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She shuffled closer and bit his pec softly. “I feel you embraced it competently. Any more competently and I might not be able to stand.”
Since they’d made it to her bed, he needed to ask. “Do you want me to embrace and run?”
The leg she threw over his hip was enough of an answer. He was staying. “We start early.”
She snuggled into his side with a “shut up and let me sleep”-style grumble and she was out in a few minutes, going heavy on him. That first coupon was supposed to be an easy start, but it was more revealing than he liked to admit.
Flick bowled like she lived. She learned the rules, she got expert at interpreting them. She knew when she could break them and get away with it and she never held back. She took professional and personal risks without being reckless.
Tom had bowled like it meant something to lose and so he’d been cautious, restrained. It was uncomfortable to acknowledge he’d been living like that too. He’d gotten complacent with his success and conservative in his choices, more concerned about not losing his status than pushing himself. And the consequence was Harry sitting at the desk he’d thought would be his.
All that from his choice of a handmade coupon. Who knew what he’d learn from twenty-nine more.
Chapter Sixteen
Flick made the hiking coupon because she knew Tom would feel safe choosing that one and maybe not so easy with some of the others. But she’d yet to lead him to something he didn’t like, so it was worth the experiment. If he didn’t want to choose lingerie or sit in a bubble bath with her, explore a sexual fantasy, that was cool, but better to ask subtly and get a soft voided coupon rejection than forever wonder just what he could be like when he really let go.
He’d made bowling fun, even though he was terrible at it and the après-bowling activities were even more delicious. She was lucky she could walk.
The hiking was the activity that put her most outside her comfort zone. Rip her clothes, tie her up, make her cook for a better cook, all of those were agreeable challenges. The great outdoors hadn’t figured much in her life, and she was worried she wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. Tom had these giant legs and bulging muscles and could probably walk all day. She was gym-fit, but it wasn’t the same thing, and a decent blister could probably end her.
The coupon idea was inspired by that first coupon she’d tried to distract Tom with, but it was also a risk. He might’ve thought it childish, especially as she’d reverted to a five-year-old making the booklet. She forgot how glitter got everywhere. But he’d gotten with the program and if last night was any indication, he was enjoying himself.
In the hall he checked her over. He’d already made her eat eggs for breakfast; now he was focused on how she was dressed. It would be warm, so she wore shorts and a tank with an unbuttoned shirt over it, thick socks and rubber-soled boots that looked the part but had only seen wear on sidewalks. She had a hat with a brim and a small pack, which he took from her.
“You don’t have to carry anything. Put what you need in mine.”
She thought about fighting that instruction for the thirty seconds it took to realize that was a great offer, and stuffed her phone, water bottle, sunscreen, wet-wipes and lip gloss in his pack.
Tom had a car. She didn’t know anything about cars, but the thing they headed off in suited him. It was a big brute of an SUV, a workhorse rather than a show pony. There wasn’t a single empty drink can or food wrapper in it. Figured. It was still early when they left the city, and the traffic was light. She listened to his oldie classic-style music, thought about songs to put on his coupon-inspired playlist and watched his profile.
He could look so stern, so unlikely to be a good time. It was in the shape of his jaw and the set of his brows, add to that his often gruff way of speaking, but under all that was his inherent decentness. You couldn’t look at him and understand what was under his hood and for some reason that pleased her. Made him more hers somehow.
Why had she worried about this hike? He wasn’t going to walk her up a mountain where she might fall off; he’d pick something she could manage. He’d keep the part where he could push her off mountains for when they were naked and he had her all worked up and so, so ready to come. He got a whole packet of industrial-strength gold stars and a noisemaker for that ability.
Eyes on the road, he still had to know she was scrutinizing him. He broke the silence. “The coupon about dressing you for the day, what’s that about? You can dress yourself.”
That was about learning what was in his imagination. “It’ll be fun. You have the run of my wardrobe. If it’s a weekend you can dress me in anything. If it’s a work day then you can only send me off in my underwear if you want me to be arrested.”
A smile ticked in his cheek. “That wasn’t in the fine print.”
“Sue me.”
“What’s with choosing your lingerie?”
“Oh, come on.” She tried to turn more fully toward him and nearly decapitated herself with the seat belt. Short-person problems. “You secretly want to see me in something revealing.”
The tick became a divot. “More revealing than naked?”
“It’s a different kind of revealing.”
“I’ve seen inside parts of you you can’t see.”
Oh damn. “You say that, and yet you can’t figure out the lingerie thing. Also, a gentleman would keep that to himself.”
“Why? You’re gorgeous.”
She flushed from chest to hairline. This Tom, she very much liked this in-the-car-talking-about-sex Tom. “And you’re driving and I’m an idiot because I forgot to give you a coupon for car sex.”
