Shane regarded her a moment, then looked pointedly at Dominic. “Well, Nick, I do believe we have to convince Laura here that she needs to make her husband watch, because it sure sounds like the man’s got a lot to learn.”
Erin felt her smile stretch. “Yes, Nickie, what do you think of that? Does my husband need some lessons?”
His mouth quirked. “Oh, I think you have a lot to teach your husband. I bet there’s stuff you’ve never told him.”
She enticed them both with a low, husky voice that didn’t sound like her at all, yet felt so right. “Maybe it’s time for him to find out.”
“What do you want us to show him how to do?” Shane kept his voice low. His body vibrated with sexual tension, but his eyes danced with humor.
Her skin was flush, her heart racing, and her nipples peaked against the Lycra. This was new and exciting and the slightest bit frightening. But God, she loved the banter. “This is still only hypothetical, remember,” she warned.
“Of course,” they recited in unison.
She thought about what would make them crazy. Oh, for sure, this was going to be fun. “So do you want my fantasy. Or do you want my husband’s?”
SHANE ROLLED HIS EYES. “YOURS. WHO CARES ABOUT HIS?”
“I want yours, too,” Dominic agreed.
Erin’s eyes widened slightly. Dominic figured she’d been expecting him to say he wanted it from her husband’s point of view, but it didn’t matter how long they’d been married or how often they’d fantasized, he knew there had to be something she hadn’t told him. Some dirty secret, something she wanted but had never revealed.
The waitress growled through gritted teeth. “Shane.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her, then turned back. “She’s a spoilsport. I’ll be right back.” He pointed at Dominic. “Do not get her to talk without me.”
“Don’t hurry on our account,” Dominic answered. Although he did want Shane to return. The other man seemed to up the ante for Erin. He heightened her interest, her pleasure, her excitement, if the light sparkling in her eyes meant anything.
“So tell me, have you done anything naughty like this with your husband yet? Or has it all been fantasy?” Sure, he knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her describe Miterberg’s party, her feelings about it.
Her lips curved in a sexy, sultry smile, setting his libido buzzing. “If I’d met you a week ago, the answer would’ve been no. But . . .” She left the word hanging.
“Then I assume something very interesting happened this weekend. How did you feel about it?” It wasn’t what a guy trying to pick her up in a bar would ask, but this was no ordinary pickup.
She sat straighter, drew in a deep breath, and put her hands behind her neck, her breasts thrust out, as if she were working out a few kinks. “It was marvelous. I felt . . .” She hummed lightly in her throat, thinking, deciding. “I felt free. So alive.” She brought her hand down, sliding it along her thigh. “And so in charge. It was exhilarating.”
It was the last that surprised him, being in charge, as if that was something new for her. Erin never really gave up her control. “So you like a little dominance?” he queried.
She shook her head, her hair shifting over her shoulders, the light glinting in the red. “I didn’t mean it like that. More like being in charge of the situation, of what you’re doing. Not having people depending on you to make decisions when you know they’re not going to do what you tell them to anyway.”
He should have realized that, but it wasn’t something he’d really thought about. Despite the fact that she gave orders at work, kept everybody going, she’d been in charge of nothing, at least not in her own mind. She couldn’t control anyone’s actions; therefore, she was not in control. Her control had been stolen from her over a year ago. He didn’t know how to help her with that. Christ, he didn’t even know how to help himself. All he could do now was file the knowledge away for later.
He wanted her to tell him what she and her “husband” had done, but the recitation would be so much more effective if the bartender were there to hear it. Dominic glanced down the bar where Shane was setting the last of five drinks on the waitress’s tray. He shot Dominic a devilish smile as if he assumed they were a team, working Erin together, which was certainly the impression Dominic had given him.
What if he invited the bartender home? What would Erin do? He didn’t want to lose her by pushing the night too fast. For now he wanted to know what she’d say in front of Shane, wanted to test her, find out how explicit she’d get. It had been different with Winter; she’d never acknowledged him. They’d talked over her, about her. She’d been the observer. This was different. Shane was bound to ask questions, egg her on.
Then Shane was ambling down the bar, a towel in one hand, three clean glasses on the fingers of his other hand. He set them upside down to drain. “What did I miss?”
“I was about to ask”—damn, what had she called herself?—“Laura what naughty things she’s done with her husband.”
Shane dried a glass slowly, painstakingly, keeping his hands busy should anyone be watching. “Hell, glad I didn’t miss that answer. But what was Laura’s biggest fantasy? That’s what I walked out on.”
Erin bit her lip, her gaze floating from Dominic to Shane and back again. Dominic gave her a nearly imperceptible nod. “Don’t mind us,” he coaxed. “Get as explicit as you want.”
Shane smiled, nodded.
Erin leaned an elbow on the bar, propped her chin on her hand, and fell into the game. “Well, my biggest fantasy was what happened this weekend.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Dominic said. Was she going to make something up, revealing her fantasy that way? Because what they’d done in Orlando hadn’t been her idea; it was his.
“We went to a party.”
They both looked at her. “And?” Shane prompted when she didn’t continue in the very next moment. The guy was impatient, but Dominic figured Erin liked his intent interest.
“We met an extremely handsome man.” She tipped her head. “In fact, you remind me a little of him.”
Shane pumped the air with a fist. “Score one for me, dude.” He grinned at Dominic.
“You’re slowing the pace of her story, man.”
Erin crossed her legs the other way, giving them a view of her shapely thigh, then flashed Shane a sultry smile. She obviously liked the tug-of-war for her attention. “As I was saying,” she went on, “he was a handsome man with some gray in his hair”—hell, Winter was all gray, but Dominic wasn’t going to quibble with her description—“and he seemed . . . interested.”
“Interested in what?” Shane wanted to know.
“Duh. What do you think he was interested in?” Dominic muttered. “We’re talking to a very attractive woman here.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” Erin sipped her wine. She was drinking slowly now, with more than half a glass left. “Anyway, I think he was interested in sex,” she lowered her voice for the last word.
Shane finished drying a glass. “With you or your husband?”
Dominic laughed out loud and slapped the bar with his hand. “Man, you are insane.” Several pairs of eyes turned their way, but the audience was dwindling. It was after nine, and as Shane had said, the bar was starting to clear out.
“Sorry.” Shane smiled sheepishly. He zipped his lips. “I’ll shut up now, promise.”
Erin liked him and his little interjections. He made things fun, and she didn’t have to be nervous. “He was interested in me,” she said.
“I knew that,” Shane answered.
Erin leaned over and put her fingertips to his lips. “Shh.”
Shane deliberately licked her fingers. A rush of warmth spread through her, then Dominic put his hand on her knee and slid it up her thigh. She was suddenly hot everywhere.
“Tell us what you did,” Dominic urged. “Everything.”
She subsided into her seat. Shane’s gaze on her was scorching. Domin
ic’s touch made her wet. Her breath came faster, sharper. She skipped the in-between stuff and went for the only thing that mattered. “My husband invited him back to our hotel room to watch me touch myself, make myself come. A performance.”
“Shit,” Shane breathed. “Did you do it for him?”
“Yes, I did.” She put both hands on the bar, leaned closer, voice low because this time she didn’t want anyone to overhear. “And I loved it. Every moment. The way he looked at me. How hard he got. I’ve never been so wet. I’ve never come so hard.”
As she spoke, Dominic’s hand slipped up her thigh, to the edge of the skirt’s slit and beyond. She moved, and the slit rose higher, almost to her crotch. She felt his heat through her panties. He rubbed her thigh, the edge of his pinkie caressing her pussy right through the material.
Shane dropped his gaze. He knew what Dominic was doing. “Did you fuck him?” he murmured.
She flexed her fingers on the bar, breathed deeply, trying to maintain control, but God, Dominic’s touch, Shane’s gaze, her own voice, the moment Dominic had told her he wanted Winter to watch, how badly she’d wanted to; it all threatened to overwhelm her. “I wanted him to fuck me.” She moved her hips, bringing Dominic’s touch closer. “My husband did it instead. He fucked me right in front of the man after I was done masturbating for them both.” If she hadn’t been afraid, that’s what she would have done. Everything she described.
They could have been alone in the bar, her, Shane, and Dominic. The waitress no longer hissed her orders at Shane, there were no greedy eyes drinking in everything, and the piano was nothing more than music drifting on the air. There was only her, her husband, and another sexy man.
“Was he too jealous to let the other guy do you?” Shane asked with a kind of reverence for her story.
“No. I don’t know.” She couldn’t remember what she’d wanted, Dominic’s jealousy or his desire. Maybe both all wrapped up together. “I don’t think I told him he could let the man do me if he wanted to.”
“But that’s what you wanted, isn’t it.” Dominic’s fingers pressed harder against her, his voice insistent.
“That’s what I wanted,” she said, her voice sounding breathless and excited even to her own ears. “All of it, exactly as I told you.”
Good God, she was letting Dominic touch her in public, even if the lighting was dim and his moves were below the bar and out of sight of everyone except Shane. Her ears buzzed. Her body vibrated. She didn’t care about what she should do, she only cared about what she needed. Here, now. His fingers slipping into her panties, testing how wet she was, playing her, stroking her, circling her clit until his heat became her heat. That was having complete control, taking what you wanted no matter what.
Shane’s voice seemed to come from very far away. “Some day he’s going to let it happen. He’s going to sit back and watch while another man does all the things he’s done, tasted you, sucked you, fucked you.”
Then even his voice was silent, only his lips moving, talking dirty, mouthing how much he wanted to be that man. And Erin came so hard, her head seemed to burst.
12
DOMINIC THREW BILLS ON THE BAR TO COVER BOTH THEIR TABS, then gathered her coat around her.
“You’re a very lucky man,” Shane said.
“Yes, I am.” He didn’t press for more, but he figured the bartender knew he was the husband. He wasn’t sure what had given them away, didn’t care.
“When she’s ready, come back.” Shane tipped back a shot of whiskey he’d poured himself.
No one else had noticed what Dominic had done to Erin, not even the guy who’d tried to pick her up earlier. Dominic settled her lapels, tightened the tie of her coat. Her climax had been so fast, taking him by surprise. She’d been primed, ready, hot and wet when he’d touched her. With only a few more words, his fingers in the perfect spot, a sultry exchange of glances with the bartender, and she’d gone off. She’d bitten her lip, clenched her fingers on the bar, and sighed. But beneath his hand, she had trembled, and he’d felt the quiver of her body deep inside his own.
Nothing had ever felt so exciting and over the top. She had wanted the evening with Winter, the one she’d denied herself. She’d wanted it badly. Somehow, Dominic would give it to her when she was ready. He hoped to God he recognized the moment.
With a glassy, unfocused look, she let him lead her out. He tucked her under his arm as they hit the street outside. “Where’s your car?”
“I can’t believe you did that,” she whispered, a note of awe rather than anger in her voice.
He hadn’t intended it. “I was just stroking your thigh.” Then he’d let her carry him away.
Half a block down from Rudolpho’s, she stopped. A couple skirted around them. “I don’t know what happened. I was suddenly—”
He planted his lips on hers, kissed her hard, backed off to breathe. “Zero to sixty, baby.” She gotten off on telling Shane what they’d almost done. They’d been so close, a yes versus a no from her lips, and Christ, the fantasy-telling had been sexy. He was so hard right now, his balls ached. “Come on, where are you parked?”
“In back.” She pointed. Street parking had probably been full when she arrived, but there was space in the overflow lots behind the stores.
He folded his fingers around hers and turned the corner with her. “Tell me how good it was.”
She shot out a breath. “I don’t know.”
He thought of the things she’d told him. “You said you felt free. And in charge.”
She seemed to think about that for a few steps. “I felt completely in control of the whole thing. Until you made me come.”
He put his arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t make you, baby, you just went off.”
“It was kind of nice, Dominic,” she said softly, almost in wonder.
Nice? He wouldn’t have used that word. Hot, dirty, sexy, but not nice.
“He wanted me, but he let me play the game. He didn’t push. He let me call the shots. He could have gotten mad that I was teasing him, promising stuff I wasn’t going to deliver on, but he didn’t.” She tipped her head back to look at him. “But the whole time you were there in case things went wrong.”
He’d been there to protect her. If Shane had gotten out of hand, Dominic would have beaten him down. She was so selfreliant, handling her responsibilities, her guilt, her grief on her own, for better or worse. She had never let him take care of her. Except tonight when she allowed him to be her enforcer. It was sexy. Endearing. She’d let him share her control.
She frowned and put her hand on his chest. “Stop analyzing. It was good. Fun. I liked the surprise, not knowing exactly what you were going to make me do tonight. I thought about it the whole time I was getting ready, and I was wet and excited before I even got there.” Then she turned, grabbed his hand, pulled him into the parking lot. “And right now, you’re going to get in the backseat of my car, and I’m going to suck you until you can’t remember your name.”
Until he couldn’t remember anything. That was what this was all about, forgetting, pretending, being other people with other lives, a couple who hadn’t lost the glue holding them together.
He let her seduce him into the backseat. He wanted to forget as much as she did.
DOMINIC FOLLOWED HER HOME IN HIS CAR. THE SALTY SWEETNESS of his come still lingered in her mouth. Her body still vibrated with that incredible silent orgasm in the bar. It hadn’t been powerful in and of itself. Physically, she’d had better orgasms, harder, longer. But it was different, exciting because of the time, the place, the strangers around them, the kinkiness of letting him touch her in public, the unexpectedness of it. And Shane, of course. Knowing Shane wanted her was a huge part of the high. It was almost like having two men at once. She’d been seated next to the wall at the end of the bar, and really, no one could have seen exactly what Dominic was doing except for Shane. But some of the patrons probably guessed.
It was the combination that ma
de it explosive, that she’d have liked Dominic to tell Shane to come back to the house. And it was the way Shane had said, “When she’s ready, come back.” The promise in it, the possibilities. And all her choice, no one else’s. Then she’d sucked Dominic in the backseat of her car beneath the parking lot lights. It was risky, and sexy because of the risk. Yet even as she pleasured him, Dominic was watching. If anyone had come close, he would have stopped her.
She’d been totally in charge of what she was doing, yet totally out of control, a delicious dichotomy she couldn’t have explained to anyone. It was doing what she wanted even when she knew everyone else except Dominic would tell her it was wrong. And God, she loved it.
What would his next plan be?
Oh, but wait. Why not come up with a plan of her own?
ERIN COULD BARELY CONTROL HER SHAKING HANDS. “WHY DIDN’T you tell me yesterday?”
Dominic closed the lab door when he heard her voice rising, and that pissed her off, too. “Because we had a date last night,” he said, “and I knew if I told you, you’d freak out and call it off.”
How could twelve hours bring such a radical change in emotion? Erin’s whole body trembled with anger. He’d wanted to get fucked so he lied. She was so pissed she didn’t even give him points for being honest about it. “Of course, I would have cancelled. This is huge, Dominic.” She shook the WEU letter at him. “And they want royalties in arrears? Can they even do that?” It didn’t matter. It was in writing; now they’d have to fight it. “That’s a year’s worth of sales, and the through-coat gauge has been our biggest seller this year.” That gauge, that goddamn gauge, the bane of their existence. She wished they’d chucked the prototype in the bay and let it sink.
“I’m aware of that,” he said.
“How can you be so calm?” Irritatingly calm. As if she were the one who always had hysterics.
“Because it’s bogus.”
She threw the letter on the lab counter. “They have the patent.”
“I told you the patent should never have been issued. We’re fine.” He blithely dismissed everything.
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