Tonight.
A slap to his shoulder made him jump. “That was a hell of a sparring session, Tommy.”
He glanced up at Mac. “Thanks.”
His friend’s brows drew together. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” Tommy sighed, leaning back as he scrubbed his hands down his face. “Fine.”
“You sure?”
What could he say? He was scared of a tiny woman and her not-so-subtle messages? That for the first time in his entire damn life, he was terrified of having sex? “Yep. Just been a long week.”
“How’s Julie doing?”
The very subject he wanted to avoid. “Much better. Seems to be back to normal.”
If trying to get him to bend her over and have his way with her constituted being normal. In his mind, it did not.
“Well, good. I’m glad that back thing didn’t keep her down for long.”
Mac didn’t know the half of it. Nothing kept her down, not even him saying no—twice—when she had her mind set.
And what she had her mind set on right now could not happen.
Somehow he’d have to derail her. Blow her plans straight out of the water.
The question was: how?
…
Julie parked in front of The Carnal Cat and stared at the scantily clad mannequins in the display window. All three pieces of lingerie were gorgeous, but two of them had a sweet, innocent vibe with their pastel colors and baby-doll style. The last thing she needed to do was wear something that would make Tommy think he had to handle her with care. That was the whole problem.
Which the third one definitely didn’t inspire. It screamed naughty. Seductress. A woman who wasn’t looking for caresses and lingering kisses but wanted to get straight to the nit and the grit.
A sheer ribbed black corset with satin red trimming hugged the mannequin’s torso. The top ended at the midriff, leaving the stomach bare. A wispy, see-through skirt hung low on the mannequin’s hips and barely covered the tops of its thighs. Two red bows were sewn above each of the satin-ribboned garters and held up black silk stockings.
It. Was. Perfect.
She checked the time. A little after six now. Only a couple of hours to prepare. She needed to bust some ass. When she entered the shop, a woman with light brown hair turned and smiled.
“Can I help you?”
“I’d like to try on the black corset in the window.”
The woman’s smile grew. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“I have one. My husband loves it. Can’t keep his hands off me.”
Julie hoped Tommy reacted the same way, and didn’t completely shut down the moment he saw her in it. She was prepared for that reaction, but everything would go much more smoothly if he’d just play along.
The woman went to a rack and sifted through, finally pulling one off the hanger. “This is a small. It should work.”
After Julie closed herself inside a dressing room and stripped down to her panties, she quickly put the corset and skirt on. As she examined herself in the three-way mirror, her eyes kept going back to how the sheer skirt hit directly below her butt cheeks and showed off the silhouette of her red panties. The lingerie came with a matching black thong, which she had no intentions of wearing. As far as she was concerned, the less she had on between him and his goal, the less chance he’d have a moment to stop and think. The whisper-thin skirt would bring his eyes directly to the naked skin beneath.
She smiled. Tommy was such an ass man; he wouldn’t know what hit him. Excited anticipation shivered through her. He’d be stunned the moment he walked through the door, taken completely off-guard. She’d have the advantage.
Round two goes to me.
Feeling confident, she purchased the outfit and left. By the time she got home, some of her triumph had faded. Traffic had been horrible and the food she’d ordered had taken too long to be prepared. Tommy would be here in less than an hour, and she still hadn’t showered.
She popped the food in the oven, then hurried to the bathroom. As she bathed, primping for a night she’d only dreamed about, the reality of what was about to happen crept in. Butterfly flutters swarmed her chest, momentarily stealing her breath away.
Pushing aside her anxiety, she blow-dried her hair and styled it so it fluffed around her head, then she quickly dressed, choosing a pair of black, four-inch spiky heels she rarely wore to top off the outfit. She applied her eye makeup darker than normal for a sultrier look. As she gazed in the mirror when she was ready, she barely recognized herself. The woman staring back at her appeared confident, knowledgeable in the ways of a bedroom, didn’t shy away from a little kink.
She loved it.
Now she just had to get the living room ready. There was still a chance that Tommy would bolt the moment he walked in the house. What would she do if that happened?