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Eric could hear the sounds of the brewery past his door. His sister was laughing. Jamie gave a shout of triumph. They were probably loading a pizza into the oven right now, both of them excited about the future of the restaurant. And all he could feel was resentment, because he didn’t belong here. He was a placeholder, and placeholder was only a temporary position.
“I’m not really Eric Donovan,” he said.
The sound of an engine roared over Beth’s side of the l
ine. “What?” she asked.
“Nothing. Are you working all day?” He was supposed to be off, and Jamie and Tessa were going to spend all day baking pizzas and trying to pull him into the fun. “Can I see you?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“When?” Eric held his breath, and for a long time, she said nothing. How many times were they going to do this? A dozen? A hundred?
Finally, Beth cleared her throat. “Meet me at my place in an hour.”
Eric hung up, still holding his breath. As he slipped the phone back into his pocket, he emptied his lungs on a long, careful sigh. Beth Cantrell was his hobby. She was like yoga and meditation and a workout all rolled into one.
The truth was, day off or not, he should be working until midnight. He had to clean up this distribution mess, plus he was covering Wallace’s duties as well as his own. Eric had more than enough to fill up the whole damn week, Sunday included. But instead of calling to apologize to the two grocery store accounts that weren’t going to get their shipments, Eric sat down at his desk and pulled up Beth’s column.
She’d said she wasn’t seeing anyone else, and she’d promised not to out him, so what would she have to write about?
Plenty, apparently.
Even if she wasn’t dating anyone else, there were still extracurricular activities to be found. “We all have that special drawer next to the bed,” the column started. “Or maybe it’s a box in your bathroom or closet. Maybe you’ve hidden it in your dresser. But there’s no reason to keep your box of toys hidden! Didn’t your teacher always tell you it’s nice to share?”
Eric didn’t blink once as he read the column. It was short and sweet, but the message was clear: a little showing off never hurt anyone. After he read it the first time, he read it again.
Last night Beth had asked him to touch himself in front of her. Had she been looking for reciprocation?
He showed up at her place fifteen minutes early and spent the whole quarter hour pondering the question.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EVEN FOR BETH, THERE WASN’T time to think. She jammed two hours of work into an hour of time, just in case her lunch break ran long. “Please, yes,” she muttered as she very carefully kept her car at the speed limit through her quiet neighborhood. She had to be back by three to meet with the lighting contractor, but that left her two hours. With Eric.
When she pulled up, Eric got out of his truck, and the sight of him left her feeling strange and shivery inside. She’d never been hit with lust like that before. She’d read that women were just as susceptible to visual stimuli as men, but she hadn’t believed it. After all, she’d never asked a guy to dress up in tight red underwear and leather and pose for her. But now she could see it. She could feel it. That the sight of him was enough to turn her on.
He stood aside when she approached, then followed her up the stairs. They didn’t even look at each other, as if that would somehow hide their intentions from anyone watching.
Her apartment was beginning to feel like a cheap motel room, but she didn’t care. She’d waited her whole life to feel this sort of easy lust, and she wasn’t going to bother with shame about it now. She unlocked her door and led him in, and this time she walked straight to the bedroom. Eric followed without a word.
It was all fantastically dirty.
They were here in the middle of the day for only one reason. This wasn’t a date. It was sex. So Beth undid her top button and moved on to the next one. When Eric saw what she was doing, he raised an eyebrow and pulled his polo shirt off.
She couldn’t resist him. She was worse than a teenage boy ogling a naked woman. His chest was perfect. Mouthwatering. She had to reach out and spread her fingers over the muscles. She had to drag her mouth along his collarbone and taste his skin.
How could it be that he affected her more every time she saw him? How could she want him more after each night they spent together? Now it was as if all their chemistry got mixed up with the things they’d already done, and the things she’d fantasized about doing. It all twisted up together until she felt as if she’d explode.
Eric cupped the back of her head and brought her mouth to his, and the taste of his mouth was even better than his skin. When he turned her toward the bed, she went willingly, letting herself fall across the mattress as he covered her with his body. His back was gorgeous hot skin beneath her hands. His spine the perfect concave path to follow all the way to his ass. The rough fabric of his cargo pants stopped her, but she loved the reminder of his preppy clothes, too. The way he looked so upstanding in public and got wild and rough in bed.
When his hand shoved up her skirt, he lifted up a little, and Beth smiled. She knew he’d love what she was wearing. The black garter belt. The stockings. The—
“Christ, you are so hot, Beth. A fantasy.” His hand spread over her bare thigh, and he watched himself touch her. His thumb eased up, just brushing the thin fabric of her panties. He did it again and she gasped.
“I like you like this,” he whispered. “Completely dressed. Totally turned on. Like you have a secret.”
Beth watched his face as he reached for the bows at the sides of her panties and eased them off. He looked angry again, the way he always did in the midst of sex, and that turned her on, too.
