Jude jacked a brow at me. “For now?”
I shrugged. “If I make myself indispensable, maybe I can hang onto her. I’ve got a shot, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna waste it.”
“You sure that’s wise?” he asked. “I mean, aside from the fact that she told you she didn’t want anything serious.”
“I’m not saying I want anything serious. I’m saying I have a feeling what she means is she doesn’t want anything complicated.”
“So you think you’re an exception to the rule.”
“Maybe.”
“You want to be.”
I smirked. “Maybe.”
Jude snorted. “Well, you’ve only been fantasizing about her for ten years.”
Phil warily watched me. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Whatever I can, Philly. Whatever I can. Keep things easy and simple. I don’t want to own her.”
Jude opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off, “I mean I want to own her with my dick—” he looked satisfied at that, “but I’m not trying to put her in a cage, ever. I want to show her that it doesn’t have to be messy or hard. It can be easy and fun. I just have to respect her space.”
Jude laughed. “Oh, man, you should tell her that while you’re nailing her. I just respect you so much, Penny,” he teased in a girlie voice.
“You are such a dick, dude.”
He kept laughing. “I know.”
“I didn’t think I’d hear from her so soon, but I’m not complaining. Last night wasn’t enough. Tonight won’t be either. Hopefully she’s just as into me, and we can keep this going. Easy.”
Phil still wasn’t convinced. “Doesn’t sound easy. Relationships need three things to be successful.” He held up his fingers and ticked them off. “Respect, communication, and trust. If any one of those things breaks down, you’re in deep shit.”
“Thanks, Dr. Phil.” Jude started laughing all over again.
Phil looked wounded. “Angie told me that, and it’s fucking true. I’m just saying — if you’re not communicating about where you’re at, your shit’s gonna fall apart. Kablooey.”
I tried not to overthink it. “Don’t worry, Philly. I’ll talk to her about it when the time comes.”
“And in the meantime?” he asked.
I smirked. “In the meantime, you leave so I can woo her.”
“With your dick,” Jude said.
The fucker popped out of his chair and ran off before I could deck him.
Dicknotized
I wet my smiling lips as I knocked on Bodie’s door, trying to ignore my banging heart, hyperaware of the soft fabric of my skirt against my bare ass and the point where my thighs met, warm and naked and sizzling at the thought of him.
Dicknotized. I’d been completely and utterly dicknotized.
The door swung open, revealing Bodie, tall and blond and beautiful, smiling that megawatt smile at me.
“Hi,” I said stupidly, smiling back like an idiot.
“Hey. Come on in.”
He moved aside so I could pass, and I swayed my hips, hoping he’d catch the motion of my black skater skirt to remind him that I wasn’t wearing panties.
When I looked over my shoulder at him, it was obvious my nefarious, self-serving plan to convince him to ravage me had worked. His eyes were on my upper thighs, and his lips were pinned between his teeth.
I decided to prolong the inevitable, stretching out the tease for as long as I could with the desire to rip each other’s clothes off crackling between us.
I set my bag next to the couch and looked around the apartment with my heart beating well above the normal resting rate. “I didn’t really get a good look at your place last night. I love it.” The loft was open, with exposed bricks and warehouse windows, simple, modern furniture, and tidy, considering three dudes lived there.
“Thanks. Phil and Jude have been here for a few years now.”
I shook my head, still looking around. “Man, they must have great jobs.”
“They did,” he said as he approached from behind. “Phil is a software engineer, and Jude is in digital design. They quit so we could work on our video game together.”
I started wandering just before he reached me, heading toward their office space. “Really? You’re designing a video game?”
“Mmhmm.” He was still behind me where I’d left him.
“Which desk is yours?” I asked, standing in front of the three, which were all side by side, facing the windows. Six monitors sat on top, two for each desk.
“This one,” he said against my neck, surprising me.
I hadn’t heard him approach. One hand slipped around my waist while the other pointed at the desk in the middle.
“And what do you do here?” I leaned back into him, my plan largely forgotten when he pressed himself against my ass.
“Mmm, lots of math.”
His hands moved from my hips to the bend at my thighs, his fingers reaching between my legs, and I arched my back to shift my ass against the length of him.