For Authentication Purposes (20 page)

“Wardo.” She looked down at her hands as they flattened against my chest. “I don’t want to write that romance novel anymore.” Her face was sad, her eyes seeming to hold a small bit of fear. “Don’t be mad?”

“Why would I be mad?” I was utterly confused.

“Because of this weekend? I don’t want you to think I was using you for something I’m not going to do anymore because I was being honest when I told you yesterday I care more about you than the agreement. After being here with you for a couple of days, I’m certain I care for you more than that, and I can’t see myself using what’s happened here between us for other people to read because I could never ever do it justice with words alone.”

Every nerve ending in my body was on alert as I looked at her face to gauge the truth. It was there in spades.

Dawn Bunny Sims liked me. Maybe even loved me a little.

For real.

“Shut up, Bunny,” I whispered while I leaned forward and kissed her hard, wrapping her entire body against me. “You talk too damn much.”

She laughed and let out a relieved sigh. “I thought you’d think I was a complete psycho.”

Pushing her face back with my hands on her cheeks and staring into her soft green eyes, I smiled at her. “I’ve been waiting for you to say that to me since I was fourteen years old.”

“What?” She appeared alarmed.

“Yeah, I’ve had a crush on you since I was fourteen.”

“But prom? You could have . . .”

“I was going to ask you out and then I got nervous so I went outside for a smoke. Then I ended up smoking a full pack and by the time I walked back inside you’d turned on full bitch mode and ignored me the rest of the night. It would have been stupid of me to pursue you after that.”

Dawn’s smile was shy and embarrassed before she looked away. “Well, then I guess failing out of college was the best thing I’ve done in years.”

I shook my head. “Nah, I’d say that hand job in the lab was better than that.”

And we laughed, not verbalizing what was happening, but just letting it unfold. When she left that night, I held her tight, and the weight in my chest felt much lighter. She promised to send me the information her writer friends had forwarded about what I could do regarding Mandie, but I wasn’t so sure it mattered anymore.

Before she went out that door, I held her face in my hands and dipped my chin to kiss her soft lips one more time. “Are you busy tomorrow night?”

She winced and backed away with a small laugh. “I’m not sure I can handle more of your lessons, Wardo. My girlie bits are waving the white flag and asking for a time-out.”

I laughed and shook my head, pulling her to me once more. “I was going to ask you out on a legitimate date, Bunny.”

Her smile was so wide I could feel it in my soul. “You’ve already taken me out on dates. Don’t act like I never noticed that you bought me coffee and dinner before. But, yeah. I’d love that.”

I watched her walk away and then lay in my bed thinking of her all night. And once I got to work the next morning, I walked right by Mandie’s book without any thought or reaction at all. Because it didn’t matter anymore.

There were two people in the erotica section, standing very still and red-faced, each pretending not to notice the other as they scanned the book spines for whatever was tickling their fancy. And I wanted nothing more than to tell them they could find the same stuff online for free instead of paying for it and having to hide it from their husbands or kids. Or parents. Instead, I stocked the four books I had in my hand and removed my lanyard from around my neck so that I could clock out for the day.

I had a date with Dawn.

Dawn

He smelled incredible.

Warner showed up at my place just about ten minutes earlier than he had asked me to be ready. I’m not sure if it was because he thought I might still be naked or if he was trying to be punctual. Either way, he looked amazing and smelled so good I wanted to rip his clothes off and give him a tongue bath like those alley cats behind my apartment did on a nightly basis.

He’d traded out his black leather jacket for a brown one, and his hair was a little more tame than usual. His hands were fidgety as he handed me the small bouquet of white tulips he’d purchased on his way over. And I couldn’t contain my smile as I gazed down at the blue silk ribbon tying the stems together, the color so close to that of his eyes.

It would have been a hundred percent perfect in every way if he hadn’t attempted to pull my dress off five minutes after entering the hallway.

“Stop.” I laughed and pushed against him as his mouth came down on the soft skin of my neck where it met my shoulder. “I thought you wanted to take me out on a respectable date.”

He groaned a little and sighed before releasing my skin from his lips and licking over the spot one more time for good measure. “I do. But I also want to show you a few new things I’ve been thinking about all day.”

I pushed him away and ran my hands down the front of his coat, letting them slide lower until I palmed his zipper. “We have all the time in the world for that, Wardo.”

We held hands on the car ride over to the restaurant, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t trying to get him going by letting my pinky wander just a little too far inside his thigh to brush against his still-hard dick. He even shifted a little in his seat to let his legs open a little wider so I could access it better. The little smile on his face told me he saw right through my game.

The restaurant was too nice, and I felt a little odd, being that Warner and I were, well, we were us. We weren’t fancy dinner people. We were almost-sex in an alley. Or naked pizza. We were anal beads after a shower. Not duck and flambé.

His eyebrows pulled together as he perused the menu, and I had to bite my lip to stop from laughing at his confused expression.

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, clearing his throat before he straightened up in his seat. “Nothing.”

“We can go somewhere else.”

“What? Why the fuck for?” His eyes grew wide as the people at the table next to us turned to give him a dirty look. Ducking his head, he leaned over the table. “Sorry.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Why the fuck for?”

I finally did laugh, laying my menu down and leaning onto the table toward his face. I lifted a hand to his cheek and traced it in the candlelight. “Because this place is stuffy and it sucks. And I want a hamburger. Bad.”

His face relaxed and something sweet appeared in his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Let’s go before we get charged for having our asses in the seats.” We were up in a flash and out the door, not even bothering to tell the waitress we were leaving. Warner stopped at a burger place on the way back to the apartment and pulled off the side of the road, driving up a desolate gravel driveway that led to an open expanse of grass and a few trees. The sky was wide open above us as we perched atop the hood of his car. It wasn’t the same as the place we’d made out that one time but I liked it just as much.

Wrapped in his jacket, I bit into my cheeseburger like I hadn’t eaten in days and let out an appreciative moan. “Oh my God. I would say this is better than sex . . .” My eyes caught his. “But now I know better.”

He grinned, his cheeks filled with food, and let out a small chuckle. “Poor Mathlete Matt.”

My cheeks were stuffed with food but I was smiling at him. I hummed a bit and swallowed my mouthful. “Do you think Candace and Nolan will be upset about us?”

Warner cocked his head to the side and looked me over. “What about us?”

I choked a bit on my burger and looked down at my hands. “Um, nothing. I mean, we’re out on a date, and, like, you know, we’ve had sex and whatever.”

His laughter sliced through the night air and he cut me off. “Damn, Bunny. I’m messing with you. I know we’re something now.”

My cheeks pulled up to my eyes as I smiled. “Still a complete asshat. Whatever will I do with you?”

His words didn’t reach my ears, but I could have sworn he mumbled something about me staying.

We finished our food in happy silence, staring up at the stars and inching closer to one another on the hood of the car. He reached over and pulled me close then wrapped his arm over my shoulder to squeeze my left side to his chest. Placing a sweet kiss on my head, he sighed. I closed my eyes and reveled in the feeling of being held in his arms. It was so much more than I had bargained for.

Moments passed as the bitter wind began to blow a little harder, and I shivered under his arm, nuzzling my face into his chest, inhaling his clean scent and loving the warmth that was provided right over his sternum.

“How was work today?” he asked, his voice a low rumble that made my cheek vibrate.

“Very educational.”

“Yeah? Did you learn something new about caring for Frank?”

I shook my head and buried my face in his chest before letting my cheek slide against the softness of his shirt and upward so I could place a tiny kiss on his neck. “He wasn’t feeling well, so he slept most of the day. I did a lot of reading while I was there.”

He shivered and I smiled against his skin as his arm tightened around me and the other one crept forward to cup my knee, his long fingers splaying out and giving me goose bumps.

“You didn’t read any more of that book, right?”

I sat up straight and pressed my lips to his. I felt so at ease with the act that it frightened me a little. “No, I didn’t read any more of what that bitch had to say.”

His chest relaxed, and I kissed him again, urging him to make it deeper. I opened my eyes to look at his, watching his closed lids and eyelashes fluttering a little as I pulled away from the embrace.

“One of the women in my group, this awesome writer I look up to, she has a new story that she sent me to look over and preread for feedback.”

Warner’s one eyebrow pulled up. “Is that so? And did you learn anything new?”

I nodded, scooting closer to him to kiss his soft lips again. With a soft exhale, I opened my lids halfway in what I hoped was a seductive stare. “She really makes anal sound hot as hell.”

There was a moment of silence between us as he stared at me, stunned, before he turned so fast he lost his balance and toppled off the front of the car. Burger wrappers bounced and fell on him as he hit the ground, but he brushed them off as quick as he could before jumping to his feet and planting himself between my legs. His hands ascended underneath my skirt, and I gasped at the feel of his cold fingertips along my skin, traveling higher before they stopped and moved back down to my parted knees.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” The excitement in his eyes made my heart swell.

I shrugged and looked up at the sky again. “I mean my bunny bits feel like they’ve been punched, so I don’t figure you’re going to be going all the way in there tonight.”

“Damn it, Bunny. Don’t tease me. Are you serious?”

Swallowing the nerves that had taken residence in my throat, I looked back down at his face and nodded once. “We can certainly try.”

I was betting he hadn’t foreseen that I would have been up for it so fast. But he’d mentioned that the Bullet was for me to use while doing that, and he’d even used the beads on me once, okay, twice, when he was working me up in his endless hours of foreplay.

Maybe it made me look a little less wholesome in his eyes.

Who the hell was I kidding? The man made me a freak in the sheets. And I loved it.

He sped back to my apartment like a bat out of hell, throwing the car into park and almost running to my door to throw it open. He lunged at me and caught me around my waist then pulled me to his chest with force. He cradled me there for a second before gripping my hand and bounding up my stairs two at a time. I couldn’t stop laughing as I dug around inside my purse for my keys. He was so pumped, and I was starting to get a case of the giggles at his expense.

That was until we made it into the apartment.

He was on me like a feral cat, pawing at me and pulling my clothes off before I had a chance to turn any lights on.

“Do I need to do anything?” I asked as his hands bunched up my dress and he pulled it over my head to stare down at what I was wearing underneath.

“What is that?” He stared at my chest as it rose and fell between us.

“This?” I ran my fingers over the lace front, trying to play coy. “This is a corset.”

“Like that old underwear you told Gary about?”

“Old fashioned.” I smiled up at his face. Lifting a brow, I pursed my lips. “Wanna rip my bodice?”

He didn’t even think about it. I was pulled as he walked to my bedroom, kicking the door wide open with his foot like I’d come to expect. It still filled my tummy with butterflies. Twirling me around, he let me go, and I bounced against the mattress, feeling free and happy as well as nervous. But I was bold and I looked him in the eye as I let my hands wander over the top of the corset again.
 

“Go on. You know you wanna.” I was playing with him and he liked it. I could see it in his eyes as they widened and then narrowed. The way his nose flared out and his lips pressed into that decades-old smirk that I should have given in to years ago.