“Hmmm, I'm still putting my money on your vagina.”
Katya took the last shot, then stood up while Tori searched for her phone. The other girl was demanding pizza, struggling to call Dominos. While she did that, Katya stumbled back to her bedroom, looking for her own phone. When she picked it up, she glared down at the screen. A wedding cake she'd done for the mayor's daughter stared back at her. Katya had been proud of the cake – was still proud of it. And yet … was that really her biggest joy in her life? Her job?
She looked around her room. It was simple enough. Big by San Francisco standards, but much smaller than the one she'd had while growing up. It was a narrow room, so she'd had a lot of space at the foot of the bed, and she'd put in a nice drafting table. She used it to sketch ideas for future desserts, things she wanted to try, stuff she wanted to show to clients. Underneath it were random cooking accessories, promotional items from the bakery, stuff she kept meaning to try and use. A dresser sat on the opposite wall, and on top of it were rows and stacks of cook books.
Is my whole life about my work? When did that happen?
Before she knew what she was doing, Katya thumbed open her phone and pressed a button. It rang and rang, then went to voicemail. She frowned and called again. Kept calling, back to back, for two minutes straight.
“Goddamn, Tocci, you better be fucking dying,” Wulf's voice growled down the line. “I was in a meeting.”
“I'm very drunk,” she slurred, kneeling on her mattress.
“What?”
“Tori lost her job, we got drunk,” she explained.
“You're drunk.”
“Sooooo drunk.”
“And you called me.”
“Sooooo called you.”
She expected him to get mad. To snap at her. Call her silly or stupid, then hang up on her. But he didn't. He was silent for a moment, then his warm chuckle filled her ear, and all was right in her world. She slowly laid down, stretching out below the pillows.
“This is very cute, and I'll admit, I'm curious to see just how wild you're willing to get while in this condition, but I'm a very busy man.”
Yet he wasn't hanging up on her, so she took that as encouragement.
“You're always busy. I'm always busy. Let's be busy together,” she suggested.
“Hmmm, what did you have in mind?”
“Come over and I'll show you.”
“Tempting, Tocci, but I'm trying to close on a fifteen million dollar property.”
“Is fifteen million dollars worth more to you than pussy?”
She slapped a hand over her own mouth. Had she really just said that!? She'd never in her life said anything like that to a man. To anyone. She'd completely shocked herself and she glanced out her open bedroom door, wondering if Tori had heard her.
“My, my, you do get wild. You've managed to impress me once again, Katya.”
There it was, her name. Her first name. She stretched her body again, moaning into the phone. His voice was wrapping around her like a blanket, making her hot and uncomfortable. She pulled at her shirt, yanking it so it was bunched up underneath her breasts.
“Come over,” she whispered.
“I would love to, and I'm sure I will later, but I can't.”
“I'm gonna be gone soon,” she blurted out.
“What?”
“Gone. I'm going,” she tried again, her tongue thick in her mouth.
“Where the fuck do you think you're going?”
She had to laugh at the anger in his voice. Her interrupting his mutli-million dollar meeting was fine. Her leaving town without telling him first? Bad news bears, young lady. No one leaves without the wolf's express permission.
“I'm going home,” she sighed, smoothing her free hand down her leg. “For a week.”
“Like you're going to be sleeping there, spending every night there?”
“Yes, Wulf. What do you think I mean when I say I'm going home?”
“Jesus, it's only two hours away. You could come back, you know.”
“Says the man who won't drive across traffic to let me see his apartment.”
She wanted to sound angry and vengeful, but she was pretty sure the slurring and hiccuping ruined it.
“That's completely different – that doesn't get in the way of me fucking you.”
“Sorry. I want to see my mommy,” she spoke in a sing song voice. “Want to see my home. My dad is out of town, she's lonely. We're gonna bake cookies.”
“Cookies, huh,” he grunted out.
“It's just a week, Wulf.”
“A week, huh.”
She finally laughed at him.
“I leave on Sunday. That gives you tonight and tomorrow to fuck me,” she assured him.
“Hmmm. I'll be in touch, Tocci.”
Then the line went dead, and she was laughing again. Her head was spinning and her heart was pounding. She stayed that way till she fell asleep, chuckling to herself while she was stretched out on the mattress. When she woke up sometime later in the middle of the night, she immediately remembered the phone call and started smiling again. She picked up her phone and turned it on.
Several missed messages from Liam.
Only one from Wulf.
Liam's never got opened, but she stared at the one line text from the other man.
Behave yourself tonight – I'll see you soon.
*
“You're ignoring me.”
She could hear the smile in Liam's voice, so she didn't worry too much that he was really offended. She squished her phone between her ear and her shoulder while she tore around her apartment.
“I'm not, I swear,” she lied, jamming clothing into her bag.
She'd spent most of Sunday hungover on the couch with Tori, caught between being embarrassed at her sassy phone call to Wulf, all but begging him to come fuck her, and angry that he hadn't taken her up on it. Not only hadn't taken her up on it, but hadn't even bothered to call her the day after. She'd stewed about it so much, she'd thrown herself into a design for a client, trying to forget. She'd fallen asleep at her table. She woke up at seven in the morning with an awful crick in her neck, and the realization that she hadn't packed for her trip. Hadn't reserved a car, hadn't done anything.
Nope, just pined away over a stupid, arrogant, antagonistic, son of -
“You're literally ignoring me right now,” Liam brought her back to reality.
“I'm sorry, I'm just kinda running late. I was supposed to leave for my mom's at eight, but I woke up late, and just got out of the shower, so I'm running around, trying to grab everything,” she explained. Not a total lie.
“Oh, I forgot about that trip. A week, right?”
“Just five days, then you can start raiding my fridge again.”
“Who said I'm going to stop? Tori's gonna be home, right?”
“Actually, I was meaning to ask you about that,” Katya started speaking in a hushed tone. She stepped into the bathroom, then leaned out and peeked down the hall, making sure her roommate wasn't close by.
“Ooohhh, we're whispering now, must be something good. Yes, I will fuck your roomie, thank you for the invitation.”
“No. She needs a job.”