“It’s okay,” Leah said. “You can be bummed it’s just me. But I did bring breakfast!” She dangled a Dunkin Donuts bag in front of Abby’s face.
Abby stood back to let Leah in. Leah continued, “I figured you could use a little distraction this weekend, so I have got major plans for us. Retail therapy this morning, mani/pedis in the afternoon, and then we’re spending the night in Boston and doing touristy things like visiting the aquarium, roaming through Faneuil Hall, or walking the Freedom Trail! I know you’ve been wanting to do that forever, and I’m willing to put aside my great dislike of all things historical to join you. I’ll even pretend to like it. What you won’t do this weekend is obsess and stew about Carter. Now, eat your breakfast.” Leah thrust the doughnut bag at Abby. Abby took it, set it down on the counter, and drew Leah into a hug.
“Thanks, L,” she muffled into Leah’s shoulder. “You’re the best. Are you sure Jackson will let you go for a whole weekend with you getting in trouble?”
Leah thumped Abby playfully in the arm. “It’s not like that, and you know it, Abby. Don’t be a jerk just because you’re grumping about your man. For the record, Jackson and I had the most amazing time last night. I’d disobey him anytime for another night like that. And don’t even think about pretending that the thought of Carter spanking you didn’t turn you on just a little bit.”
Abby flushed, but couldn’t deny it. Really, though, the thought of Carter doing anything to her turned her on. He could probably freaking brush her teeth and she’d find a way to get turned on, Damn him, anyway.
In the end, Abby did have a fun weekend. She only checked her phone only a tenth as often as she would have had she been alone, and even managed to forget about Carter for long stretches of time (like thirteen whole minutes!) She and Leah laughed and talked about easy, light things. They did talk somewhat incessantly about Jackson, but it was fun for Abby to hear Leah’s excitement in her own new relationship, and she certainly learned more about dominant/submissive sex than she ever imagined she would. The day in Boston was another welcome distraction from phone silence from Carter. The girls shopped at Faneuil Hall and walked the Freedom Trail. Even Leah enjoyed that, as the girls broke up the walk with stops in cute shops and cafes along the way.
It was exactly what Abby needed to get through the weekend, which passed with no word from Carter. At one point, Abby had suggested to Leah that she just text Carter and tell him about the job, but Leah convinced her not to. And so when Leah dropped Abby at her apartment Sunday evening, Abby was relaxed and happy and almost not thinking of Carter at all.
Chapter 14
Monday morning meant back to work, though Abby viewed the next few weeks at the magazine with bittersweet expectation. Abby thought Carter might be back , but since he still hadn’t called her, she had no real expectation that he’d be there. Even so, she took extra care dressing that morning, just in case. She wore a cute summer sun dress, over which she threw a light-weight cardigan to make the look more professional. And even if it didn’t quite meet the unofficial business casual dress-code of the office, what was going to happen? It’s not like anyone could fire her. To complete the outfit, she even threw on a pair of skimpy lace underwear, for no other reason than they made her feel sexy. And ok, so you never know when someone (Carter!) might see her underwear. He might be back in the office that day, and there might be the chance of…something…happening, so it never hurt to be wearing a cute pair of underwear.
But still, despite her preparations and her hopes, when she walked into the office and saw him silhouetted against the big window in Max’s office, her steps faltered. It was her first time seeing him in person since they’d begun all their late night phone talks…and all the “more” that they did on the phone. Now she wondered how their phone relationship would translate into real life interactions.
As if sensing her eyes on him, Carter turned, and stared deeply at her. His phone was to his ear, and she could see his lips moving as he spoke to someone on the other end. Oh, so you CAN make phone calls, Abby thought sourly. Just not to me, I guess. But when she saw how the corner of his mouth quirked up and his eyes brightened in what could only be genuine happiness as he looked at her, she felt a rush of warmth and pleasure. She thought, that was me…it’s me that does that to him. He spoke somewhat abruptly into the phone and ended the call. He began purposefully weaving his way across the floor towards her, and Abby found her feet carrying her in his direction. So much for playing hard to get, she thought, unable to shut down the huge grin that spread across her face as she made her way to him.
And then, bam! A body materialized in front of Carter, Lorraine, holding a stack of papers out to him, stopping his progress by planting herself firmly in front of him and thrusting the stack into his hands, pointing to certain parts and stealing his attention from her. Abby halted as well. Gaahh! Fucking Lorraine and her fucking papers. Move, you asshole cow! Abby got a grip on reality and chastised herself for being such a jerk. Then, just as Carter looked like he might be able to shake Lorraine, Max appeared from the other side, and suddenly Carter was moving away from Abby, being swallowed up by contracts and financial statements, and who knows what else. Carter’s head turned back to Abby, and his eyes met hers across the room. She saw a flash of disappointment in them that matched her own. He raised a shoulder in helplessness, and allowed himself to be whisked away.
Dejected, Abby slunk back to her desk. The adrenaline rush she’d felt at seeing Carter faded quickly, leaving her feeling spent and headachy. In her depression, she allowed doubts and second-guessing to creep into her head. She wondered anew why he hadn’t bothered to call her all weekend. After sharing so many of her deepest feelings and being so intimate with him over the phone, she had become confident that there was something real between them. And then there was nothing for two days. He was just gone, taking care of someone else, finding someone or something that was more important than she was. Maybe it was her. Maybe she wasn’t special enough, or interesting enough to be someone’s priority, that thing they think about over everything else.
Her cell phone buzzed quietly on her desk, signaling a text. Leah. Reading the message brought a wide smile to her face and gave her spirits a boost.
“You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like you!” she read. Okay, so I do have someone, she amended. I have Leah.
An hour or so later, Abby was deep into editing a story for their upcoming issue when she felt a presence next to her. Pulling herself out of the story, she looked up into the face of one of the administrative assistants.
“Here’s your mail,” the woman said, handing Abby a small stack of envelopes, including one larger inter-office delivery envelope. Abby took the papers with a distracted thank you, still immersed in thinking about the story she was editing. Sometimes, when she was in the groove of editing she would be so intent on the story that the rest of the world would fade away. It was hard to come in and out of that focus. Still, Abby scanned the stack of mail looking for anything important. She paused when she got to the large envelope, figuring it was something to do with the sale. It probably held more of the seemingly endless documents she was constantly being asked to sign. But when she handled it, it was lighter than expected.
Curious, Abby unwound the string holding the flap closed. She hadn’t fully emerged from her editing work, so her eyes were still on her computer screen when she upended the envelope over her hand to let the contents slide out onto her waiting palm. Something soft dropped into her hand. Looking down, Abby gasped. Over the palm of her hand dangled the black thong panty she’d forgotten in the club that night. There was no question that Carter had sent it to her. She looked up, trying to locate him in the office and saw him talking near reception with Max and Lorraine. He noticed her glance right away, and looked back at her. Seeing the envelope in her hand, he lifted an eyebrow in her direction, in…question? Challenge?
Flustered, Abby looked away, but not before t
he flicker of arousal that ran through her body stained her cheeks pink. The significance of his keeping her panties didn’t escape her. Or she gave the fact that he’d kept them significance. But it had to mean something that he’d held onto this little memento of her, had been keeping it, maybe to remember more vividly their experience in the club.
Abby realized she was still clutching the thong in her hand, and quickly stuffed it into her purse, away from any stray glances. Not sure how to respond, she sent a quick text to Leah:
“OMG, C just sent me my panties from the night in the club in an interoffice envelope. What do I do?”
A few second later, Leah responded, “Damn! What are you wearing now? Send him your pair back.”
“What!? No way!” Abby wrote back, although she couldn’t help thinking about doing just that.
“You totes should,” Leah texted back. “That would be so hot. Do it!”
Abby stared down at her phone, wavering. It would be hot. But…
Her phone buzzed with another incoming message from Leah.
“Just do it now before you can talk yourself out of it. Srsly. He will be so into it.”
Oh my god, Abby thought to herself. Am I going to do this? Without really thinking it through, she found herself walking towards the bathroom. Already, her heart was beating with nervousness, and more than a little bit of excitement. This would be really hot. She found that she was already turned on, and could feel herself getting damp between her legs.
In the privacy of a stall in the empty bathroom, she slipped off her panties, and almost lost her courage when she saw their wet center and caught a whiff of her own musky scent on them. She had brought the envelope with her, and before she could second guess herself, she stuffed them in and scrawled his name on the outside of the envelope. Then she practically ran out of the bathroom to the office mailbox, and dropped the envelope in. She heard it fall and clang dully against the bottom of the bin with a finality that told her there was no going back now. As she walked back to her desk, every step reminded her that she was now totally bare underneath the thin fabric of her dress, something that both disturbed her and turned her on.
Chapter 15
For the rest of the morning, Abby found herself squirming restlessly in her chair, glancing up every so often to see if Carter had received her “gift” yet. So far, nothing. She somehow hadn’t counted on having to wait this long for him to get it. After mistakenly typing the word “panty” into the article she was editing instead of writing “partly,” she admitted that concentration on the article had been irrevocably broken for the day. Abby gave up on the editing, and filled the minutes with answering emails, phone calls, and other mindless things. Her ears remained tuned for Carter’s voice; her eyes constantly followed him as he made his way around the office.
When she spotted him crossing the room with a bundle of papers and envelopes in his arm, her heart hitched in her chest and her breath caught in her throat. Nestled about halfway down the pile was the envelope holding her panties. Oh God, this is actually going to happen. What would he do what he saw them? She fantasized about him striding across the room and pulling her into his arms, kissing her senseless. Or, scooping her up and throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her off to somewhere private where he would do all sorts of wicked things to her. She pictured him dragging her into the hallway, where he would run his hands down her arms, gently, until he reached her wrists. Then he’d take one wrist in each hand and lift them over her head. He’d hold them there, imprisoning her arms in his strong hands, gently, but firmly so she couldn’t move. Then, he’d move her wrists together so that he could hold both in one of his hands. His newly freed hand would roam its way back down her arms, brushing down the side of her face and then down to her breasts, massaging them and teasing her nipples.
Getting turned on by the fantasy, Abby squeezed her own legs together unconsciously as she imagined him thrusting his knee between her legs, forcing her thighs open and then rubbing his leg against her. He’d be whispering sexy, daring words into her ear, telling her how hot she was, and what he was going to do to her. She could hear his voice in her ear, hoarse with desire, whispering “You’re mine now, Abby. I’m going to hold you here until you scream for me, until you’re begging me for release. But I won’t let you climax. I’ll bring you to the edge over, and over, and over again, always holding you back from the satisfaction you’ll crave. I’ll tease you until you’re delirious with need, and the only thing you can think about is me inside of you. You’re going to sob my name, and-- Open these letters for me please. Sort out the junk from the items that need my attention.”
Huh? Startled out of her daydream, Abby struggled to make sense of the words she was hearing. Something important had just happened, something about mail. Something about opening mail!
The lid snapped down on Abby’s arousal and an awful dread spread through her body as realization set in. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion. Abby watched Carter hand over his stack of mail to Lorraine. He had just handed her panties to Lorraine! And Lorraine was going to open them and…Abby couldn’t even imagine what would happen when Lorraine saw her panties in the envelope. All she knew was that she absolutely could not let that happen. She would die before letting that happen.
Think, Abby, she ordered herself. Figure this out. Your mission is: To get. That. Envelope.
At her desk, Lorraine happily agreed to help sort the mail, and then, miracle of miracles, asked if it could wait until after lunch. In further evidence of divine intervention (I’m totally donating to every church in the city, thank you, God, Abby telepathically sent her gratitude), Carter said he’d leave the mail in his office, and Lorraine could just come for it when she was ready. He then closed himself in the meeting room to begin a conference call with some business associates on the West Coast.
Abby waited for Lorraine to walk down to the break room to heat up her leftovers for lunch, and watched as the office cleared out in groups of twos and threes and fours, as the staff made their way to different restaurants or to the picnic tables outside to have their own break. Never had Abby been more thankful for a gorgeous, summer day. Most people took their lunch outside to eat and enjoy the warm sunshine, leaving the office nearly empty. With just a few individuals left inside, there was a limit to the number of people who might see, and question, why she was going into the office that Carter had taken over from Max.
Abby slipped in unnoticed, although she forced herself to walk in with confidence and purpose, just in case anyone was watching. She knew that when being sneaky, the best thing to do was act like you were totally on the up and up. When no “Hey, what are you doing?” shouts rang out behind her, Abby closed the office door and made her way over to the stack of mail. She took a second to mentally pat herself on the back for her awesome spy maneuvers. I could probably break into the CIA, she congratulated herself. She ran her eyes quickly down the pile, seeking the large envelope with her underwear. She dismissed all the smaller mail items, and narrowed in on the larger envelopes. The large inter-office envelope should be easy to spot. She’d been able to see it before in the stack from across the room. When she didn’t spot it after the first glance, she picked up the stack to go through it more carefully. No panic, not yet, even though she knew she should have found the envelope already. She had seen it so clearly just minutes ago. There was no explanation for why she couldn’t see it now--unless it wasn’t there. She quickly scanned the floor, and under the desk to see if it had fallen. Then she looked through the stack one more time, this time going through it piece by piece to make sure she hadn’t missed it, to make sure it wasn’t fold in half, or something. Nothing. It was getting harder for her to beat down the anxiety. Where the hell could it be?
“Looking for something?” a familiar deep voice rumbled behind her. Abby squeaked in surprise, her whole body jolting in panic, before turning slowly around. Standing against the closed door to the office was Carter, looking glorious an
d so delicious she wanted to eat him up. His arm outstretched and his index finger extended, with her lacy red panties hanging from its end.
Chapter 16
The instant she heard his voice, Abby’s heart began racing and she could feel her pulse jumping in her neck. Good lord, he’s hot, she thought to herself, her gaze drinking him in. Her mind swirled with indecision as she tried to decide how to play this situation. Another time, with another person, she might blush and try to escape. She might stammer some excuse and then make a hasty exit.
But this was Carter, and even when her instinct might be to succumb to embarrassment, her body and mind reminded her that this was exactly what she had dreamed would happen when she entered this office. It was, in fact, what she had been hoping for since she slid the panties off in the bathroom. And after all those late night phone calls and all their fun phone activities, she felt like this wasn’t a situation she needed to play. She could just be and do what she felt, and ask for what she so desperately wanted. And so, without even planning it, she found herself throwing on a saucy smile and cocking her hip.
The Price of Love Page 9