The weather had turned chilly over the last couple of days, which was right on time with the season, but part of me wondered if it hadn’t been more obvious to me because Lanie wasn’t there to keep me warm. Seriously, it was like all the warmth had been sucked out of the space around me. My own personal sunshine was miles away, and I was left feeling desolate and cold.
“Hey, Crawford!” David called out as I made my way toward the elevator. Speaking of cold and desolate …
I didn’t stop to shoot the shit with him because I really didn’t have anything to say. Besides, I had a telephone date with my girl, and I had no intention whatsoever of missing it.
“What do you want, Stone?” I snapped.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re planning on being at the next board meeting, that’s all.” David’s words were ones of casual curiosity, but it wasn’t hard to see the cutting look his dark eyes reflected, or the scornful sneer that played along his lips. My right hand started to close into a fist. I wanted to knock the fucker out cold and wipe that butt-ugly mug along the floor to remove his cocky perma-grin.
“Why wouldn’t I be there?” I sighed in annoyance and punched the down button for my personal elevator, imagining it was his face.
“Well, since you’ve been MIA so much lately, I wasn’t sure. You don’t want to miss this meeting, Crawford. It’s going to be entertaining as hell.” He flashed his toothy grin and then winked at me before he finally got out of my face.
Entertaining. The asshat really thought I’d get ousted over threatening to kill him? People said stuff like that every day. And while it might not be appropriate for the workplace, it certainly wasn’t enough to make me lose my own company to the likes of him. Besides, it was his word against mine, and I highly doubted he was wired at the time.
I rushed home like a madman. Well, as much rushing as a madman could do in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Sitting in the back of the limo for so long drove me crazy. I swore I could still smell Lanie’s delicious scent from the trysts we’d had there.
Once inside the sprawling mansion I’d called home for all my life, the emptiness and longing set in yet again. Lanie had a way of filling the room with a presence that was larger than life, yet so intimate it felt like she and I were the only two people left on the planet. And I was really into the prospect of the two of us doing all we could to repopulate the damn place. You know, for the sake of mankind and all. And that was when it dawned on me: I wanted kids with her. Lots and lots of kids.
When Lanie and I last spoke, she had claimed she was going to give me a real workout the next time we saw each other. I had to chuckle to myself at the thought. She had become the insatiable one. Once a kitten that trembled under my stare, she had morphed into a lioness, a sleek predator whose need to satiate her hunger made her desperate and bold. The tables had turned—where she had become the predator, I had become the prey.
Well, not really, but I wasn’t averse to letting her think so if it meant she was going to be more adventurous. I admired her for knowing what she wanted and not being ashamed to take it, even if I was a willing participant.
I grabbed a quick bite to eat and a shower while I waited for her call. I had just stepped out of the bathroom when my phone rang. I dropped my towel to lunge at it from the other side of the room, completely naked as I crashed onto the bed in an awkward position. Damn, but that hurt.
“Oh, shit! Goddamnit!” Yes, those were the first words that came out of my mouth when I answered the phone. “Hey, kitten.”
“What’s wrong?” Lanie asked, worry lacing her tone.
“I think I broke my dick,” I told her as I rolled onto my back.
Lanie attempted to stifle her giggle from the other end of the line. “Were you doing your cockarobics?”
“Yeah,” I chuckled, playing along. “Only my dick refuses to bend that way.”
“Aw, poor baby,” she cooed. “Want me to kiss it and make it better?”
Had my cock not been on a perma-leash, I was sure it would’ve attempted to lunge through the phone to get at her.
“You’re an evil little minx. You know damn well I would love nothing more than to fuck your mouth. Now I’m hard from the thought, and there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Her voice was all deep and sultry and shit. Not helping matters at all. “What are you wearing?”
“I’m lying in bed. What do you think I’m wearing?” I asked in a husky voice, knowing damn well she knew I slept in the nude.
“Mmm, show me.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“Look at your cell.”
My phone vibrated on my nightstand and I reached over my head and grabbed it. Sure enough, there was a text from my girl. When I opened it, I nearly fell off the bed. There she was, naked as the day she was born, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. She was propped up against her headboard, her luxurious hair cascading over her shoulders, her breasts full, and nipples taut. Her knees were lifted and spread to the sides, giving me a glorious vision of the tender pink flesh between her thighs. And her eyes. Dear Lord, her eyes were all hooded and she was biting down on that plump, bottom lip like she was craving my touch.
“I showed you mine. Now, show me yours,” she practically purred into the phone.
“Oh, so you want to play, do you?” I asked with a smirk I knew she could hear even though she couldn’t see it.
“Does this sound like I want to play?” I heard the click of a button and then the unmistakable vibration of the Crawford bullet I had gifted her. “I need you. I can’t wait any longer. Make me come, Noah.”
“Jesus Christ …” I was more than happy to make her come, even if it was going to have to be by a piece of goddamn metal instead of any real part of my body. “Is that my bullet, kitten?” I asked, already sure of the answer.
“No, but this is.” Another, higher-pitched vibration joined the low hum of the previous one, and I raised an eyebrow.
“So, what’s that other thing you got there, Lanie?”
She giggled. “Dez made me go to this little shop with her today. An adult shop. I never even knew it existed. Probably because it was tucked away in a back alley.”
“You bought a vibrator?” I hoped like fucking hell she used my credit card to buy the best they had to offer, even though the motherfucking thing was going in the trash as soon as I got her back in my bed where she belonged. No cock, real or fake, was going anywhere near my pussy when I was perfectly capable of taking care of her needs myself. The Crawford bullet was an exception only because it was an enhancer, not a cock replacement.