“Well, the way she explained it was quite clever—she hid note cards in her pillow. Brilliant, right?”

Blake’s mouth dropped open. “But, that’s so . . . impersonal. And awful. Shouldn’t you be putting your whole body into it? Your mind? Your soul? I mean, why have sex if you aren’t going to give everything you are every single time?”

The more she talked, the harder it was to breathe.

Why indeed? Because sex felt good.

But lately, it had become monotonous, boring. And then Blake and I had kissed. And now, everything about her, even just conversation, was exhilarating and new.

Shit on a stick.

“Uh.” I cleared my throat. “We’re getting off-topic. The point is, you may need to give him direction. Meaning you may need to say words like ‘penis.’ The end.”

“Fine.” Blake closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and whispered, “Penis.”

“Louder.” I grinned.

Her ears were as bright as a red crayon.

“Penis,” she said loud enough for anyone passing by to hear.

Lucky for us, one of those people just happened to be David.

“Oh, hey man.” I held out my hand for a good ol’ friendly shake. “Didn’t see you there. How’s it going?”

David’s mouth was open in, well, probably shock, that his good little bestie just uttered the name of a man part, out loud, in the business building hallway, like a pro.

“Blake?” He frowned.

“Oh, sorry!” Blake pulled off her sunglasses. “I forgot I had these on.”

“You should never cover your eyes,” he said in a low voice. “They’re your best feature.”

I laughed.

David glared.

“Oh, sorry. I thought you were kidding.”

“What? I was just thinking that if we’re naming her best feature—physical, that is, since we both know she has a killer personality—hmm.” I gave her a once-over. “I’d have to say it’s a three-way tie between her ass, tits, and hair. But hey, what do I know?”

Blake elbowed me hard in the ribs. I wasn’t trying to be crude. In fact, my intention was the exact opposite. I said trigger words to get David to look. The power of suggestion, my friends.

I clenched my teeth as David, upon hearing me say each word, took inventory, slowly, methodically. Then like a lightbulb went on in his stupid-ass head, his eyes widened, perhaps opening the rest of the way, and he took a step backward, nearly colliding with a student rushing by.

“Yeah,” he croaked and then coughed into his hand. “You’re right. Everything’s . . . perfect.”

“And mine.” I winked, stirring the pot of jealousy a bit more, trying to see how far I could push him while at the same time swelling with pride that for now, she was mine.

For now.

His head snapped in my direction. “I thought you guys were just seeing each other, nothing official.”

“Made it official last night.” I focused in on Blake’s mouth as I brought her hand to my lips. “Right, sweet cheeks?”

Expecting Blake to nod and just go with it, I wasn’t prepared for her to lean in and kiss my mouth, taking my head with both hands and forcing her tongue down my throat. But, not one to say no to kissing her, not ever, I kissed her back.

It ended too soon, once David cleared his throat.

“Sorry.” Blake actually looked embarrassed as she tucked her hair behind her ears and then grabbed her sunglasses and forced them back on in one swift, sexy move. “It was just a really good night.”

“It was,” I said, leering.

“Well, good,” David said a little too loud. “I’m happy for you, Blake. Really happy.”

He looked anything but happy. In fact if that’s what happy looked like, Blake was going to have the worst boyfriend in the history of boyfriends. The dude looked ready to puke all over us and burst into tears all at once.

“We should get going.” I gave David a head nod and gripped Blake’s hand as we left the building.

Once we reached the doors, I turned back to offer him my final acknowledgement, my final smirk. I knew he’d be staring at us, mainly her ass. He was, and when I gave him a challenging lift of my eyebrows, good ol’ David gave me the finger.

“Hah!” I burst out laughing as I clutched Blake’s hand tighter. “David’s fun, isn’t he?”

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” she asked.

I didn’t point out that she was swinging my arm and giggling with me. Damn, it just felt so natural, holding her hand, joking around.

“David flipped me off.”

Her smile fell. “Seriously? That’s kinda harsh, don’t you think? Why would he do that?”

“Because his hands were free.” I smiled down at her. “And mine”—I lifted our joined hands up—“weren’t.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Another three days went by. I expected to be finished with Blake in the next twenty-four hours. Not because I wanted to be done, but because I had to be done. Our client list was piling up, and Lex said if he had to kiss one more chick who tried to impale the back of his throat with her tongue, he was going to quit.

It was Saturday.

And David hadn’t stopped calling or randomly dropping by to check the plumbing. Right. Good one, genius.

Hey can I look at your pipes?

What for?