Page 61 of Rewrite the Rules

Adler:Sure. What’d you have in mind?

Me:Do you mind getting dressed up? I can make reservations at the steakhouse on Sixteenth. But it has a dress code.

I’m planning on wearing her body out tonight. After the tease session last night, the dam has broken. I don’t just want her, I need her. The least I can do is treat her to a nice night out first.

Adler:Let’s stay in. Pizza?

I dial her immediately. I wait until the line’s connected but cut her off before she can speak. “You don’t want to go somewhere nice?”

She takes a moment to answer. “Not really. I’m happy with the three Ps.”

“Well now I’m intrigued.”

“Pizza.”

“Mhm.”

“Popcorn.”

“Okay…and?”

“Pop…as in soda.”

“Really thought you were going somewhere else with that, Baby Spice.”

The sound of a crinkling wrapper fills my ear. She must be unwrapping some form of candy. Her mouth is full when she responds. “I know you were, perv. But I’m a lady—I don’t say that word.”

“Have you read your book?”

“What book? You mean Tessa Rayne’s book,Toy With Me? Of course not. I heard she writes super filthy in that novel.”

She loves this. The teasing. She got me all gassed up last night and basically kicked me out. It’s not because Adler is cruel. Quite the opposite. She just loves knowing that I want her. And I do.

Badly.

“So pizza?” I ask. “From our usual place?”

“Fine by me. Just don’t put any of your weird aristocratic Manhattan froo-froo toppings on it.”

“Meaning?”

“No weird shellfish that I can’t pronounce, no rare peppers from the Galapagos islands, no cheeses that are made from llamas’ milk or something like that.”

She makes my admittedly eclectic palette sound like the challenge ingredient basket from a daunting episode ofIron Chef. But she’s exaggerating. I’ve never eaten anything that’s come out of a llama.

“Very funny, Baby Spice. Should I just have the chef at Rico’s chop gummy bears up real fine and blend them into the sauce?”

“That’d be lovely.”

“Then we can drop some Skittles in Sprite bottles to wash down your candy pizza.”

“Keep preaching, boss. I’m all in.”

“I have to go to the office and get a little work done today. Come over about seven. I’ll leave an elevator key with the front desk for you.”

“Alrighty. Hey Joel?”

“Yeah?”

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