black.
“Please, what?”
She felt as if she’d fallen under a spell. She wanted to
look away but couldn’t even blink. He licked his lips, and she did the same.
“What?”
“Please, Sir .” He
reached his big hand forward and caressed her neck, and her entire body lit on
fire.
“Sir?” she squeaked.
“Yeah, that’s what they call me unless they want a good
spanking.” He gripped her chin with enough firmness to make his point. “Now
quit being a brat and behave yourself.”
Her eyes widened, realizing once again he was toying with
her and winning. “Brat? Fuck you, Cava. Get out!”
He smirked, gave her another one of those impossible leers,
then turned to leave with a swagger.
“You’re an idiot if you think I want anything to do with
you, Major Cava. That ship sailed long ago.” She tried to beam him with the
yarn but missed and hit the window in front of him instead.
He laughed. “Still the same old Maria.”
“Still a jackass,” she yelled back.
He left, and the store sat in silence. Maria digested all
that had happened, and by the time Olivia stuck her head out of the office,
she’d come to a decision.
“What the hell was that about? All that yelling about sex
stuff? Really? You and Mike?” Olivia stared at her. “You hate him now or what?
What’s going on?”
Maria walked to her best friend, took a few breaths to
compose herself, then hugged Olivia so tightly she choked.
“Can’t. Breathe.”
“Oh, sorry.” Maria glanced around, making sure Mike had left
the vicinity. “It actually worked.”
“What worked?”
“My new plan.”
“Hell. I knew it. What plan?”
“Well, I was trying to get him out of my head once and for
all. I meant to use Bobby to do that. And by use, I mean Bobby was down with
sleeping with me. No issue there. Then we saw Mike, and Bobby said Mike was
jealous. Jealous, Olivia!”
“Okay, that’s a new one.”
“I thought a lot about it. Maybe he was just acting
protectively, like he always used to. But today? Asking me about Bobby with
that tone? I swear he looked at my breasts, and I don’t even have them.”
Olivia snorted. “You do too.”
“Yeah, I do. But he never noticed them before. He did today.
So now I’m playing hard to get. And it’s working .”
She grinned so hard her face hurt.
“I thought you tried that before.”
“When I was ten, but he was too into chasing grown girls to
notice.”
“Ah. Right.”
“He thinks I’m with Bobby. That I’m no longer interested in
him. And it’s killing him.”
“Nice.” Olivia seemed to consider the situation. “Just don’t
overplay your hand.”
“Oh?”
“Too much distance might push him farther away.”
“Your brother? Please. He’s stubborn and thinks he’s always
right.” That bit about spanking? Calling him Sir? Oh wow. Maybe he was into
that D/s kinky stuff. She so needed
to find out.
“That’s true. Mike is a huge know-it-all. But he’s a good
guy. You’re not planning to use him and lose him, are you? To break his heart
to get back at him for your years of unrequited love?”
“Where do you get this stuff?” Maria shook her head. “No,
don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. Look, you can’t tell him any of this. But
I promise you. That man is mine. Now I just need to trick him into believing
it.”
“All’s fair and blah blah blah, right?”
“Yep. That man is mine.” She gave an evil laugh and rubbed
her hands together.
Olivia joined her. They spent her last hours behind the
counter debating about pizza versus Chinese food and how best to handle Mike in
the coming days.
And Maria made more plans…
Mike stormed back to his car and slammed inside. What
exactly had just happened in Sew and Go and More? The fairylike cutie he’d
expected had instead been a she-demon with a mouthy attitude that turned him
on. Aroused by a petite blonde he used to consider a sister.
The key words being “used to.”
What the fuck?
He had no idea