Hours floated by in a restless, unmoored state. I’d changed into comfy shorts and a tank top with no bra and cranked electronic-infused jazz to as much of the condo as the speakers would allow. Worry lurked in the back of my mind: would Eli show up? Would someone come to interrupt this me time, as they always did?
But I didn’t want to inhibit myself tonight. For the first time in maybe forever, my patience had worn thin. I had increasingly fewer fucks to give. With any luck, I’d get to zero. Just like Axel and his rottweiler.
Even in a house all to myself, I tended to color inside the lines. Nothing had ever felt truly mine—except for this evening, apparently. So I tried masturbating in the living room with my vibrator, something I would normally never dare to try; I’d always believed sex toys were forthe bedroom, to be hidden away.
But my vibrator didn’t cut it. Nothing would cut it except more Axel. I threw my vibrator to the other end of the couch and left it there.
Because all fucks were off tonight.
Midnight crept closer, but the itch beneath my skin wouldn’t leave me. I was horny as hell and adrift in this sea of sexual need that Axel had created and elevated. He was the only one who could satisfy it.
I took out my phone, drawing a deep breath before I initiated a video call with him. I stared at the dark screen.Ringing.What the hell was I doing? My heart hammered as I awaited the inevitable disappointment. He wouldn’t pick up. And I’d go down in history as the desperate ex who had lobbed an unanswered video call hours after he’d edged me and run away.
I almost swiped to end the call.
He answered.
Axel’s evil grin and boxy shoulders filled the screen.
He was bare chested, backed by the dizzying skyline of Manhattan from his perch on some rooftop in some corner of the city. His expertly arranged dirty-blond locks had loosened since dinner. Waves threatened to spill out of his immaculate style. And that sky-blue gaze was just as piercing through the screen of my phone.
“Why the fuck are you calling me?” Axel was eating this up. He almost couldn’t contain himself. He certainly couldn’t contain the grin.
“No reason,” I said, trying my best to look casual. To sound unaffected. To pretend I wasn’t absolutely, perpetually dying for this man.
“You’re getting desperate, huh?”
I blinked slowly.Nailed it. “This is just a check-in call. To make sure we’re on the same page.”
“Oh, don’t worry. We are.” The background shifted, and he turned to look behind him. I watched as his location flashed around him. People milled in the background. Women everywhere. He was at a rooftop party. “And that page is that you are completely desperate for my cock.”
Giggles floated up from somewhere nearby. I couldn’t tell if it was in response to our conversation or something else. I pressed two fingertips to the side of my head, feigning annoyance. But he was so right it hurt.
“We must be reading different books. It kind of seemed like you were the one who couldn’t keep your fingers out of my pussy.”
He laughed—one of the genuine Axel laughs, the kind that made me fall in love with him all over again. I couldn’t fight the smile it prompted. On his end, he was still walking somewhere, people flashing by in the background.
“Listen, my fingers wouldn’t have gone anywhere near you if you hadn’t been harassing me via text message. And now the harassment continues on video call! When will this end?”
Hopefully never.“Maybe when you’ve finished what you started.”
A low rumble of a laugh escaped him. And then he opened a door and entered what must have been a dressing room. I heard thesnapof a lock. The lighting was low, gauzy. He was pixelated and darkened, but when he set the phone down, I saw all of him.
Every inch of his perfect frame.
His belly creased as he bent to check the phone’s placement. When he stood, he raked a hand through his hair, replacing some of the escaped waves. He wore the same dark slacks from dinner, but no shirt. His broad chest was on display, the hills of his biceps more pronounced than I’d ever seen before. He palmed the front of his pants.
“You mean you want to watch me jack off?”
I licked dry lips. “I wouldn’t say no to that.”
He cocked a grin. “In your fucking dreams.”
I held the phone with one hand while the other drifted between my legs. I began absent-mindedly stroking my pussy. My lips were already swollen, ready for more attention.
“I’m touching myself, Axel,” I said.
“Show me.”