My forehead furrowed as my face melted into a deep frown. “I’m not sure I’m following, shorty. You pushed for a contest where the reward is a potential boyfriend for Sophia because you want us to get back together?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, excitement transforming her face. “Exactly!”
“Are you insane? You can’t just manipulate situations and people to get the result you want.”
“Pfft. Of course I can.” She waved me off. “Especially when I know what’s in their best interests.
“Then please,” I started, anger seeping into my voice, “explain to me how the fuck you coming up with this contest is in my best interest. You basically just threw the entire male population of Seattle right in Sophia’s lap.”
“Precisely,” she groaned like she was talking to a child who just wasn’t getting it. “I just created the perfect scenario for you to prove yourself to her. How could she really believe you’ve changed if there’s no obstacle in the way? I created that obstacle for you! Now you can fight and prove that you’re the man for her.”
My mouth had fallen open halfway through her rant, and once she was finished I was stunned speechless for several seconds.
Then…
“You’ve lost your fucking mind!”
Lola scowled like she’d expected me to shower her with praise for being a genius. Yeah, not so much. “I’ll be expecting an apology and a really expensive present when you and Soph are planning your wedding.”
“Christ, shorty,” I breathed, falling back against my chair and raking my hand through my hair. “This is real life, not one of those goddamn chick flicks you women like to watch. You think you helped, but you just set me up to fail. What’s your plan if she actually falls for one of these douchebags, huh?”
Lola stood, squaring her shoulders as a determined gleam flashed in her eyes. “She won’t,” she declared. “You came to Seattle to get your girl back, so get. Her. Back. I have complete faith that you can prove yourself against any of the five men she picks. So you better start planning.”
She turned and waltzed out on her sky-high heels, and not a moment too soon. Because if she’d stuck around any longer I might very well have strangled her.
Chapter Ten
Sophia
I woke with a start as the mattress depressed beneath me. The room was still pitch black, but I could make out the shadow of a person’s large silhouette in the moonlight. I shot to sitting and opened my mouth to let out a bloodcurdling scream.
A hand clamped over my mouth, causing a spike of fear to pierce my chest. “Shh, butterfly. It’s just me.”
My lungs deflated with a heavy whoosh. “Dominic? What are you… how did you… it’s the middle of the night.”
“I’m sorry.” His voice was ragged, almost pained. “I just couldn’t stay away from you.”
My belly flipped and desire clawed at my insides. He’d only left me a few hours ago after a wonderful dinner together. And all the fight I’d had in me to deny him was gone. I couldn’t do it any longer. “I don’t want you to,” I whispered into the darkness.
That was all it took. I was on my back and Dominic was over me, his strong body pressing me deeper into the mattress as his tongue dueled against mine. It took only moments for him to strip me completely bare and I panted for breath, looking up at him as he moved off the bed and slowly pulled his shirt over his head.
The sight nearly took my breath away. A thin trail of dark hair led from just below his navel into the waist of his jeans like a treasure map, and I couldn’t wait to get to the prize inside.
“Keep looking at me like that and this’ll be over before it begins,” he said in warning, but I was too delirious with lust to care.
“Hurry,” I pleaded. At the desperation in my voice, he jerked his pants open and shoved them down, freeing his gorgeous, rock-hard cock.
“Need you, butterfly,” he growled as he climbed back on top of me. “I don’t know how to live without you.”
“Oh God,” I cried when the thick head of his erection slid through my wetness, rubbing across my throbbing clit. “Now. Please, Dom. Now.”
He drove in with one powerful thrust, bottoming out and holding still to give me time to adjust. I whimpered as he filled me, stretching me in a way I hadn’t been in so long.
“So fucking tight,” he gritted out. “So perfect, and all mine.”
“Move,” I demanded. “Dom, please move.”
He pulled out until just the tip of him rested inside of me, then powered back in. “Yes!” I threw my head back against the pillows as his cock skated across my G-spot.
“Like that, baby?”
“Love it,” I answered in a husky tone. “More, honey. Harder.”
He pulled out all the way, but before I had a chance to protest he flipped me over and pulled me to my knees. He thrust back in and the new angle made bursts of light explode behind my eyelids.
“Hands to the headboard,” he commanded as he fucked me harder, deeper, faster.
I followed his instructions and lifted my upper body, bracing myself against the headboard, holding on for dear life. One of his hands trailed down my belly, coming to a stop where we connected to toy with my clit. The other cupped one of my breasts, tweaking my puckered nipple. The way he caressed me, played my body like an instrument, made me even wetter. I was gearing up for a cataclysmic orgasm that I wasn’t sure I’d survive. But what a way to go.
“Christ, already close,” he grunted, pounding into me over and over. “I can feel you, baby. You’re squeezing the hell out of me.”
He wasn’t wrong. “Don’t stop,” I begged. “God, please. Don’t stop.”
“Am I under your skin yet?” he growled in my ear.
“Yes,” I hissed.
“Then come for me, butterfly.”
Thank God. I reared my hips back to meet his, tilting my ass higher to take him deeper, and then…
I woke with a sharp gasp, shooting up in my bed. I was a sweaty, panting mess. The covers were tangled around my body, and my chest rose and fell with each ragged breath.
“Shit,” I hissed, collapsing onto my back as I tried to regulate my frenzied heart. It was just a dream. A fucking dream that ended before I got to the good part. Just like it had every night since my dinner with Dominic a week ago. “Goddamn it.” I was losing my mind.
I’d only just gotten my traitorous body under control when the alarm on my bedside table began to blare, alerting me to a new day. I looked over at it and glared. “Oh shut the hell up.”
I reached out and slapped my phone where it lay, silencing my alarm and giving myself a few more seconds to recuperate before climbing from my bed and slowly padding to the bathroom. I went about my morning routine in a complete daze. I was no less hot and bothered by the time I made it to the lobby of my building, Hart Tower, and prepared to take the elevator up to my floor.
“Good morning, beautiful.”
I suppressed my shiver at the sound of his voice—barely. I kept my feet pointing forward and turned only my head to look over my shoulder. “Dominic,” I replied in a flat voice. I knew it was childish to be mad at him—after all, it wasn’t his fault I was having nightly sex dreams about the man—but I didn’t care. I blamed him anyway.
He shot me a devilish smirk. “You look tired, baby. Not sleeping well?” The bastard knew. He could read me with a single glance.
I let out a tiny growl and looked back at the elevators. They seemed to be taking their sweet-ass time this morning.
I knew he’d stepped closer before he even spoke, felt the heat of him at my back. “You know,” he whispered in my ear so the few people milling around us couldn’t hear, “I’d be more than happy to take care of you. All you have to do is say the word.”
I clenched my jaw and shot around. “Fuck. Off,” I whisper-yelled.
“Tsk, tsk, Sophia. You know those aren’t the right words.”
“I hate you.”
“Nope.” He gri
nned. “Not those either.”
A bell dinged and a set of double doors slid open. I moved quickly to get on, hoping to stuff myself into a back corner of the elevator far away from Dominic to alleviate some of the sexual tension he caused, but the stupid jerk followed and maneuvered to stand behind me, pressed close to my back. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to turn around and smack him or turn and jump his gorgeous bones. Something in my gut told me I was leaning toward the latter.
“Just say it, Soph,” he continued to whisper. “Tell me I’m under your skin just like you are mine. Put us both out of our misery, baby. I’m losing my fucking mind,” he finished with a grunt. “If I keep jerking off like this, I’m going to break my fucking dick off.”
A strangled snort burst from my throat. “Sorry, sorry,” I mumbled to the people who turned to stare at me. “Frog in my throat.”
They looked back toward the front just as Dominic’s quiet voice hit my ear again. “If you’d quit being so fucking stubborn, you could have something else in your throat.”
My laughter stopped abruptly, and I nearly gasped as bolts of electricity shot directly to my core. I had to clench my thighs together to alleviate the ache. “Not so funny now, is it?” he asked, sounding put out.
The elevator came to a stop. I looked up to see we’d arrived at Dominic’s floor just as the doors began to open. Everyone else standing by us cleared out first, leaving him the last to exit. A rumble escaped his chest as he stepped around me and started heading out.
“Oh, Dom?” He turned and looked at me. I gave him a tiny finger wave and a smug grin. “Have a great day. Hope you’re not too”—I looked down at the semi he was sporting beneath his trousers—“distracted.” I winked as the doors closed. The last thing I saw was his face melt into a frustrated scowl.
I laughed as I continued the journey to my floor. As far as I was concerned, I’d just evened the score.
“Welcome back, guys,” Lola said into the mic. “If you’re just tuning in, you’re in for a treat. Today’s the day we’ve all been waiting for.” She shot me a wink and I glared. She, Daphne, and our listeners might have been looking forward to it, but I’d have rather walked across hot coals. “Today the lovely Sophia is going to tell us which five lucky men she’s chosen from the online questionnaires. And let me just say, there were a lot of applicants.”
Hell yeah, there were. I had no idea so many men even listened to our show. It had been ridiculous. I’d spent days weeding through, narrowing the applicants down to just five. I thought it would’ve been harder, but the number of perverts in the Seattle area was somewhat unsettling.
The first wave was simply tossing anyone who’d answered the questions with sexual innuendo. I’d trashed at least half the very first day.
The next wave was weeding out the women. I’d never been one to judge, and I was all for loving who you loved, but I wasn’t planning to switch teams anytime soon.
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Daphne chided. “Tell us who you’ve picked.
I rolled my eyes, cleared my throat, and spoke into my microphone. “Well, first off, let me just say a huge thank you to everyone who entered. It was extremely difficult to narrow it down to just five.” Lie. After all the perverts, weirdos, closet psychopaths, and lesbians had been tossed, it had been pretty freaking easy.
I lifted the stack of questionnaires in front of me and began flipping through, looking at the creative screen names the men had created for anonymity’s sake. “After careful consideration, a lot of wine, and input from my girls here, I have the five men I think I’ll hit it off the best with. I’ve chosen DreamMan81, HarleyLover, I’mRosstoyourRachel”—my friends laughed at that one. The guy definitely got points for creativity—“LovestoCook, and BigSpoon.”
“Ooh, nice screen name,” Lola spoke.
“That’s one of the main reasons I picked him,” I said on a smile. “I’ve always loved being the little spoon.”
“What woman doesn’t?” Daphne added.
“Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen,” Lola said. “Sophia’s picked her guys. Now let’s see if one of them turns out to be her lobster. Until tomorrow.”
The On Air light flashed off and I slumped on my stool, breathing a sigh of relief that it was over, at least for now.
“I think I’m going to root for HarleyLover,” Daphne said as we gathered our things and headed out of the studio toward our shared office. “Guys with motorcycles are delicious.” She let out a hum of appreciation.
“Just because that’s his screen name doesn’t mean he actually owns one,” I said, bursting her bubble.
“Personally, I think I’mRosstoyourRachel is the best so far,” Lola offered.
“I don’t know,” Daphne countered. “DreamMan81 isn’t very creative, but there’s something to look forward to with LovestoCook.”
“And don’t forget about BigSpoon. That’s definitely promising.”
“Yeah. Promising,” I deadpanned as I pushed through the door and flicked on the office light.
“Stop being such a downer,” Daphne huffed, plopping down in the rolling chair behind her desk.
“Yeah.” Lola followed suit at her own, and I stood in front of both of them with my arms crossed over my chest. “You go into it with a bad attitude and you’re never going to meet the right guy.”
I didn’t disagree with that, but what I couldn’t bring myself to admit out loud was that I didn’t think any of those five applicants was going to be “the right guy.”
I sighed and dropped my arms. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m just tired. Haven’t been sleeping really well this week.” What I failed to mention was that I was afraid it was because “the right guy” had been plaguing my dreams.
And I didn’t think that was going to stop any time soon.
Chapter Eleven
Sophia
I watched the cursor blink on my computer screen as I tried to come up with something—anything—to say in my initial e-mails to each of the five guys I’d picked on air earlier in the day.
I didn’t think “Hi, I’m the radio host who was trapped into dating total strangers by my best friends. Please don’t be a psychotic shut-in who forces me to lotion up my skin so you can wear it as a suit” was a very good way to start.
I took a gulp of wine to try and steel my nerves. “Okay, Soph. You can do this. It’s just an e-mail… to random strangers who are hoping for a love connection. Crap.” I sucked back more wine; I was going to need it. I was about to e-mail five random men in the hopes of starting something up when all the while I had one man in particular on my mind.
“Suck it up,” I told myself, setting the glass down so I could start typing. I figured honesty was the best policy, so that’s what I decided to go with.
From: [email protected]
Hi there.
So I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of at a loss on how to start this whole thing, so I decided I’d just jump right into it.
I’m Sophia. But you’ve probably already figured that out. LOL. I’m a Sagittarius. I’ve spent most of my life terrified of heights, so I’ve never been on a rollercoaster. And I’ve spent the better part of six months contemplating getting a dog, but I haven’t been able to pull the trigger on that. It seems like a pretty big decision, and I want to make sure I can give a pet the time and attention they need, you know?
I was raised by my single father, so I developed a love for sports at an early age. I can’t play them to save my life, but give me a cold beer, a hot dog, and a crowded stadium and I’m in heaven.
So tell me a little about yourself.
I know you aren’t allowed to divulge too much since this whole thing is supposed to be anonymous, but I’d still like to get to know you.
Do you have a close relationship to your family? If you witnessed a mugging in progress, what would you do? Would you keep walking or stop to help? If you had to choose, which house would you belong to: Lannister, Stark, Baratheon, or Ta
rgaryen?
Yeah, I know. It’s a weird question, but it’s a pretty good indicator of a person’s personality, don’t you think?
Well, I know it’s not much, but that’s really all I can think of right now. I hope you have a great evening, and that I didn’t scare you off. LOL.
I look forward to hearing back,
~ Sophia.
I scanned the e-mail for typos, then, deciding that was the best it was going to get, sent the message to five different addresses before shutting down my computer for the night. If the Game of Thrones reference was lost on any of them, they’d be booted.
With my face washed and my teeth brushed, I’d just crawled into bed when my phone pinged with an e-mail alert, which surprised me. Seeing as it was already pretty late, I hadn’t been expecting a response from anyone.
Snatching my phone from the nightstand, I slid my thumb across the screen and opened the message to find it was from BigSpoon.
A small smile tilted my lips up as I started reading, and it continued to grow until I reached the end.
Lovely Sophia,
I have to say, for someone who claims not to know how to start this exchange, you did a pretty damn good job. A woman who loves sports and beer? I think it’s safe to say you could be my dream woman. Depending on the teams to root for, of course ;)
Let me start by answering the most important question you asked before diving into the rest.
If I’m forced to choose just one, I’d say House Targaryen. You can’t deny Daenerys is a total badass, and they have dragons! Come on, how cool is that? Plus, I think I’d look pretty good as a blond. I hope my answer doesn’t mean our conversations are coming to a stop before they even had a chance to get started. LOL.
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