Dream Lover

by Aubrey Wright

  I’d never really been on for sexting, but god, something about Noah was bringing it out of me.

  “Could say the same for you,” I wrote back. “Mr. Honey Cum.”

  I hit “send” without thinking, realizing how goofy what I’d said sounded.

  Hey—I was new at this.

  Thankfully, Noah blew right past it.

  “That would explain why you drank every last drop ;).”

  OK—I officially needed to dip out and, um, take care of things.

  As if reading my mind, Noah sent me another text.

  “Kind of bored at work—you should show me what you’re wearing under those clothes.”

  Well, if I was going to slip away for a little sexual tension release, might as well send a sexy selfie while I was at it, right? After all, multitasking is an essential skill for any budding executive, right?

  And I was certainly “budding” at that particular moment.

  I zipped off to my private bathroom, ready to get shit done. Once ready, I rolled my pencil skirt over my thighs, revealing a set of black panties.

  I’d never taken a sexy selfie before. But there’s a first time for everything.

  25

  NOAH

  The picture was so GD hot I couldn’t help but stand up at attention.

  And by that I don’t mean I got up—I mean someone, down below, was standing at attention. The picture was super amateurish, which I loved. It was a shot of Pepper in a surprisingly nice-looking bathroom—not the men’s room this time—her skirt pulled up and her gorgeous, creamy thighs on full display. She was looking away in a ridiculously adorable way, an “am I really doing this?” smile on her beautiful face.

  My hand shot up to my mouth, and sure enough, I was actually, literally drooling. Gross? Sure! But the girl had that effect on me. And knowing that Pepper was oh-so-kind enough to let me between those heavenly legs was enough to make me want to drop to my knees and thank the good lord above.

  And I got to thinking about just how I was going to take care of this little problem. I was at work, sure, but the office door was locked, and I didn’t have any clients for another thirty minutes. Normally, controlling my raging sex drive was no problem for me. But man, all it took was a quick shot of some Pepper legs to get me feeling like a caveman.

  I looked around, as if expecting to spot someone hiding out in my office or something.

  “What’re you doing right now?” came a text from Pepper.

  Hmm—this could be fun.

  “Just looking at the picture you sent. It’s getting me…inspired.”

  “That right? Like you think you want to write a song about it :)?”

  “Maybe, but I’m thinking more of a little improv performance here in my office, if you catch my drift.”

  A few beats passed, then another text, and another picture.

  This one was even more scandalous. It was a POV shot from her leaning against the sleek, white countertop in her bathroom. Her top was opened up, her bra pulled down enough to reveal her impossibly perfect tits and the pink nipples that topped them. And her free hand was between her legs.

  Then I noticed the “live shot” image in the corner of the picture. Eager as hell, I pressed down on the shot. Sure enough, it came to life, giving me a three-second clip of her rubbing her pussy, soft, pleasured moans accompanying it.

  OK—that settled that.

  I ran over to my office door, flicking the lock. Once that was done, I plopped down in my leather desk chair, the picture still on the screen.

  “Like what you see?” came the next text.

  “Ohhhh yeah,” came mine.

  “One good turn deserves another, you know ;).”

  The girl had a point. Normally, dick pics weren’t my thing. Maybe it was the straight guy in me talking, but there was something about the penis that was just so…unphotogenic. Not alluring like a pair of gorgeous tits like Pepper’s or what she was hinting at between her legs—more like a caveman holding his club.

  Then again, “caveman” was the vibe I was feeling at that particular moment in time.

  So, I did it. I unzipped my slacks and reached down into my boxer-briefs and took out the big man. And he was most certainly big—dripping, too. Cock in hand, I took my phone and angled it for the perfect shot, one that would make it seem as pretty as I could make the damn thing.

  But right at the moment I was about to snap the shot, a banging sounded from the front door to my office.

  Fuck.

  I shoved my cock back into my pants, nearly dropping my phone onto the oriental rug in the process. The office door shut, the sound followed by that of kids—many kids.

  The client was here. Shit!

  My office was just me—no sense in having a secretary. And Smith, my contact down at the Hollygrove Children’s Center, knew me well enough to feel comfortable just marching on in whenever we had a meeting.

  Which is what he’d done. And he’d brought guests.

  After running in front of the mirror and getting myself looking right, giving my thigh a quick jab to get my cock to go back to normal, I was ready. Good timing, too—because whoever was at the door was pretty insistent on getting in. I hopped up and hurried over, giving myself one last glance in the mirror before opening it up. As soon as I did, a half-dozen six-to-seven-year-olds rushed into the place, swarming all around me.

  “Hey, dudes!” I said, a beaming smile on my face at seeing the kids.

  “Hi, Noah!” they all said in unison.

  I reached out to Jack, a cute-as-hell blond-haired kid that I’d been working with trying to get homed, and gave his hair a muss.

  “What’s up, bud?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” he said, looking shy now that he was the center of attention. “Mr. Smith said he’d take us out for In-N-Out after we saw you.”

  “Ah,” I said with a grin. “The old burger bribe.”

  “No!” said Olivia, a dark-haired girl with a missing front tooth. “We wanted to come!”

  “I mean yeah!” said Jack. “I did!”

  Smith, trim and tall and around twenty-five, strolled into the place and watched the group with a warm smile.

  “Come get burgers with us, Noah!” shouted Justin, one of the other kids.

  Cries of “yeah!” came up from the kids as I turned my attention to Smith.

  “Guess that means you’ve got a tagalong,” I said.

  “Was going to invite you anyway,” said Smith as he went over to the Keurig and started a cup. “Maybe we can get Sophia on the way?”

  More excited cries came up from the kids—they all knew Soph, and just like anyone who’d met her, they loved her.

  “You kidding?” I asked. “She finds out that I got burgers without her, and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  “See?” asked Smith. “Just looking out for you, big guy.”

  The kids fell into conversation with one another, playing with whatever stuff I had lying around the office as Smith came over to me, two cups in hand.

  “You hear back from the contract lawyer?” he asked.

  “Sure did,” I said, taking the cup he offered. “All’s looking good. This book sells half of what they think it’s going to and these guys won’t be worrying about college.”

  “Great to hear,” he said.

  My phone buzzed again, another text from Pepper, this one reading “Something I said?”

  Shit.

  “Let’s talk about it over burgers,” I said, my eyes on the phone as I typed up one last text to Pepper. “Sound good, guys?”

  “Busy now,” I wrote to Pepper. “Talk soon.”

  The kids exploded with their agreement. Once I’d gotten them all gathered up, we headed out.

  And, like I’d gotten so used to with Pepper, what we’d been interrupted getting up to was right there in the front of my mind.

  26

  PEPPER

  Another week later…

  Noah and I were dating—at le
ast I was pretty sure. Two weeks is enough to call someone your boyfriend, right?

  “Totally,” said Shania as we sat across from one another at the Cha Cha Lounge, one of our usual haunts in Silver Lake. “Two weeks is, like, more than enough.”

  I’d been thinking out loud, and now I was paying the price. All the girls were weighing in with their take on the situation. Truth be told, however, I was glad for a little feedback.

  “Are you sure?” I asked. “Because it kind of sounds…I don’t know, a little sudden.”

  “You know how many two-week boyfriends I’ve had?” asked Sam, her face still done up with the pink triangles of her D.Va Overwatch cosplay from one nerd-con or another. “I mean, seriously—if I couldn’t count guys that I’d only dated for a few weeks as ‘boyfriends’ then…my dating life would look way sadder than it does.”

  “I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing,” I said. “Wait, I don’t feel like it—I actually have no idea what I’m doing. When George and I got together, there wasn’t really any ‘dating’ involved. Just him saying he liked me and we sort of just…fell into it. And then out of it.”

  “You don’t need to call it anything,” said Katy. “Not like you’re in a hurry. What’s the point of slapping a label on it? Just go with the vibes, you know?”

  “Wrong about that,” said Shania. “The girl is in a hurry.”

  “What?” asked Katy. “Why?”

  “Because of the reunion,” said Sam.

  I let out the “ugh” to end all “ughs.”

  “Someone’s looking forward to it,” said Shania with a smile.

  “It’s like this thing that pops out for me to notice it as soon as I feel like I have a handle on everything else going on in my life.”

  “You know,” said Sam. “You could always…not go.”

  “No way,” said Katy, piping up before I had a chance to. “No way that she’s sitting this one out.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “If I don’t show up I’ll feel like a coward, like I couldn’t bear to show my face after what George did. Like he got the better of me. Going to this thing will make me feel like I’ve finally moved on.”

  “Moving on by going back to the past,” said Shania. “That’s a new one.” She grinned. “But I get it.”

  “What about Noah?” asked Sam. “You tell him about it?”

  “No,” I said. “And he’s not going to know. The poor dude’s got enough on his plate without dealing with my high-school drama.”

  As if he’d been listening in on the conversation, Noah blew up my phone with a text.

  “There’s the man himself,” said Shania with a grin.

  “Hey! You in Silver Lake right now?”

  “Sure am,” I texted back.

  “Even more specific question—you at the Cha Cha Lounge right now?”

  “Aw, a stalker! Cute ;).”

  “One of my many talents. You feel like some company?”

  My heart went thump-thump-thump at the idea.

  “Always. But we’re kind of having a girls’ night. You’re welcome to join, but you might be a little outnumbered.”

  “That won’t be a problem ;). See you in like, a minute.”

  “So,” I said to the girls as I set down my phone. “Kind of invited Noah. Hope that’s not a problem.”

  The looks on their faces made it clear that it most certainly wasn’t. But before they had a chance to react, the doors to the Cha Cha Lounge flew open, and Noah strode in.

  But he wasn’t alone. It was all of the Lover Boys—Will and Theo and Sean.

  “Holy shit,” said Katy. “That’s the whole band!”

  The guys locked eyes on us, Noah in the lead as they pulled up to the table and dropped into some open seats. Noah was next to me, naturally, and he pulled me in for a big smooch on the cheek. It all happened so fast that I didn’t know what to do.

  “Evening, gorgeous,” said Noah as he took in the sight of a table of wide-eyed women.

  But he didn’t seem fazed—I figured seeing speechless women was something he was used to.

  “Evening, handsome,” I said right back. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  “We were in the area,” said Sean. “Doing a little practicing.”

  “Practicing?” I asked. “As in, Lover Boys practicing?”

  “We’ll, uh, talk about that later,” said Noah, surprisingly coy about it.

  Introductions were next. I introduced the girls to the guys, and Noah the guys to the girls. And once the surprise had worn off, the six of them all fell into easy conversation. And not just easy conversation, but flirtatious conversation.

  Was I witnessing some blossoming romances?

  That is, until Shania, already a few glasses of chard into the evening, dropped the bomb. “So,” she said, turning her attention to Noah. “If you guys are practicing, you might as well play another show.”

  “Thinking about it,” said Will, looking as statue-esque as he did on his movie posters. “Why?”

  “Yeah,” said Noah. “Why?”

  I shot Shania a hard look, one that said in no uncertain terms that she needed to stop right then and there.

  But she went on. “Because,” she said, “Pepper’s got the perfect venue for you—her high school reunion!”

  I wanted to scream. I knew Shania was just having fun, but it still wasn’t what I wanted.

  “God,” I said, standing up in frustration. “I need some air.”

  “Pepper!” said Noah, calling after me as I left.

  Seconds later I was outside, the evening air cool and pretty nice, actually. And of course, I only had the briefest of moments to myself before Noah was out there with me, concern on his stupidly handsome face.

  “So,” he said. “Reunion, huh?”

  “Yep,” I said. “A reunion. Fifteen-year one.”

  “That’s kind of a weird year,” he said.

  “Long story.”

  Silence fell.

  “And…you want the guys and I to play?”

  I let out a sigh. Of course I wanted him and the guys to play, and of course I needed to ask him at some point. I imagined more, you know, finesse. And then on top of that there was still the issue of me not wanting to ask for a favor.

  But there it was, out in the open. Might as well go for it.

  “I mean, yes,” I said. “I’d love it. But I know it’s so…small-time for you guys. Lover Boys are used to playing stadiums and concert halls and not high school reunions.”

  A thoughtful expression formed on Noah’s face.

  “And I take it that if you want me to play, that means you want me to go with you?”

  “That’s the other thing.”

  “Well, you know I will.”

  “To which part?” I asked, a little surprised.

  “To both of them.”

  My eyebrows nearly shot off into space. “Are you serious?” I asked. “You’ll play? And come?”

  “Sure!” he said. “Coming with you is totally obvious. And playing…well, after the show, the guys and I realized how much fun we’d had. Not saying we’re doing a real-deal reunion, but we figured a few shows here and there might be cool. A high-school reunion sounds low-key. Gotta ask the guys, but I’m sure they’ll be on board.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that,” he said. “Under one condition.”

  “Yeah?”

  “No secrets. You want to ask me something, I want to know about it—no matter how silly you think it is, OK?”

  All I could do was smile. “Deal,” I said. I sighed, realizing what else I was leaving out. “There’s more,” I said.

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  This was the hard part. “You know me mentioning that I was almost married?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “It was a little more than that.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Like, it wasn’t something as small as just calling off an enga
gement. It was way, way worse.”

  No sense in beating around it. With a sigh of preparation, I went into it.

  I told Noah the whole story, about George and the wedding and the sci-fi and the cosplay and the eighteen-year-old girl who did what she did and by the time I was all done I felt like I wanted to collapse and drink all at the same time.

  But Noah had only two words for me.

  “That’s cool.”

  I was shocked.

  “Cool?”

  “I mean, not ‘cool’ in the sense that it was a good thing. But ‘cool’ in the sense that there’s no judgment about it from me. What, did you think I’d be turned off by it or something?”

  “Maybe not turned off,” I said. “But that you might think I had all this dramatic baggage. And I wanted to give you to the chance to get out before you got sucked into all that.”

  “Are you serious?” he asked. “As far as I’m concerned if someone dumps his fiancée on his wedding day then he gets the ‘asshole’ title for that. It’s all on him. And as far as dramatic? You’ve seemed so…I don’t know, in control about it. If a woman had done that to me I’d be a wreck.”

  “In control?” I asked, surprised to hear it.

  “Yeah,” he said. “You had your entire life turned upside down, and look at you—you’re still on top of your game, kicking ass at your job. It’s impressive.”

  “But that’s the thing,” I said. “It’s not always like that. Sometimes my life can get...messy. And if you don’t want to get involved in all that, I get it. I mean, what if I’m still sorting through all that and haven’t recovered from it yet? What if I’m a ticking time bomb of even more drama, you know?”

  I was giving him an out. But it felt like the right thing to do. Sure, I’d always had faith in my ability to deal with bullshit and come out on the other side stronger than ever, but what if he didn’t want to deal with that? What if he wanted something easier? I had to give him that choice.

  If he wanted to end what we had, that was his call. But he didn’t end it. Instead, he took my hand into his.

  “You’re not a ticking time bomb,” he said. “You’re a woman who knows how to handle whatever life throws at her. If anything, it makes me even more sure that I’m making a good call in seeing whatever this thing between us ends up being.”