“Oh. Yeah. Sure.”
Those three words coupled with his initial reaction didn’t exactly exude excitement. “If you don’t want to come, that’s fine, too. Especially if it’s awkward.” The last thing I wanted was a repeat performance of the avoidance he’d practiced at Catherine’s party.
“It won’t be. Not this time. I mean, there’s no reason it would be.”
Was he trying to convince me or himself? “Nope. No reason except maybe that you were deep inside of me last night, and we haven’t done the social thing in front of our friends yet. At least, not successfully. Are we telling them?”
“Christ,” he hissed.
I hurriedly answered my question for him. “No, no of course we aren’t. I wasn’t suggesting we do.” Even if I was slightly disappointed he wouldn’t want to, I had to remind myself that it had been my decision to make this a sex-in-the-dark non-relationship.
His laughter took me off guard. “I was only cursing because you made me hard by reminding me of last night.”
“Oh.”
“And I wouldn’t miss your birthday night. But as for the other, I think it’s best to keep it between us for now. Don’t you?”
“Sure. So long as you figure out a way to sneak into my bed that night. I am the birthday girl, after all.”
He chuckled. “And what kind of birthday present are you after?”
My heart fluttered just thinking about him. “Tall with dark hair, sexy glasses, and a dirty mouth?”
“Call me tonight after you put Tristan to bed, and I’ll give you a preview.”
“Phone sex?”
“You started it. Wish I was there. And Jules?”
“Yeah.”
“Make sure you have new batteries in your vibrator.”
Holy crap. At this rate I wouldn’t need it. His words alone made me want to combust.
***
By the time I finished dinner, bathed Tristan, and put him to bed, I was letting nerves get the better of me. What if I didn’t know what to say? What if I blurted out all sorts of inappropriate non-sexy stuff, something I’d been known to do? I’d never attempted phone sex in my life. Although apparently I’d made him hard earlier without even trying. Perhaps, maybe, I had hope.
Mark picked up on the first ring. “Hi.” His voice was husky, the one simple word full of need.
“Hi.”
“Are you in bed?”
I wasn’t, but moved quickly to get there. “I am now.” And, embarrassingly, I was out of breath from the effort.
“Good. Are all your clothes off?”
Crap. The man was determined to have me thinking about joining the gym if we kept this up. “Uh, getting there.” Note to self: call him next time after I was naked in bed.
He didn’t hide his amusement. “Take your time.”
Ugh. I’d already failed. “I, um... Okay, I’m now naked.”
“Do you have your vibrator?”
“Fuck-a-Cluck.”
Now he was full on chuckling, making my giggles well up. “You’re going to owe some more money in the jar.”
“Yep. If you couldn’t tell, this is my first time. Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s mine, too. And if you could see the smile on my face right now after hearing your laughter, you’d know this is the highlight of my day.”
Wow. “That’s really sweet. Now then, I’m in my room, naked, with a vibrator in my hand. And it does, in fact, have new batteries. Any ideas what we should do next?”
“Move your hand down and touch your pussy. Tell me if your slit is wet.”
Damn. He wasn’t messing around, and he sure as heck didn’t sound like he was new at this. I moved my hand down, running a finger between my lips. “I am so wet.”
“Good. Now, as far as your birthday night is concerned, how do you feel about your ass?”
“Pardon?”
He laughed at the fact that my voice had gone up an octave. “Are you self-conscious about it?”
“No. Probably because I can’t see it, but I think it’s okay.”
“Baby, your ass, especially in those leggings you wear, is spectacular.”
“Oh. So why are we having a conversation about it?” He couldn’t possibly think he could fit there. Did he?
“Because I’ve had a fantasy of taking you from behind. With the lights on. If you’re game.”
Hm. I liked his way of thinking. A lot. “And if I show you my ass, what will you show me in return?”
His voice was laced with humor. “Birthday girl’s choice.”
“That’s a no-brainer. And I’ll expect a bow on it.”
His chuckle filled my ears. “If you put it there with your mouth, I’ll be happy to wear one.”
“That has possibilities.” And because I wasn’t good at hiding my thoughts once they popped into my head, I added, “I hope this doesn’t freak you out, but I miss you.”
“It doesn’t. Especially since I miss you, too.”
“I totally killed the sex talk mood, didn’t I?”
“Not possible. If anything, I only wish I was there even more now.”
“Me, too. What’s next with this phone sex thing? Should I Google something?”
“I don’t recommend that. How about instead you put me on speakerphone, and I do the talking?”
I lay back, getting comfortable and very content to hear his sexy voice. “I do love it when you talk dirty.”
“Good. Open those gorgeous legs of yours and find your clit. Imagine it’s my fingers touching you.”
I was back to being turned on, finding a rhythm with my fingers.
“At some point it’s going to be my tongue touching you there. My beard stubble rubbing against the inside of your thighs as you come all over my face.”
Oh, God. My pace increased along with my staggered breaths.
“But on your birthday night, you’re going to bend over on the bed showing me your ass, letting me slide into your drenched pussy until my hips are pressed up against you. Then I’ll pull out slowly and slam back into you deep.”
I was almost there, on the precipice of my orgasm, until the unmistakable voice of my son broke through. “Mama. Mama.”
“Is that Tristan?”
I couldn’t help groaning. The timing couldn’t be worse. “Um, yeah. Give it a minute. Maybe he’s only dreaming.” I grabbed the monitor, hoping to see him back fast asleep. Instead, he was standing in his crib, waiting.
“Maaaaaaammmmmmaaaaa”
“Um, I need to go check on him. He’s standing up.”
There was a smile in Mark’s voice. “Make sure you put some clothes on first.”
Right. Shit. I scrambled into my sweatpants, pulled a sweatshirt over my head, and paused. “Hold, please.” I used my office voice, causing him to laugh.
I made a quick detour to wash my hands—because masturbation and mommy-mode did not mix—and then walked to Tristan’s room. I tried not to think of the love of my life as a total cock block. Bad, bad mommy.
“What’s wrong, baby?” I asked, opening his door.
He stood in the corner waiting on me. “I wet.”
I felt his PJs and sighed. They were indeed soaked. “Aww, you sure are. Straight through the diaper.”
Okay. I needed to get him cleaned up and then change the bed. None of which was conducive to phone sex with Mark on hold in the other room.
Picking up my son, I placed him on his changing table and stripped him of his clothes, afterward running a wipe over his skin to get him at least semi-cleanish. I then put him into a dry diaper before carrying him into my room and onto the bed. One second too late, I realized the vibrator was still sitting in the middle of everything.
Mother-of-the-year material right here.
I scooped it up quickly, put it into the drawer, and huffed out a breath. “Mark. Uh, I’m going to need a raincheck. I’m sorry. He was soaked through. Although I changed him, I still need to put clean sheets on his bed.”
“Don’t apologize.”
“Mark, Mark.” Tristan recognized his voice and grabbed for the phone.
“Hey, Tristan. How are you?”
From phone sex to talking to a toddler. I let Tristan babble on for a bit but then intervened. “Okay, baby. Say goodnight. I’ve gotta change your bed, and you need to go back to sleep.”
“’Night ‘night.”
“’Night, buddy.”
“Good night, Mark.”
“’Night, Jules.”
If I’d needed a reminder of the order of my life, this was it. First mom, then everything else.
CHAPTER TEN
Today I was officially thirty years old. Honestly, I was okay with the milestone birthday. Of course, it helped that I had amazing girlfriends who’d decided to take me shopping that morning. They insisted on a new outfit for tonight’s festivities.
Now, taking a deep breath, I peered at myself in my bedroom mirror and had to blurt out, “Holy shit.” I looked, well, sexy in the fitted black dress with the bottom slightly flared. The knee-high, black silk stockings had seemed silly when Haylee had suggested them, but paired with the gorgeous high-heeled ankle boots and this dress, they gave an effect that was both sexy and sophisticated. Two words I never would have associated with myself.
Sasha had done my makeup, playing up my eyes and making my lips appear full and pouty. My still-getting-used-to-being-a-brunette hair had been straightened and was silky down my back.
Sasha smiled. “Told you. You look smoking.”
My gaze finally left my reflection and met hers. “I’ll kill myself in these boots.”
She shook her head. “Minimal walking tonight as the limo will drop us off curbside, both at the restaurant and the club.”
Right. I could do that. Maybe. After all, these women did it daily. I’d always coveted their shoes but never could quite get the hang of heels. Even with my living room practice round. Still, glancing back at my image in the mirror, I couldn’t wait until Mark saw me dressed like this.
Later, I gave a last kiss to Tristan and thanked Josh’s mother for agreeing to babysit both kids tonight while she was in town for the weekend. Then I joined my friends downstairs to get into a limo. I wobbled a bit as I stepped towards the waiting car but recovered with the help of Sasha’s arm.
“It gets easier the more you relax and drink something. The boys are already at the restaurant, by the way. So we’ll meet them there.”
The moment I stepped into the beautiful steakhouse, my heart started beating double time at the thought of seeing Mark. The floors were a dark wood and the lighting chic and modern. I barely noticed, though, instead scanning the room for him as we passed tables on our way towards the back of the restaurant.
His reaction was worth the wait. I watched his eyes skim over the group of us walking towards the table, only to back up and widen upon realizing I was amongst the ladies. Thankfully, the lighting was dim and no one seemed to notice the blush I knew was creeping up my face, put there by his heated gaze.
Of course, that all changed once Brian peeled his eyes away from his fiancée long enough to do a double take on me.
“Holy shit, Juliette, is that you?”
So much for not being a center of attention. Five sets of eyes focused on me. Sasha appeared proud and took my hand, twirling me around. “She looks great, right?”
Brian, the most charming man I’d ever met, didn’t miss a beat. “You look beautiful. You know, for a thirty-year-old.”
His sarcastic side was the reason we remained such good friends.
I scoffed. “Ha ha. Have I told you lately how much I miss your sarcasm-laced compliments?”
He laughed and gave me a hug. “Not as much as I’ve missed yours.”
I’d wondered as the night progressed how Mark would act around me in a group setting and if he would ignore me. But I was pleasantly surprised when he was friendly without being overtly obvious that something was going on between us. I was even more pleased when I received his text at the dinner table.
“You look stunning.”
I typed back, “Thank you. I was excited to see you tonight.”
“I’ve been fantasizing about you all week.”
He wasn’t the only one who’d been fantasizing, but Haylee snapped me out of typing a response. “That’s quite a smile. Who are you texting?”
“Oh, it was my mom wishing me happy birthday. She sent me a photo of myself when I was Tristan’s age.” I quickly flipped to her earlier text to flash the picture. My ability to recover quickly made me grateful, but I didn’t dare make eye contact with Mark.
After a delicious dinner, we made our way to a club downtown. I tried not to gape, but it was surreal to walk into a trendy club through the VIP doors while a line of people snaked around the block waiting to gain entrance. This might not ever be my scene, but for one night I could certainly appreciate it.
Pulsing music hit me before I had a chance to take in the large bar which seemed to glow in the blueness of the room. My gaze was pulled in every direction and my senses overloaded. Girls danced on platforms above a checkerboard-looking glass dance floor whose squares lit different colors every few seconds. I was so awestruck that it took Sasha to get me moving again.
“Come on. We reserved a table upstairs.”
The second level of the club was less noisy and separated into different seating areas. A hostess in a barely-there skirt led us to ours, which consisted of two large plush sofas and a couple of chairs surrounding a table already stocked with carafes of juices and a bottle each of Grey Goose and Patron. Clearly, Sasha and Haylee didn’t mess around when it came to a night out.
Each of us ladies took seats on the leather couches and settled into small talk while the men went to the restroom. “I thought only girls went in groups to the bathroom.”
Both ladies laughed, and Haylee said, “Josh is calling his mom to check on the kids. I’d roll my eyes, but honestly, I have to keep myself from doing it, too.”
I held up my phone. “I already texted her from the limo. It was really nice of her to offer to watch Tristan along with Abby, and sometimes I need to assure myself he’s not throwing a mega tantrum.” She’d replied that he was an angel. “Unfortunately, mommy-mode doesn’t turn off very easily.”
Over the next hour we drank and laughed. I watched Sasha and Brian dance out on the main floor. Then, while Haylee and Josh were completely absorbed in one another on the far side of the couch, Mark slid in next to me. Drink in hand, he nonchalantly leaned in closer, as if I otherwise wouldn’t be able to hear him over the noise.
“Your dress with the stockings are killing me.”
Smiling, I tried to remain cool and keep my body from reacting to his words. “Oh, yeah?”
He shifted, evidently not unaffected. After glancing over at his friends, he took a deep breath. “Do you have any idea how much I want to fuck you right now?”
I uncrossed and recrossed my legs, letting my breath expel. The gesture caused just enough friction where I was throbbing to make me want more. “You should probably tell me in detail.”
“I picture you going to the ladies’ room, sliding off your panties.”
“Lacy black thong.” If he wanted a visual, he needed a good one.
“Christ.”
“What would you do after I lost my thong?”
“Have you spread your legs for me, catch my first glimpse of your perfectly waxed pink pus—”
“Hey, guys, you want to stay longer or head out? I can always extend the limo’s time.” Brian’s voice interrupted the effect of the dirty talk like splashing ice water.
I hadn’t even noticed them come back to the table. But his question made me realize that the sooner we got home, the sooner Mark could finish his sentence. Trying not to appear too eager, I replied, “I’m good with leaving now.”
Everyone else seemed to be in agreement.
We piled into the back of the car, stopping first a
t Brian and Sasha’s hotel, a few blocks from my apartment building. As they got out of the limo, we agreed to meet for lunch tomorrow before they left town.
After dropping them off, Haylee spoke up. “Why don’t you let Tristan stay overnight in our place? He’s already sound asleep. That way you don’t have to wake him.”
It was a really sweet offer, but I’d never spent the entire night away from him.
“We’ll call you once he wakes up in the morning. Besides, Josh’s mom promised him Mickey Mouse pancakes tomorrow. She does this adorable thing with three circles to make his face.”
It made sense. It was logical. Rationally, I knew he’d only be one floor away from me and staying with fantastic people. “Are you sure?”
Josh smiled. “Of course we are. My mom has already been gushing about how sweet Tristan is. And since Abby isn’t old enough for Mickey Mouse pancakes, this gives her someone to impress with her breakfast-making talents.”
“Okay. But if he wakes up or needs me—”
“We’ll call. I promise,” Haylee assured.
I bit down on the panic. I was being neurotic. It was healthy for him to be away from me one night. And I’d be right downstairs. Not unlike a house with two stories.
Once we arrived back, I said good night to Haylee and Josh and let myself into my apartment. I had to tamp down on the urge to go upstairs and get Tristan despite our recent agreement.
Mark’s text came as a welcome distraction.
“Take off your lacy black thong and nothing else. Leave your door unlocked and wait for me in your bed with the lights on.”
Damn. It really was the quiet ones, I mused. Upon meeting Mark Hines, I would not have guessed he was a dirty talker. Then again, I wouldn’t have guessed I’d practically melt with every word, either.
When I entered my bedroom, I did as he asked, sliding the scrap of silk, already drenched, onto the floor. I’d just stepped out of it when I heard the door open.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw him standing there leaned against the frame of my bedroom door. All worries about being separated from my son evaporated.
“Hi, birthday girl.”
I grinned. “Hi, yourself. Did you come bearing gifts?”
He smirked with a shrug. “I did, but I’m afraid there’s no bow.”
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