Page 65 of Ink & Desire

She sighs again. “If you must know, I told her everything. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

My mind goes back to that night and everything that happened. Avery really told her best friend about that? I don’t think I’m close enough to anyone to tell them intimate details of my sex life. Besides, I didn’t think women liked it when we talked about those kinds of things with other guys. This feels like a double standard. I have every right to be angry.

“Everything?” I ask.

“Yes, Corbin,” she says, exasperated. “I told her every detail. Including how you left while I was still in the bathroom.”

Guilt stabs at me, but I try not to dwell on it. “Who else did you tell?” I ask, deciding to focus on something other than my gnawing guilt.

“No one, idiot,” she says. “Cass is the only person I trust that way. Besides, she doesn’t live in Boston, and she doesn’t know you. So, there’s no one she can tell.”

I relax slightly. I hadn’t really believed she’d told Jessie or Noah. For one thing, there’s no way Jessie would have let me get away with that without telling me off. And she’d be right. I doubt Noah would give me shit about it, but I don’t think he’d approve either. He likes Avery andI can tell he thinks of her as a kid sister. He’d lose respect for me if he found out what I did. Not that I’d blame him.

“So?” Avery says. “Was it bad?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to decide how to answer her question. She’s worried I keep turning her down because I didn’t enjoy it the first time. What the fuck? Could she not tell by the way I barely held myself in check? Or the way I couldn’t make myself stop long enough to pull out before I came inside her?

“It wasn’t bad,” I say in a low voice.

My cock is impossibly hard right now just thinking about that night.

“Are you sure?”

“Damn it, Avery,” I bite off. “What do you want to hear? No, it wasn’tbad.Is that what you want to hear? Do you want me to tell you I’ve never come so hard in my life? Because I haven’t. Do you want me to tell you how it was the best fucking sex I’ve ever had? Because it was. Or how about that my cock is hard right now just thinking about it?”

I break off my angry rant. I hadn’t planned to tell her any of that. But it’s too late now.

I hear her suck in a surprised breath. “It is?” she whispers.

I swallow hard, closing my eyes. “Yeah,” I whisper.

“How hard?”

“Avery.” Her name is a warning. I can’t believe I’m on the phone with my apprentice talking about my harddick right now. Especially when all I want to do is bury it inside her hot pussy again.

“A deal’s a deal,” she says. “I told you I’d drop it if you answered my question. And I will. But you should know one thing first. That one time with you was the best I’ve ever had. I get wet when I think about it. When I think about you.” She pulls in a shaky breath. When she speaks again, her voice is unsteady. “My vibrator has gotten a good workout this week.”

I grit my teeth against the image her words plant in my mind. Avery, lying back with her legs spread, a toy between her legs as she shouts her release. I reject the image almost immediately. I want to be the one between her legs, getting her off. And if she wants to use a toy, I want to be the one holding it to her sensitive little clit until she begs me to stop.

“Avery…”

I’m not sure what I even want to say to her. I’ve told her so many times that we can’t do this, but right now I’m finding it hard to hang onto all the logical reasons why it’s a bad idea. Right now, I just want her.

“If you change your mind, you know where I live,” she say. “Goodnight, Corbin.”

There’s a beep and she’s gone. I sit there, unmoving for a full minute with my phone in my hand, wondering what the hell just happened. Once again, I’m coming away from an interaction with Avery feeling more confused and even hornier than before. I don’t know why this woman has such an affect on me, but it’s making mylife more difficult by the day. I adjust my uncomfortably hard cock, wishing for some relief.

My phone buzzes with a text and I swipe the screen without thinking. It’s a photo from Avery. I tap on it faster than I thought possible. My eyes take a second to process what I’m seeing. The hem of her dress is resting high on her thigh. And on that thigh is her hand. But it’s not empty. It’s holding a small, hot pink toy that I recognize immediately as a vibrator. Had I thought my dick was hard before? It’s nothing compared to what’s happening right now. Just the thought of what she’s planning to do with that thing is nearly enough to make me explode in my pants right now. Then I read the text she sent with the photo.

Wish you were here.

It takes me less than a minute to grab my keys, pocket my phone and make it to the front door of the shop. I lock it and set the alarm. Then I’m in my car, already dialing Avery’s number. She answers on the first ring as I peel out of the parking lot.

“Do not come without me,” I say. “That’s an order.”

There’s a slight hesitation that I chalk up to surprise. Then, she shocks the hell out of me by saying something I never expected to hear from her.

“Yes, sir.”

---