Love Letters Volume 5: Exposed

by Ginny Glass, Christina Thacher, Emily Cale, Maggie Wells

  Their dancing was as erotic as her striptease had been the week before. Adam just wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t dirty. They didn’t look like a couple in love or even in lust. No matter—the silky movements and complicated footwork took his breath away.

  When Sonia and her partner stopped, the class all clapped. Tom grinned and mock-bowed to the applause. Sonia smiled at Tom’s antics.

  “All right, we’re going to break those steps down so you can see what we did and how we did it.” Sonia’s assurance was met with good-natured scoffing and teasing. “You’ll see. Now, if I could have everyone line up, men facing the open room, ladies facing your partners. Excellent.”

  Suddenly, Adam realized he was spying on her. He had to stop this…this insanity. He stepped back from the doorway, glad the hallway light was off. He turned and started for the door leading to the stairs.

  He was halfway to the street when he heard his name. “Adam, wait.”

  Shit. Sonia’d seen him. He stopped and looked back at her.

  She stood on the step above his. “I have to get back upstairs,” she murmured, her eyes on his mouth.

  He started to say something. She leaned down and kissed him. Her lips were soft, their touch delicate. Her tongue stroked one corner of his mouth. He groaned. His free arm came around her waist.

  She pressed herself against him. He could feel her heat even through his parka. And her scent—the musk of a perfume mixed with physical exercise—intoxicated him.

  Finally, after an eternity that couldn’t have lasted more than a minute, she pulled back. “Tomorrow, after work?”

  He nodded, feeling just as tongue-tied as ever. Then she was gone and he continued down the stairs and out the door.

  *

  Adam dreamed that night of dancing with Sonia. When he woke, he marveled at how real it felt. He’d been turning around the dance studio with her in his arms. At first, he’d had to count out the steps. “Slow…slow…fast, fast and…slow.” In the next moment, like magic, he flowed effortlessly, his feet moving confidently around hers. The music ended. He dipped her over his right arm and started to kiss his way from her throat toward her breasts, plump above the neckline. His left hand had stroked up her leg, feeling those slinky stockings he’d seen in the office.

  Lying in bed, his fingers flexed as he recalled how her thighs had felt warm and firm against his palm. He’d just gotten past the lacy top to her bare skin, his thumb about to slip under the edge of her panties, when the alarm rang. He hadn’t wanted to wake up alone.

  Then he remembered Sonia’s parting words, warm breath against his lips. Today. After work.

  What did that even mean? He should stay late so she could enact another peep show for him? Whatever happened to asking a girl out for coffee, maybe lunch? Or—and this was daring for him—dinner and a movie?

  After showering and dressing, he made his way into work. He was determined to avoid her, leave early, or even just tell her they couldn’t keep her on. He walked in the front door of their loft and her smile lit him up from deep in his gut.

  “Hi, Adam.”

  “Hi, Sonia.” He might even have waggled his fingers at her. God, he was such a dork.

  He hung his parka on a hook in his office, then went to find Dave for the Friday morning meeting.

  “Hey, buddy, how’s it hangin’?” Dave asked. Adam winced at the sexual interpretation he put on Dave’s words.

  “Fine. How was Edie’s book club?”

  Dave shrugged. “Hey, she leaves, she comes back. Sometimes she’s carrying a book. I never ask. When she gets back, we talk about the kids and go to bed.” His face lit up. “Oh, except for when they were reading those books—you know the ones, Fifty Paint Chips or something—and she’d come back and attack me. Wow. And it’s a trilogy. Those were three very good weeks, lemme tell you.”

  Adam tipped his head back and stared at the bare concrete ceiling. Sex. Everywhere. He was doomed. “You ready for the meeting?”

  Dave stood. “Sure, but are you? You look like hell. There’s a bug going round, you know.”

  “I know.”

  They were in the conference room—Sonia brought them each coffee, shutting the door on her way out—when Adam asked the question. “So, I’m thinking we maybe should let go of Sonia. I mean, either we need someone permanent or—”

  “What are you talking about? I’ve got three new clients, we need to prepare both print and TV ads for Caselli Motors, and you’re very nearly behind on the Johnson and Sons account.”

  “It’s in your in-tray,” Adam said.

  “What? Oh. Okay, I’ll look at it this afternoon. But, dude, what’s with getting rid of Sonia? She’s damned near perfect. Doesn’t trawl the internet, doesn’t giggle on the phone with her girlfriends, doesn’t seem to have a boyfriend. And—” Dave’s voice dropped to a whisper, “—she’s fucking hot.”

  What could Adam say? “She’s coming on to me?” Or, even less plausibly, “She’s sexually harassing me?” He sighed, then shook his head. “Okay, she stays.”

  “Better yet—” Dave’s smile widened to a grin, “—let’s find out what the temp agency’ll charge us if we hire her full-time. Could be that’s cost-effective for us now.”

  Adam threw his hands up. “We talked about that before we decided to get a temp. Hiring someone full-time, or even part-time, is a commitment. You and I have faith the company can make it, but we can’t let someone rely on whether we succeed. I don’t want to have to fire someone because we got cocky about how well business would do.”

  “And yet that’s what you want to do to Sonia? C’mon, get a grip. We’re doing well, she’s incredibly helpful. She’s already doing a lot of the work you and I don’t have time for.”

  Adam wanted to drop his head onto the table. He didn’t. It would hurt, perhaps more than he really wanted. He looked at the agenda instead. “Okay. Next topic.”

  After the meeting, Adam told Sonia she was staying for another week. Her smile seemed to mock him.

  He was about to walk away when her words made the air around him vibrate. “Are we still on for this evening?”

  Adam’s head jerked up. “Yes? I mean, sure. What—uh, what did you have in mind?”

  She surprised him by looking uncertain for a moment. He didn’t think she could appear anything other than sublimely self-assured.

  “A drink? Or we could—I don’t know, get a bite to eat or something.”

  His shoulders slumped in relief. “That…yeah, that would be good.”

  “How about Becky’s, on the water? Know it?”

  “On Commercial?” he asked. “The place with the great seafood? Of course.”

  “It’s pretty close to my place, so I go there all the time.”

  He looked at her. Really looked. She was amazingly pretty, but after four weeks at A+D he’d started to see past her beauty. She had a friendly smile, a funny way of tugging on her earlobe when she was trying to figure something out, and she giggled while doing the filing. He’d asked her about the giggling. She’d said the names made her laugh.

  She was staring at him now, reminding him that he’d dropped the conversational ball.

  “Where do you live?” he asked.

  “Park Street, around the corner from the Victoria Museum.”

  “Nice neighborhood.”

  She grinned. “Yeah, but I have the tiniest studio.”

  “Me too. I mean, I have the tiniest condo in Cape Elizabeth.”

  They smiled at each other, then laughed.

  Dave came out of his office, which Adam took as his cue to get back to work. He even managed to concentrate on the Caselli Motors TV ad for longer than ten minutes.

  Dave interrupted him close to five. “Okay, I’m heading home. Watch the weather. They’re predicting snow.”

  “Okay.” Adam glanced through the window at Sonia, who was on the phone. He looked back at Dave. “I want to get a little more done on this storyboard.”

  Dave n
odded and came around to inspect Adam’s work. “Hey, I like that. Can we simulate someone driving into the car dealership?”

  “CGI and some creative editing.”

  “Cool.” Dave slapped Adam on the back. “Okay, well, don’t work too long. And watch that storm, okay?”

  “Sure. See you.” Adam flexed his arm like he wanted to get back to the storyboard. He waited until Dave had left, then stood to get his parka.

  Sonia was on her feet as well. She had unbuttoned her blouse, although her arms and shoulders were still covered by a navy cardigan. She slipped a hand inside the creamy white fabric, her palm flat against her midriff.

  Adam took a step closer to the doorway. He leaned against the doorframe, needing the support. He could see that she wasn’t wearing a bra, or she’d taken it off just for his benefit.

  Her hand moved up. He couldn’t see what it was doing under the side of her shirt. From the motion of her wrist, he got the impression that she was fondling her breast, maybe playing with the nipple.

  Is Your Mouth Dry? You May Be Suffering From Sexual Frustration!

  Adam tried to ignore the sarcastic ad exec in his brain. “I thought we were going to Becky’s for dinner.”

  Sonia’s lips curved slightly. “I heard Dave warning you about the snow. I didn’t want you to change your mind.”

  He nodded at her hidden hand. “So unilateral foreplay is the answer?”

  She blushed. At least he thought she blushed. As if she were embarrassed, which wasn’t at all how he pictured her. “I don’t think it through very carefully.”

  “You’re on the phone and all of a sudden, when you look down, your shirt is unbuttoned?”

  Her smile widened. “Kind of.”

  “Yeah. I hate when that happens.”

  She grinned. “You’re just saying that. I never get to see your skin.”

  He frowned. She made that sound like she wanted to see his—what? His pasty white skin? He worked out, but he didn’t consider himself ripped.

  Nonetheless, his hand started to undo the buttons on his shirt. He had a sport coat on over the shirt, and under it a Portland Sea Dogs T-shirt. He pulled the T-shirt out from his waistband and slid his hand under the hem. Unsure his midriff was nearly as appealing as Sonia’s, he copied her movements, letting the T-shirt ride up, hooked on his wrist.

  The look on Sonia’s face—hooded eyes, lips parted, cheeks flushed—suggested she wasn’t revolted by the sight of his torso. She licked her lips. Her hand did something under her blouse. Oh, God, was she plucking at her nipple?

  Without even thinking about it, Adam unbuckled his belt, undid his trouser button and loosened the zipper just enough to get his free hand in his boxers. He adjusted his cock, but that only took a second. He didn’t want to let go.

  “Ah, you’re driving me crazy.” Sonia’s eyes—the color of a pine forest after a summer storm—glinted with interest when they shifted to his groin.

  “I’m driving you crazy? What have you been doing for the past four weeks?”

  Her gaze snapped back to his face. “Trying to get you to notice me.” She actually put her hands on her hips in that classic pose of feminine outrage. “I’d say hi to you with a special smile—a smile Dave most definitely did not get—and you ignored me. I’d offer to bring your coffee. You’d say no. I even came into your office one day to do your filing—all that bending over and stretching? Nothing. You barely looked at me.”

  Her outburst so startled Adam that he lost his erection even though she still looked very sexy with her blouse undone. He pulled his hands free of his clothes.

  “I noticed you. I noticed that you had great legs. But I thought it would be harassment if I looked too much.” He remembered the day she invaded his office. He hadn’t gotten much work done that morning. “Wait—are you saying you did those things on purpose?”

  Her mouth twisted in a mocking smile. “Ding ding ding. Give the man a prize. Yes, of course I did them on purpose.”

  He wanted to ask why, but he was oddly scared what her answer might be. Instead, he crossed the six feet to where she was standing by her desk. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize they were…expressions of interest.”

  “Yes, Adam Kennedy, they were expressions of interest. Do you really think I act like that all the time?”

  “No.” He didn’t sound certain. He wasn’t sure what he’d thought.

  She took a half step forward. The fabric of their loosened clothes brushed. He could smell that perfume floating up from her bared skin. His head dipped toward the curve of her shoulder, seeking that spot where the collar of her blouse gaped away from her throat. She tipped her head away from him, making it easier for his lips to find that spot just below her ear.

  “Ah—” Her inhaled breath spurred him on. He brushed his lips against her skin, nibbled up past her earlobe, his nose burying itself in her hair. His hands landed on her waist.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck, snuggling up against him. Her hips twisted against his. Her feet shifted and he had to move a little to keep close to her. She stepped a bit more, and he followed.

  Before he had figured it out, they were dancing. Sort of. Not the tango, but—if he didn’t think too much, if he let his body work out what to do—it felt a lot like dancing. And it was sexy as hell.

  “Oh, Sonia.” He whispered into her hairline by her temple. He could feel the rhythm her feet moved to. His hands shifted along her bare skin, one around to her back, the other creeping up between them to cup her breast. Don’t think, just move.

  Her right hand caught his wrist and pulled his fingers into hers. He glanced down. Her breast was exposed, the nipple a pale rose against the ivory. Then she pulled him closer and her chest was pressed against his. They were in a classic ballroom dance pose, even though their clothes were half off.

  His eyes met hers. He could feel his cheeks heat with the force of some emotion. He closed his eyes and let himself float in her arms. It was like his dream, the one in which they were dancing. Well, except that he didn’t know how to dance.

  They completed a circle, slightly faster, and it felt like the right time to try the move from his dream. He dipped her over his arm and nuzzled her throat, her fragrant skin, until he was kissing her breasts, flicking at the nipples with his tongue and teeth. When she made a noise, he pulled her upright.

  “We need to go.” She sounded out of breath. Maybe it was excitement.

  “Where? Becky’s?”

  She shook her head. “Food can wait. I feel like we’ve been engaged in a month of foreplay. I really want to get to the main event.”

  Adam fastened his trousers, impressed the zipper hadn’t released through all their movements. He buttoned his shirt and tucked it in. He tightened his belt.

  The entire time, he watched Sonia do up her blouse and sweater. Her breasts were still bare under the silky blouse. He recalled how her nipples had felt against his lips. He wanted her. More extraordinary yet—she seemed to want him.

  *

  Adam used the Park and Ride lot on Marginal Way, so it made sense just to walk to Sonia’s studio. They bundled into their bulky coats and waterproof boots, wrapped their necks in scarves and pulled on gloves. They looked like toddlers, ready to play in the snow.

  “Welcome to Maine, where you’ll dress like a kid for most of the winter.” Adam wrinkled his nose. “Sorry. I tend to make up fake ad copy for no apparent reason.”

  “I know. One of my favorites is when you take your first sip of coffee and say something like, ‘Coffee—the only beverage known to bring folks back from the dead.’”

  “I hope I sound cleverer than that when I’ve finished the mug.” Adam locked up and they set off along the brick sidewalks and flat facades of the Old Port. The snow fell in lazy clumps that seemed unlikely to stick to anything. Slacker snow. By the time they walked past the famous copper beech tree by the Art Museum, its branches strung with twinkling lights, the sidewalks were slick.

 
They talked about the agency, her dance lessons, where they grew up, what brought them to Portland and why they stayed. Before he knew it, she’d stopped in front of a handsome brick-fronted townhouse with black shutters and white trim.

  She unlocked the door and led him into a foyer. “It’s actually four houses side-by-side converted into apartments. There’s a communal garden out back, but my place overlooks the street.”

  Her studio was on the second floor. A brass bed between the windows dominated the large room. Sonia closed the drapes even before starting to take off her outdoor gear. She turned on the bedside lamps, turned off the overhead light by the front door. “Do you want anything to drink?”

  He shook his head. Food or drink was the last thing he wanted, even if his mouth was going dry on cue. Something about the bed being right over there…

  She held out her hand. “Your coat?”

  “Oh, sorry.” He shrugged out of his parka and handed it to her. She hung it up in the coat closet by the door.

  “The bathroom’s right there.” She pointed at a door, barely ajar, across from the coat closet.

  “Okay, thanks.” He went in, turned on the light and closed the door. He washed his hands and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His light brown hair was mussed from the woolly hat he’d worn, so he smoothed it back with his fingers. What else? His was a perfectly ordinary face, symmetrical and tidy. He was vain enough to get rimless glasses, but he didn’t kid himself that he was particularly handsome.

  What the hell was he doing in Sonia Townsend’s apartment? She embodied the girl he’d have given anything to take to the senior prom, or the talented junior he’d lusted for during his first year at college. Here he was, almost twenty-nine, and he still wanted the unattainable.

  Well, maybe not attainable, but it would appear that he could have a fling with his dream date. No clue why she wanted him, but she did. He took a deep breath, straightened his jacket, and went back out to join her.