documents from you
first?” Claire said shyly, having completely lost track of the
situation.
“Documents?” Parker said, momentarily
puzzled. “Oh! The documents. Right. They can wait. You must have
had a long trip uptown, right?”
“Uh...”
“You should take a load off.”
“Oh. Sure. OK. Um... Actually, do you mind if
I use your bathroom real quick?”
“Bathroom? Yeah, sure,” Parker said, “It’s
right down the hall.”
Claire smiled weakly and darted down the long
hallway. There seemed to be more rooms in this New York apartment
than there had been in Claire’s entire home growing up. She found
the bathroom, finally, and closed the door tightly behind her.
Letting the tap run to drown out any noise, she pulled out her
phone and dialed Savannah’s number. Her friend didn’t pick up until
what felt like the eightieth ring, and she sounded a bit foggy when
she did.
“What’s up, Claire?”
“Savannah? Were you asleep?”
“Asleep? No. In bed? Certainly.”
“Who with this time?”
“Hold on, let me check,” she moved the phone
from her ear to address whoever was there with her, “Steve.”
“Who’s Steve?”
“Why so many questions? What do you
need.”
“I need help! The address Cheryl sent me to
for those papers is Parker’s fucking home office. What am I
supposed to do?”
“Are you two there alone?”
“Yes!”
“Then for god’s sake, girl, jump him!”
“But—”
“No ‘buts’. This is your golden opportunity.
Don’t mess it up.”
“But what if—”
“What did I say about ‘buts’? Get out there
and make me proud.”
“Savannah—”
But the line was already dead. Claire shook
her head in amazement at her friend’s ability to throw herself into
any situation. She looked up into the bathroom mirror and caught a
glimpse of her anxious, nearly teary expression. She looked like a
scared little girl before a talent show, and it pissed her off.
“Goddammit, Claire,” she said to herself,
“You are a grown woman now, and you can do whatever the hell you
please! You need to go out there and have yourself an experience.
You deserve this, you can do this, and you want to do this. Go sink
your teeth into the beautiful male specimen or you’ll be kicking
yourself until the day you die!”
The pep talk seemed to take hold. Claire
hiked her already-short skirt up, adjusted the neckline of her
dress further down to reveal her bulging breasts, and tousled her
hair to give it an extra sexy edge. She reexamined herself in the
mirror and very much liked what she saw. Hopefully, Parker would
like it as well. It’s show time, she thought, and threw open the
bathroom door. She was going to put herself out there for Parker.
Whether or not anything came of it was a different story, but she
knew that she at least had to try. She was sick of feeling like a
little lost girl. It was time to act like the sexy, confident woman
that she wanted to be.
Claire strode into the kitchen, where Parker
was busy pulling an expert shot of espresso from a very
complicated-looking machine. He peered over his shoulder and took
in the sight of Claire. She couldn’t help but get wildly turned on
by his attention, conflicted though it seemed. She wanted to put
him at ease, wanted him to know how much she wanted him, but how
could she begin? What if she’d been misinterpreting his signals
this whole time? She was definitely spot-on about the signals her
own body was sending. She could feel the slow, building pressure of
anticipation building inside of her, particularly down south. She
had a physical need to be touched by the man, and she suspected
that he felt the same way. But how to tell for sure?
“Here you go,” he said, offering her an
espresso in what looked like a very expensive china cup. She took
it, grateful for the prop. She needed to find a solid foothold if
she was going to make it through this.
“So...” she began. A rather weak start.
“So,” he echoed, taking a