“Really?”
“Sure.”
“Wow. Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
“Ummm…” I stuttered, standing at the open back door. “Thanks for everything,” I said, waving like he wasn’t less than five feet from me. “I’ll see if this guy wants to do math on the way home. He looks like a good deriver. Because derive means to solve problems and sounds like driver.”
His lips twitched, but he was kind enough not to smile at my awkwardness. “I like it.”
“Night, Daniel.”
I didn’t wait for his response before diving into the backseat and avoiding opening my mouth again until I got home. I mentally kicked myself for the lame joke as I got ready for bed. But by the time I laid under the covers, my mind strayed to other parts of the night.
I remembered the man’s tongue slipping through the woman’s legs. I remembered her moans of pleasure. I remembered how I literally sat on the edge of my seat, desperate for him to make love to her.
I remembered Daniel by my side, breathing just as hard as I was.
I remembered the ache that had flooded my core.
Maybe…maybe I could get that feeling back.
Slipping my hand under the covers, I squeezed my eyes closed and imagined being in the room again. I remembered Daniel’s bold presence grounding me to the moment. I remembered the moans and touches and how I’d wanted them for myself.
My fingers slipped over my clit, and I jerked at the brief contact, my breath growing faster.
I remembered his cock standing tall before he climbed between her legs. I remembered the desperation I felt for them to do it—just fucking do it.
Swiping to my opening, I collected moisture I’d never been able to get before and slid back up to my bundle of nerves. My chest rose and fell, the tension spreading through my thighs down to my toes. Spreading my legs wider, I pushed my heels in the mattress and pushed up into my hand.
So close. So close.
I’d never been able to orgasm before, and I just wanted this. After tonight, I wanted it so bad I could taste it.
I remembered Daniel’s hard length against his thigh. I remembered his hand in mine when the man finally pushed inside the woman. I remembered her moans bleeding together with mine.
Fuck, your pussy is tight. Dry as fuck, but so fucking tight.
My eyes flew open, and I jerked my hand from between my legs, snapping them closed.
Bile rose up my throat, and I sat up, clutching my chest, trying to hold my thundering heartbeat under control. My lungs worked overtime, and I squeezed my eyes shut, but all visions of the club were gone, replaced with dirty rooms and disgusting men.
Snapping my eyes back open, I scanned the room, counting five red items.
Book, lipstick, picture, dress, and pillow.
Slowly, everything calmed down, and I could take a deep breath until another type of tension crept into my muscles.
My jaw clenched, and I gripped my sheets, swallowing back the scream building in my chest. So fucking stupid. It was all so fucking stupid.
Punching the comforter over and over, I released the anger trying to swallow me. I released enough until I could take the rest and shove it down. Back into the box for another time to face it.
Never sounded pretty good.
8
Daniel
“You did what?” Jackson almost screeched at a pitch I didn’t know a man his size could reach.
“Could you repeat that?” Kent asked with a stupid half-smile. He looked like a man on the verge of saying I told you so, but he had nothing to gloat over.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I explained, rolling my eyes away from Kent.
Jackson leaned both palms on the wood bar top and narrowed his eyes at me across the counter like some interrogator. “You took Hanna, Erik’s little sister, into a room at Voyeur and watched live porn, and you’re trying to tell me it ‘wasn’t a big deal.’”
I took a swig of my beer and returned his shrewd look. Jackson was like family to me. He began working at Voyeur when he was in college—one of my best performers. Eventually, with his ridiculous accounting skills, he became a partner of sorts and owned a third of the bar, Voy. He liked to talk a big game, but I knew how to make him back off with my stare. I’d been giving it to him for years. Apparently, his shock prevented him being affected, and he continued looking at me, unblinking.
“Nothing happened.”
“Nothing?”
“I mean…” I hesitated, picking the label of the beer off with my thumbnail. Shit, this was going to sound bad. “We held hands.”
Jackson’s jaw dropped, and he stumbled back like I’d hit him, blinking over and over.
From the corner of my eye, I watched Kent’s smirk grow into a full-blown smile.
“Stop smiling before I punch you in your face.”
Kent tsked. “Someone’s testy. Probably all the built-up tension. Did you at least fuck someone after?”