Easton nodded. “The strap’s like a cock ring. Wrapped around them, it pushes them up out and out.”
“I apparently haven’t been paying close enough attention to men’s underwear ads.” Amber still wanted to laugh.
“Well, shame on you.” Easton grinned. “I have.”
Moments later Jamie returned, cupping his package. “How’s this?”
Easton and the stylist studied him. “Looks good,” the stylist said without a blush.
“Really good,” Easton drawled, and winked. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Jamie moved from pose to pose, changed to another pair of briefs, and did it again and again.
“Back to you, Amber,” Easton said.
“Thank God.” She rubbed her upper arms. “I’m freezing.”
“Uh-oh. We don’t want goosebumps. Erect nipples, yes.”
“No,” the stylist said. “No erect nipples.”
“This bra is so padded there’s no way my nipples will show.”
“Good.”
They had one more set of lingerie for her to model, a full-coverage, full-support bra and high-rise panty that she would never wear in a million years. But apparently someone would.
“Done,” Easton announced finally. “Good work.”
She patted his cheek as she walked past him to change back into her own clothes.
“You working tonight?” he called after her, beginning to take down the background.
“Nope.”
“Let’s order Thai food for dinner.”
“Excellent idea.”
“Jamie, you in?”
Jamie was now dressed in a pair of jeans so low-rise they should be illegal and a snug V-neck T-shirt. “Sure.”
She changed into her own jeans and a black turtleneck sweater, shoved her feet into sheepskin-lined boots, and grabbed her backpack. “I’ll see you at home,” she said to Easton and Jamie.
“We can watch a movie,” Easton said. “You pick.”
“Um, actually…there’s a hockey game on.”
Easton lowered his chin and gave her a look. “Seriously?”
Chapter 12
In the days he was away, Duncan texted Amber a couple of times. It was a busy road trip, with back-to-back games Wednesday and Thursday night in Tampa, a night off Friday, and then a Saturday game in Miami. After losing the first game to the Bolts, they managed to squeak out a win in OT in the second game, but lost miserably to the Panthers.
The sucky thing was, they were playing better. Losing their big D-man and enforcer Dale Ronson had pushed some of the guys to step up. Duncan had been looking hard at his own game to see where he could improve. Knowing his roommate and team captain, Marc, was taking a lot of the burden for their shitty play on his own shoulders made him want to do better. And he thought he had been.
He’d been frustrated with his line-mate, left winger Max Hall. His head was not in the game. He was screwing up all over the place, missing passes, turning the puck over. Jesus, Saturday night he let the Panthers have it right in front of their own net and that had resulted in their winning goal. The two after that were just a bonus for the Panthers, the icing on a win cake.
Their flight left right after the game Saturday, getting them home to Chicago at about one-thirty in the morning. He and Duper talked about what was going on with Hallsy as they drove back to their condo together. They usually took one vehicle to the airport. Duncan thought maybe he was the only one noticing how crappy Hallsy’d been playing, since they relied on each other so much, but Duper had noticed it too, and from the atmosphere in the dressing room after Saturday night’s loss, and the glares being shot at Hallsy, who also looked miserable, Duncan had a feeling everyone was frustrated.
He was glad to be home for more reasons than one, and one of those reasons was Amber.
Once in the condo, he and Duper both hit the sack and Duncan slept until nearly noon. They had Sunday off, back to regular practice Monday, so once he’d eaten a huge plate of scrambled eggs and a few pieces of toast and peanut butter, he called Amber.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
“Hi, Duncan.”
He smiled just at hearing her voice. “How are you?”
“Good. You?”
“Eh. Been better. Kind of a crappy road trip.”
“Yeah. I, um, heard.”
“So. What are you up to today? Wanna hang out?”
“By hang out, do you mean have sex?”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t turn it down.”
She gave a soft laugh.
“I was thinking of going for a run later. Wanna join me? Then we could get something to eat and maybe watch some TV.”
“Duck Dynasty?”
He grinned. “We might be able to find an episode somewhere. Or we could watch whatever you want.” Hopefully she wouldn’t make him watch Legally Blonde, Melissa’s favorite movie. Reese Witherspoon was cute, but seeing that movie once was enough.
“I should be studying. I have midterms next week.”
“Ugh. Studying.” Jesus. How could he convince her to ditch that? Studying was pretty important.
“But I’ve already been studying for a few hours,” she went on. “So I guess if I did another couple of hours I’d be good.”