Page 14 of The Engagement Gift (The Gift 1)
She lifted a brow. “Of course not, but I feel like there’s a lot more to your question.”
I heaved a sigh, then shared more. “Sometimes I want more. A little something . . . extra.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “With Finn I presume.”
“Yes. And I don’t know if I should ask for it.”
She took another sip, then set down her mug. “Is what you want safe?” I nodded. “Consensual?”
“I would only do it if it’s consensual,” I said.
“And does it involve bananas?”
I cracked up. “There are no bananas in my fantasy.”
She laughed too, then schooled her expression, turning serious. “I’m a big believer in letting your mind lead. In listening to your imagination. And sometimes if we don’t let them play out, they can eat away at us. So as long as it’s safe and sex positive, then I think fantasies are often worth acting on. And some fantasies, I suspect, can bring you closer. Is this one of those?”
That was the question.
I marinated on her advice the rest of the day at the office until my phone pinged with a text.
I tore my focus away from the research I was doing for my upcoming conference session this weekend to read the note.
Finn: Tonight, wear something insanely sexy that’ll make me hard all night long.
Finn: Wait. That’s you in anything and everything.
Finn: Because I love you.
The club.
The last place I’d voiced all my dirty dreams. It had been my idea, my suggestion. The vibe, the music, the feel—it seemed to set me free.
Could I do it tonight? Say it? Reveal the next level in my after-dark fantasies?
A knot of worry tightened in me, but right alongside that I felt . . . possibility. Nina’s advice was spot on. Sharing our fantasies had brought Finn and me closer. We were open in the bedroom, and our communication led to steamiest encounters, to the ultimate in intimacy.
Maybe even to the deep love we shared.
We had what others longed for, I’m sure.
Would this fantasy bring us even closer?
I wrote back to my man.
Lily: Will you wear your sexy lawyer costume? Because I love seeing you in a suit and tie. Men in ties are hot, but you in a tie is the hottest.
I sent the note, picturing tonight, hearing his words. You know, with me, you can have anything . . . all you have to do is ask.
Those words had stayed with me all day. Since he’d said them. They’d been on repeat in my mind.
They beckoned me to share, to open up.
Because the other night at the sex-toy shop had been a revelation.
We’d never gone that far, never pushed those limits to include others. Real people. All our other games had been made-up; all the other people we pretended had seen us were unknown.
True, I didn’t know the clerk’s name, but he was flesh and blood and all man. He’d been twenty feet away while I went flying off the cliff, Finn’s fingers deep inside me.
But what shocked me most was Finn. He’d started it. He’d brought the man at the register into our game. He was skating so close to what I’d entertained only in my head.
Bet you’d even like it if he wanted to have you too.
Those words from him had detonated me. But they’d seemed to unleash him, too. When we went home that night, we hadn’t even made it through the door. He’d taken me in the car in the parking garage of our building, my wrists pinned over my head, my legs wrapped around his waist.
He’d been ravenous and harder than I’d ever felt him before. As if he was just as aroused, just as turned on as I was.
But still, that was only pretend. Simply another aspect of our role-playing.
That didn’t mean we had to act on it.
Or maybe, just maybe, it did.
And perhaps it would bring us even closer.
That possibility sent a wave of heat across my body. But it wasn’t just the physical closeness. It was so much more.
It was true intimacy that I constantly sought with Finn. We had that and I wanted us to keep having it.
Was Nina right?
Was Kate right?
And more so, was Finn not only right, but ready?
* * *
I absentmindedly kicked one high-heeled foot back and forth, waiting for Kate in a bar at the Luxe Hotel, a gin in my hand.
I wore a little black dress.
Because that was what fantasies were for.
Little black dresses.
We’d meet Finn at the club, and our friends were coming tonight, too—we operated as a pack.
Kate arrived at the bar, looking fabulous in black strappy sandals, designer jeans, and a silver top.
I gave her an approving whistle. “Sexy babe. You should take the best man home tonight.” I couldn’t resist trying to push her and Jake together. That was what friends did—tried to set up their single friends. Jake would be with us tonight, so why not?
