicked it on. At the first touch of it, she flinched, the stimulation almost too much. She eased back, trying to find the right speed and angle. She sighed into the pleasure of it. Okay, this would work. She closed her eyes and tried to fall into the sensations. But she couldn’t keep her focus, and after a few minutes, she felt stuck at the same plateau—feeling pleasant but too distracted to get to where she needed to go. She stroked a little harder and closed her eyes. But it was useless. If anything, she felt the release sliding further away from her. Dammit.
What would Pike have given as the next step? What would he have had her do? And how much different would all this feel with his voice in her ear?
“Fuck it.” She turned off the vibrator and tossed it to the side. Her other hand closed around her phone. She flipped it over and pressed what her thumb had been hovering over for almost an hour.
He picked up on the second ring and cleared his throat. But no greeting.
“Pike?”
“You’re late,” he said. No accusation there, just observation and sleep-softened words.
“I’m confused.”
He made a sound under his breath. “Join the club.”
“Yeah?” She splayed her hand over her stomach, reveling in the sound of his voice in the dark, enjoying the way her breath automatically quickened. Somehow when they were like this it seemed okay. A fantasy in the night. Only a dream. “I’m not interrupting some wild night with a groupie?”
“Always thinking the worst of me, huh?” he asked, his tone teasing. “For the record, I turned down three different offers after the show because all I wanted to do was come home and imagine you following my instructions.”
“Rock-star fail.”
He laughed, low and soft. “So was I wasting those thoughts?”
She closed her eyes. “Meaning?”
“Did you follow my instructions?”
She wet her lips and took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have.”
She could almost hear his slow smile over the phone. “Ah, but you did.”
“If I died of a heart attack right now, the paramedics would find a glass dildo chilling in a wine bucket. The papers would have a field day.”
“Mmm, is it bad that imagining that is making me hard?”
“My death turns you on. Noted.”
“I’m kinky like that.”
“Are you?” she blurted, then cringed when she realized how it sounded. “I mean, not the death thing, but, in general?”
His bed springs creaked. “I’m not vanilla.”