by Amy Lamont
“Oh, this is so mine.” Paige grinned.
“You’re on, Paige. There’s no way I’m missing out on a day at the Posey,” Jade said.
I had to admit, a spa day at the Pink Posey was pretty powerful motivation. I nibbled on the cuticle around my thumbnail. “I’d love a day at the spa. But how the heck am I supposed to compete with you two?”
Paige winked at me. “Come on, Katelyn, you know you’ve been dying to tell your boss off. Here’s the perfect excuse. You get to tell him what you really think of him and you get a day at the spa.”
Emma shook her head. “Katelyn would never do that. Unlike some people,” she cut her eyes to Paige when she spoke those words, “she’s too nice to start insulting people at work. But I’m sure you’ll think of something, Kate. If I could do it, you can, too.”
“I don’t know. Sometimes nice is overrated. I say you should go for it, Kate.” Paige wiggled her eyebrows at me.
I rolled my eyes. But as we turned our attention to the television, and the ball about to drop and bring in the New Year, I couldn’t help but turn her words over in my head.
***
That night, despite the alcohol I’d consumed and the fact it was after two in the morning before I tumbled into bed, I tossed and turned. Thoughts of the bet and my goody two-shoes status and Hunter Lawson swirled through my mind. No wonder once I finally drifted off to sleep, I drifted straight into a dream about Hunter.
In it, I was back in my bedroom in the house I grew up in. The walls were a pale pink. Books and framed photos filled every available space. I could see one on my dresser of Jade, Paige, Emma and I on the day we graduated from college. I stood at the window and engaged in one of my favorite high school extracurricular activities—spying on Hunter.
From my window, I could see him in his driveway. He was bent over his old Harley, a toolbox at his feet. A couple of his buddies were there, their motorcycles parked nearby. They were all muscled, tattooed and totally hot. But I only had eyes for Hunter. The way his muscles rippled under his tight, black t-shirt. The way his jeans sat low on his hips, showing tempting glimpses of skin as his shirt rode up while he worked.
I licked my lips and, as one, the bikers in the driveway turned to stare up at me. My heart thudded in my chest.
Oh, God. They’d caught me staring. I wanted to drop the curtain back into place, but my hands gripped the white eyelet so tightly I knew my mother would pitch a fit at the wrinkles I’d leave behind.
As I stood immobile, Hunter’s head slowly lifted. He swiveled his head to look at each of the guys standing in his driveway and then his gaze followed theirs. Straight up to me.
Fear and a desperate relief surged through me. He could see me. Finally. How many times had I stood here staring at him wishing he’d just once look up and notice me?
In the next instant, the walls of my bedroom and the faces of Hunter’s friends faded away. He and I stood in his bedroom. Part of me wanted to spend hours investigating every nook and cranny, every poster on the wall, every scrap of paper on his desk. I’d never had a chance to see his room, his private space.
But I couldn’t look away from him. He stared down at me with an intensity that made me shiver. I lifted my hands to his chest and realized he no longer wore the tight black tee. My fingers met firm, bare flesh.
His teeth flashed in his tanned face, and I stared at him. I could count on one hand the times I’d seen Hunter smile. And now I was the cause of it.
His hand came up and grabbed mine, holding it trapped against the warm skin of his chest.
“Are you going to be a good girl, princess?”
I could do no more than nod.
“That’s right,” he said and bent to tease his lips across my jawline. “You’re my good girl.”
The last words were whispered close to my ear and I shivered.
Hunter pulled back and took the hand he still held and placed it on my own chest. I looked down and saw a white button-down shirt. My brow crinkled. Didn’t I wear this to work last week?
“I want you to unbutton this,” Hunter commanded, his voice thick.
I looked up at him and nodded. I was a good girl. His good girl.
My fingers moved down the front of my shirt, slowly undoing each button, one by one. My eyes locked on Hunter’s face. His gaze followed my fingers, his jaw tight.
When I got to my last button, I stopped. My teeth sank into my bottom lip and I fidgeted under his intense stare.
“Be still,” he said.
When I obeyed instantly, he smiled. “Good girl. Now take it off.”
My hands shook at his words. Keeping my eyes glued to his, I complied, sliding the thin, white material over my shoulders and letting it spill down to the floor.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, his hot gaze raking over my body.
When I looked down at myself, a small gasp escaped me. All my clothes had disappeared. I was completely bared for Hunter.
My eyes flew to his and he grinned back at me.
“You knew I had a way with women,” he said with a smirk.
I had heard the rumors about Hunter’s reputation with the girls at our high school. He was a legend there even after he graduated. But I hadn’t known he could do this.
His grin turned into a smirk. “Now, how are you going to win this bet?”
I huffed out a breath. “How do you know about the bet? Did Paige tell you?”
He leaned down and pressed hot, wet nibbling kisses along the peak of my shoulder. “I have my ways.”
Indeed he did. A throaty moan pushed its way out of me as his arms slid around me, and his bare skin pressed against my own for the first time. So much better than anything I’d ever imagined.
“As much as I’d enjoy taking my time with you right here and now, I don’t think missionary style in my bed could compete with Emma and her billionaire.”
What? How did he know?
Before I had time to process his words, we were transported. One instant we were in his bedroom and the next we were in a stall in a public bathroom. His bare skin disappeared underneath a dark gray button-down shirt that clung tightly to his shoulders. I dipped my gaze down and…
Oh, God. His trousers were open, exposing his hard length to my gaze. Before I had time to gather my thoughts and figure out what was going on, he pressed his body into mine. A quick glance down told me that somewhere in our change of locations, I’d gained a pair of high, high heels and a necklace of black beads that hung in a knot between my breasts, but otherwise I remained completely exposed. As I shifted, the necklace swayed and the cold beads rubbed one of my nipples. I moaned.
“Shh.” He placed a hand over my mouth and leaned his full weight into me, his clothing causing a decadent friction against my bare skin. “You don’t want them to hear you.”
Every inch of my skin reacted to his voice in my ear, and the heat between my legs forced me to arch into him. He pulled his hand from my mouth and cupped my hips, drawing me even closer to his body. He smoothed his hands over my rib cage and up further to cup my breasts.
“Don’t forget to be quiet. We don’t want to get caught,” he whispered in my ear. At the same time, his thumbs came up and swiped back and forth over my nipples.
My body tightened as his touch sent ripples of pleasure from the peaks of my breasts and down to pool lower in my body. I struggled to keep down the cries that tried to fight their way out of my throat. Just as I began to lose the battle, the outer bathroom door opened and closed.
I couldn’t make out the words, but it was clear at least two men entered the restroom. My eyes flew to Hunter’s and he grinned. Instead of easing up on teasing me, he ramped up his efforts. One hand remained at my breast, rolling my over-sensitized nipples between his fingers. His other hand moved down swiftly, fingers probing between my thighs, not stopping until he reached my pussy.
Laughter drifted over the door of the stall as he plunged
a finger inside me. I clamped my bottom lip between my teeth to keep from crying out, and my breath came in shuddering pants, in and out. He chuckled softly as he moved his finger, sliding it deeper into me before pulling it out again. He positioned his thumb so with each withdrawal it teased at my clit.
I could do no more than stand there, utterly at his mercy as his fingers and hands and mouth played over my body, bringing me closer and closer to the edge.
“You’re so wet,” he whispered in a throaty growl. He left hot, damp kisses along my jawline and his scent, warm and woodsy, tickled my nose. “Is all this for me?”
I met his gaze, but couldn’t release my lip from my teeth, too afraid that if I let go, I’d cry out. And as lost in pleasure as I was, I didn’t think I’d be able to stop once I started. And what’s more, I don’t know if I’d care anymore who heard me riding out my pleasure on Hunter Lawson’s fingers.
As soon as the thought hit me, my body started to tremble, my inner muscles clamping down on his fingers.
“That’s it, princess, let go for me. I want it all.”
That was all it took. I cried out his name as he carried me right over the edge and into a deep well of pure bliss. My eyes dropped closed, and my hands clenched on the material of his shirt.
“Katelyn, are you okay?”
My eyes flew open at the sound of my mother’s voice, my body still quivering in the aftermath of my pleasure. But Hunter was gone. I stood back in my pale pink childhood room, my hands clenching the material of my white eyelet curtains.
Behind me the door opened and I stared out the window, down to my neighbor’s driveway below. Hunter was there, surrounded by friends, working on his motorcycle. No signs that he ever noticed me, let alone gave me the most amazing orgasm of my life.
“Come away from the window, Katie,” my mother said. “What would the neighbors think?”
My mother’s sharp voice yanked me right out of sleep and out of my dreams. I woke in my bed in the apartment I shared with Jade, Paige and Emma. My breathing was hard and a fine sheen of sweat coated me under my nightshirt.
I rolled over and squirmed beneath the covers. The echo of pleasure and the disappointment of waking from a dream I wished would have gone on for much longer, at least certain parts of it, left me restless and edgy.
Chapter Two
I plopped my bag into my desk drawer and sank onto my seat with a sigh. I’d been lucky enough to get five days off for New Year’s, but staring at the pile of paperwork waiting for me, it didn’t seem nearly long enough. Weird, sexy dreams had plagued me pretty much every night since then, so I wasn’t exactly relaxed and refreshed when I returned.
I sighed and started plowing through the files at the top of the stack. A few folders in, it became clear my boss dumped some of his case files on me. Again. I’d discovered in a hurry that jobs in social services involved lots of bureaucracy and paperwork and red tape. But my job seemed to involve a lot more of that and very little of what I actually wanted to do—help kids in the foster care system.
And the reason I had more than the regular amount of paperwork to do strolled through the door almost twenty minutes late.
“Katelyn, you’ve finally managed to make it into the office, I see.” Ken, my megalomaniac boss, moved toward his office.
I cringed. I loved how this man didn’t think twice about taking liberties with his own schedule but had no problem taking me to task for taking time off. I clenched my teeth into my best imitation of a smile.
“Yes. I enjoyed my vacation days,” I said, giving him a gentle reminder he had approved my time off. I held up some of the manila files I’d been looking through. “When you have a minute, I have a few questions about some of these cases.”
Ken paused and pinned me with a hard stare. “Miss Murphy, I left detailed case notes on those files. I’m sure you’re more than capable of filling out the reports without any added input from me. Or are you saying you’re incapable of doing your job?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “No, I’m perfectly capable of doing my job.”
“Good.” He turned on his heel and moved forward, calling over his shoulder, “A coffee would be great. You don’t mind running to the coffee place on the corner.”
I don’t? ’Cause it certainly felt like I minded. But before I could think of denying his demand, he closed the office door behind him.
With a sigh I fished my purse out of my drawer.
“Why do you put up with that man?”
I looked over at Sue, a veteran social worker who regularly told Ken what he could do with his paperwork.
“I need this job. You know it’s part of my Master’s program. And at least here I can get work experience while I take my classes.” I buttoned up my coat and hooked my purse over my shoulder. “And part of keeping this job is putting up with our esteemed boss.”
She shook her head and tilted it down so she could glare at me over the rims of her reading glasses.
Uh-oh. I’d seen that look before.
“Wrong.” Sue wagged a finger at me. “You do your job perfectly fine. What you don’t have to do is his job.” She jabbed her finger toward Ken’s office door.
I pressed my lips into a grim smile. We’d had this conversation before. And about half a million times I’d had the word “no” on the tip of my tongue when Ken piled his workload on me. But something held me back every time.
Paige’s words from the other night came back to haunt me. Sometimes nice is overrated. I’d spent my whole life believing if I was nice and good and considerate, the universe would pay me back in kind.
My eyes drifted to the pile of work on my desk. If the universe was giving me back what I deserved, I must have been a real bitch in a past life.
Or maybe that’s just not the way the world works.
“You okay, honey?”
I glanced at Sue. Concern filled her gaze. I blew out a breath and offered her a smile. Not like I was going to solve all the mysteries of the universe in the next fifteen minutes.
“I’m fine.” Then I gave her a wicked grin. “But I’ll be taking my time coming back with that coffee.”
Her deep chuckle followed me to the elevator.
The rest of the morning went along a lot like the beginning. At least Ken spent most of it hiding in his office. Right up until a few minutes ago when he breezed out, telling me to send a few emails for him while he was at lunch. A lunch he left for a half an hour early and I fully expected would take him at least an hour and a half.
I blew out a breath, leaned my cheek on my fist and clicked to open Ken’s email folder.
When my phone rang not five minutes later, I was more than ready for the distraction.
I peeked at the number and grinned as I hit the accept button. “Hi, Mom!”
“Hi, honey. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
My grin turned into a wide smile at her words. No need to wonder where I got the niceness gene. “No, Mom, mostly everyone went to lunch. I’m happy to have the excuse to take a break.”
“Oh, good. Listen, sweetie,” my mom’s voice came out in the same tone she’d used when my grandmother passed away, “I have some bad news.”
An enormous lump pushed its way into my throat and I clutched the phone. “Is everyone okay? Is it Logan?”
“Oh, no, everyone’s fine. Your brother’s fine. I heard from him on New Year’s.”
Something inside me eased a bit. With Logan stationed in Afghanistan, I always worried when I hadn’t heard from him in a while.
“So what’s going on, Mom?”
“It’s just that…well, you see, honey…” A deep sigh came through the line. “I guess there’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just say it. I left your father.”
I flew ramrod straight on the edge of my seat. “Wh-what?”
“I know it comes as a shock,” she said.
I had no words. Shock didn’t even begin to cover it.
My mom left my dad. My mom whose picture could be put in the dictionary under homemaker. My mom who could give Betty Crocker a run for her money. My mom who spent my childhood catering to the every need of my brother, my father and me.
She left my father.
“Say something, Katydid.”
My childhood nickname pulled me out of my head. “Mom, I don’t know what to say. You really left Dad? How? I mean, why did you…”
She sighed. “I spent all those years taking care of your dad. I worked two jobs when he was in college. Once he went to work, I quit my jobs and stayed home to take care of him and then you and your brother. I always thought, all those years…I thought once you two were grown, it would be my turn. I could follow my dreams and…” She trailed off and several seconds of silence followed.
I sank back onto my chair, dipping my head low. “What was your dream, Mom?”
“I always thought I’d be good at something in healthcare. Maybe a therapist or a nurse or something like that. I volunteered in a nursing home when I was younger and I really loved helping there.”
“You would be wonderful at any of those things,” I said. And it was true. My mom was a born caregiver.
“Don’t get me wrong. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and take care of my family. I know how blessed I’ve been.”
“But?”
“But once you and Logan grew up and moved out, there wasn’t so much for me to do. I mean, how many times can I vacuum the house a day?”
Hmm, before this minute if my mom had asked that question, my answer would have been a hundred and seven. There’d been no doubt in my mind that she lived to vacuum and dust and iron our clothes. But clearly, my mom didn’t live to clean. She lived to take care of other people.
“So you’ve been bored the last few years?” I prompted.
“I guess. I tried volunteering, and that was fine, but then I saw what you’ve accomplished and it got me to thinking.”
“Me? What have I accomplished?”
“You went to college and graduated and found the job you wanted and you’re getting your Master’s degree.”
