“We decided to stop for sandwiches,” Nikki said. “Quick and easy so we can get to the concert on time. Parker still has to go to the hotel and pick up the rest of the band after he drops us off. I figured I could run in and get the sandwiches to go while you two continue to make out.” She looked from one of them to the other and offered a disapproving stare to the space between them. “Are you two even copping a feel?”

“We’re talking,” Melanie said.

“About?”

Melanie glanced at Gabe.

“What’s for dinner,” he said, not sure if Melanie wanted him to be the one to break the news to Nikki that Shade was currently seeing someone important to him. Gabe had to assume that Melanie didn’t want him to make her friend cry, so unless Melanie instructed him otherwise, he was going to keep his mouth shut.

“What do you like?” Nikki asked Gabe.

“I’ll eat just about anything, but hold the onions. I have some making out to do.” He winked at Nikki and she giggled.

“I’m sure Mel will appreciate that.” Nikki glanced at Melanie with an expectant look on her face.

“You know what I like,” Melanie said.

“Um, yeah, should I just use the emergency credit card or…” She glanced at Melanie’s purse.

Damn, where were his manners? Gabe dug his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out several twenties. Nikki didn’t hesitate to accept the money, not that he wanted her to refuse it. He had just expected her to at least try to turn down his cash since they didn’t really know each other.

“You don’t have to do that,” Melanie said, snatching the bills out of Nikki’s hand and trying to stuff them back into his.

“I want to,” he said.

“She’s always a cheap date,” Nikki said, which earned her a scathing look from Melanie. “Has a really hard time taking money from anyone. Miss Financially Independent.” She made finger quotes.

“She says that like it’s a bad thing,” Melanie said.

Nikki took the money again and smiled at Gabe. “Thanks! Maybe I’ll buy you lunch sometime when I get back on my feet.”

To get back on her feet, she’d have to learn to stay off her back and her knees. Gabe lowered his eyes, feeling guilty for even thinking that way about Nikki. There obviously had to be something terrific about her. She was Melanie’s closest friend.

Nikki opened the front door and slipped out of the car. The driver, Parker, watched her stride to the sub shop with drool practically dripping off his chin.

“She’s used to getting whatever her heart desires because she’s so pretty,” Melanie said. “If I don’t give it to her, some guy will. Some guy who expects something in return. At least if it comes from me, I don’t have to worry about her repaying their kindness with sexual favors.”

Gabe noticed that Parker was eavesdropping. The guy tried to pretend he wasn’t taking mental notes on how to get into Nikki’s pants, but Gabe was a guy himself. He knew how they thought. Gabe pressed the button that raised the window between them again, glad it was soundproof.

“Maybe she should sit back here with us,” Gabe said. “I don’t like the way the driver is looking at her.”

“Just about everyone looks at her that way.”

“Well, I won’t,” Gabe said. “Not when I have you.”

He leaned in to steal a kiss, meaning to offer a chaste brushing of his lips against hers, but something primal sizzled between them and he instantly had her crushed against his chest, his hands buried in her hair and his mouth seeking to devour hers. Her fingers curled into his back, drawing him closer. Her soft br**sts felt like heaven pressed against his chest. His tongue brushed her upper lip, and she shuddered before tentatively touching his tongue with hers.

She pulled away slowly and then rested her forehead against his shoulder, breathing heavily. “You were right earlier,” she said. “All the sexy video chats are not the same as being here with you. You’re a distraction at a distance but in person…” She drew in a deep breath. “In person, you’re utterly devastating to a woman’s wits.”

He grinned and reached for the package he’d hidden behind his hip. “I have something in here to make sure you don’t regain your wits anytime soon.”

Hands shaking, Melanie opened the package as if she expected something to jump out and bite her. And he had a few items in his arsenal that would have done just that, but not this one. This one was all about pleasure. He liked giving her pleasure. Some women liked a little pain on the side, and he could cater to that need, but he was pretty sure—and actually hoped—that Melanie liked to receive only pleasure. She unrolled the thick brown paper and the three-fingered glove fell out on her lap.

She raised an eyebrow at it and then lifted her gaze to meet his. “What is it?”

He took the device from her skirt and slipped it onto three fingers of his right hand, leaving his pinkie and thumb free. He held his hand out to her so she could fasten the cuff around his wrist. As soon as it was clasped, the circuit was complete and the device whirred to life. Near the tip of his middle finger, a small rubbery rod moved in an elliptical path. At the base of his middle finger, a soft bump vibrated, and metallic plates ran the entire length of both his ring and index fingers; plates that grew warm and tingly as soon as they touched anything wet—Melanie’s pu**y for example.

“You sit on my hand, and I promise it will show you a good time.”

She bent over it for a closer inspection. “I sit on it?”

“This goes just inside the opening of your pu**y,” he said, indicating the revolving rod near the end of his finger. “It will tease you until you’re begging for cock.”

“And these?” she asked, tracing the two metallic plates on either side.

“Wet your finger and touch one,” he suggested. When she stuck her finger in her mouth to wet it, his c**k surged to life. Change of plans—Nikki definitely needed to ride in the front with the driver. He was not even close to being able to function in polite company. He had a powerful need to be alone with Melanie for an extended period, and was painfully aware that didn’t have much time to be together before the show started at nine.

Melanie pressed her wet finger to the metal plate on his index finger and her breath caught.

“Tingly.”

“And warm,” he said. “Those go against your pu**y lips. The wetter you get, the stronger the sensation.”