“Anyway, I don’t get lonely for a man’s arms,” Annie called back, resuming her previous conversation with her co-owner in the cafe. “There’s nothing a man can give me that I can’t get from a vibrator.”
The bang of the oven door closing sounded, then Kanika hollered, “What?”
“I don’t get lonely for a man,” Annie yelled back. “There’s nothing a man can give me that I can’t get from a vibrator.”
“What about scintillating conversation” asked an unfamiliar and very male voice.
Her muscles tensed; the hairs on the back of her neck rose. Too mortified to move let alone run, she remained crouched against the counter, praying her ears had played tricks on her, and Kanika had suddenly developed a deep frog in her throat, and the ability to throw her voice.
“Don’t you have anything you want desperately—even if it came out wrong—don’t you want to make a wish and see what happens?”
“Definitely not. Besides, there’s only thing I want, and no one can help me with it.”
“Love?”
“What else?”
“It’s such a hard thing to find.”
“I know.” She rubbed Ebony’s head with slow, thoughtful strokes. The kitten purred, and rolled on to her back. “I love him with everything that’s in me to love, but he just doesn’t care for me that way.” Tears cobbled her throat, each drop a heavy stone that rubbed the tissue raw. “One day, I’ll get over it. Some day, I’ll look back and think, thank goodness we didn’t end up together. But right now, it sucks. Big time. I can’t help it. Sometimes, I just wish I was in his arms—“She jerked upright. “Oh, no! Ebony, that wasn’t a—”
But it was too late.The room went cave-black, sounds like fireworks and bullets exploded in Aggie’s ears and bright sparks of light shot out, in front of her. Then everything went sickeningly quiet.
“Nessie?” He swept a hand towards the office. “Shall we?”
“Yes, Sir.” Quaking in her suede slouch boots, she wobbled towards the door.
“Unless you’re planning to follow that ‘Sir’ with a salute, I’d rather you just call me Leo.”
She looked behind, gave him a weak smile and continued her wobble to the office. Once inside, she found the nearest chair and collapsed into it before her legs gave out on her. Rather than taking a seat at his desk, Leo chose to pull his chair around to her. His leg brushed against her knee as he sat down, and the nerve-endings in her leg fired and sparked at the unexpected touch.
“So, Nessie, what did you want to tell me?”
Your voice is as smooth and rich as melted chocolate. Can I lick you all over and see if you’re just as smooth and rich everywhere else? “I wanted to—” for the life of her, she couldn’t remember. And though her memory and plans of attack could usually be jump-started by a moment of quiet thought, Leo’s presence precluded both quiet and thought. The only thing her brain seemed able to do was consider all possible anatomical locations for warm chocolate, and deducing how long it would take her to lick it off him.
Ethan sighed. In trying to make things better, he had effectively made it worse! The phone now lay under her, and vibrated its digital heart out. His jaw brushed against Chase's hair as he wrapped his arms around her. He lifted her, peering over her sleeping form, trying to find the phone. She stirred, murmured something, then cuddled into him. His heart boomed and dropped, banged against his ribs and tried to fly on injured wings.
“Ethan?” She whispered his name.
“Yes, I'm here. It's alright.”
Her sigh content, she snuggled against his chest. He bent his head toward her, fighting emotions quickly transforming themselves from protective to provocative. Chase's fingers stole along his chest adding fuel to the fire burning within him. She sighed his name; her warm breath fanned against his neck and made his nerve endings sizzle. Her body molded to him, soft, giving, and erotically pliable. Ethan's hand moved from the small of her back and circled her hips. They pulsed into his touch. In the whisper of his name, Ethan heard her desire and surrender.
“Anyway, I don’t get lonely for a man’s arms,” Annie called back, resuming her previous conversation with her co-owner in the cafe. “There’s nothing a man can give me that I can’t get from a vibrator.”
“Don’t you have anything you want desperately—even if it came out wrong—don’t you want to make a wish and see what happens?”
“Nessie?” He swept a hand towards the office. “Shall we?”
Ethan sighed. In trying to make things better, he had effectively made it worse! The phone now lay under her, and vibrated its digital heart out. His jaw brushed against Chase's hair as he wrapped his arms around her. He lifted her, peering over her sleeping form, trying to find the phone. She stirred, murmured something, then cuddled into him. His heart boomed and dropped, banged against his ribs and tried to fly on injured wings. 
