He gasped a sudden breath as his body signaled impending release. It took every ounce of concentration he had not to unman himself right there in the changing room, while still wearing trousers. They weren’t even his trousers either. He growled and clenched, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes, willing himself not to come.
“What is it?” Ellen panted. “What’s wrong?”
“Excuse me, sir? Are you still in here, sir?”
The voice of the shop attendant who had helped him earlier was exactly what Joseph needed to fend off potential disaster. His body recoiled, and even though his cock still stood at attention and his balls throbbed with the need to release, the orgasm that nearly took him receded, pulsing through him instead of letting loose.
He took a few deep breaths before calling out, “I will be finished in a moment.”
He would have been finished in a moment if he hadn’t stopped himself.
“Very good, sir,” the attendant called back. “Do you require any assistance?” His question came from just on the other side of the door, and the handle rattled a little, as though he would invite himself in.
“No!” Joseph shouted, then cleared his throat. “That is, no. I have things well in hand.”
His hand was still full of Ellen’s curvaceous backside. She caught the double meaning he hadn’t intended and began to laugh silently.
Joseph’s eyes went wide as he fought down the insane impulse to laugh as well.
“Very good, sir,” the attendant repeated. “If you find you require assistance, I will be just outside.”
Joseph breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the man’s steps retreating. A moment later, he tensed again and cursed.
“What is it?” Ellen whispered. “He’s gone.” She slid her leg away from his—somewhat reluctantly, if Joseph wasn’t mistaken.
Joseph shook his head. “He’s right outside,” he said. “How do we slip past without him seeing you?”
Instead of being alarmed, as he felt the situation called for, Ellen snorted into another laugh. She had to clap a hand over her mouth to hold it in.
“It isn’t funny, Ellen,” he said in tight, clipped tones.
“Yes, it is,” Ellen insisted.
Joseph spent all of two seconds being staunchly indignant. Then he burst into laughter himself. “Alright, it is funny. But how do we get away without being discovered and creating a scandal that even Montrose would be jealous of?”
Ellen finished giggling, attempted to sober up, laughed again, took a step back from him, cleared her throat, and said, “This is quite a pickle, isn’t it.”
Joseph gaped at her. She was unbelievable, wild, irresponsible…and very possibly the most wonderful thing in the entire world. If it wouldn’t have been utterly bizarre, he would have dropped to his knees right there in the changing room and proposed to her.
She gasped, and for a moment Joseph worried he’d spoken that sentiment aloud. Then she said, “I know. I know how we can escape without me being seen.”
“How?” he asked, his patience at an end, but buzzing with affection and desire and the energy of the orgasm he’d been forced to deny.
Ellen glanced around, then picked up the suit jacket they’d discarded earlier. She shoved it into his arms, then reached for the other two suits he’d brought into the room earlier as well.
“Buy these,” she ordered him. “Take them to the man at the counter and distract him by purchasing everything. While he’s busy ringing up your order, I’ll slip out. Then I’ll come around and join you as if nothing were out of the ordinary.”
He blinked at her. Actually, that plan might work.
A moment later, he deflated. “I do not think I have the money for one of these suits, let alone all of them.”
Ellen huffed impatiently, then reached into the pocket of her skirt and drew out a small purse. She opened it and handed him a folded wad of bills. “This should be enough.”
Joseph nearly sank against the changing room’s wall. “I…I couldn’t…I shouldn’t…I…don’t know what to say.”
“If you’d rather we walk back into the rest of the store together, looking like this, then by all means, refuse the money.” She looked down at their disheveled and unbuttoned clothing, then back up at him.
Joseph swallowed hard, feeling vaguely sick…but also giddier than he’d ever felt in his life. “I’ll take it,” he said in a hoarse voice.