She never called guys. Not out of any ladylike reserve, but because she never had to. But now? If she couldn"t have Jesse"s body, she"d settle for his voice.
Battling down nerves, she grabbed the boutique phone. Then, doubts racing through her head, she put it down and hurried back to the office for her phone. If she got lucky and it was a long call, she didn"t want to have to hang up if she had to leave the boutique for any reason.
Cell phone in hand, she looked at the numbers again.
Two rings later and his deep voice was on the line. Antic.i.p.ation made a heated journey through her erogenous zones. Audra settled in the plush chair toward the back of the shop and relaxed for the first time in days.
"Have you ever played Truth or Dare by telephone?" she asked in her s.e.xiest voice.
Silence.
Then, "Audra?"
"How many other women are you playing phone s.e.x games with?" she teased.
He laughed and she could almost hear his shrug. "I guess only you. Although, I have to admit, I"ve never seen Truth or Dare as a s.e.x game."
"Then let me teach you the right way to play." Audra scanned the empty shop. She wanted to go back to the dressing room, take off her clothes and lay down on the leather couch. She could almost feel the cool grip of the leather against her hot, naked skin.
But it was still a half hour till closing. d.a.m.n this streak of responsibility.
"Is it a lot different than regular Truth or Dare?" Jesse asked.
"Just a smidge. Are you alone? Somewhere you can get comfortable?"
"Yeah," he said slowly. "I"m home alone. How comfortable?"
"Comfortable enough to touch yourself," she said in a husky voice.
His groan was as clear as if he"d been standing next to her. Audra grinned, biting back a giggle.
"How about I stick with truths?" he suggested. But Audra was skilled at reading people, and she could tell from his voice that the truths held just as much worry as the dares.
Interesting.
She glanced around and spied a package of Naughty Games dice. With a grin, she grabbed it and ripped it open.
"We"ll roll," Audra explained, making up her game as she looked at the hot pink dice. "Even number is truth, odd is dare."
"You carry dice with you?"
"You never know when you"ll have the urge to do a little gambling," Audra teased. "After all, what"s life without a risk?"
"Risk? Right."
Audra frowned at his tone. Was he too much a good boy to play with her? Maybe she was crazy to be drawn to someone so much her opposite.
"Okay, roll," he instructed.
"You"re comfy?"
"h.e.l.l, no. But I"m ready to play with you."
With a grin of appreciation, she tossed the dice on the low display table.
"Odd."
"So you have to take a dare?"
She"d thought she was rolling for him. With a mental shrug, Audra stretched one arm overhead to release the tension in her lower spine. She wished she had one of those headsets in case this got to be a two-handed game.
"I have to take the dare," she agreed. "What"s your pleasure?"
"My pleasure? I"m thinking more along the lines of what"s your pleasure."
"Now that"d be a truth."
"Good point. Are you in a private place?"
Audra glanced toward the boutique door and raised blinds on the bank of windows. She was partially obscured by a couple of clothes racks, but she"d hardly call it hidden.
"Private enough. Go for it."
His pause was filled with sparks of s.e.xual awareness. Audra imagined him sitting somewhere, maybe a semidark room, fantasizing about her. Or more specifically, what he wanted her to do to herself.
She shifted a bit, adjusting her denim miniskirt in antic.i.p.ation.
"Close your eyes," he instructed.
With a smile, antic.i.p.ation coursing through her, she did.
"Now with your free hand, I want you to touch yourself."
She lightly sc.r.a.ped her nails up her thigh, heading toward the hem of her skirt.
"Start at your forehead," he instructed.
Audra"s eyes flew open. Huh? What happened to phone s.e.x? Was this some dumb idea of romance? What a waste of o.r.g.a.s.m potential.
Before she could redirect his dare, he continued.
"C"mon, it"s a dare. You have to do what I say, right?"
She pulled the phone away from her ear with a frown. How"d he know she wasn"t? After rolling her eyes, she closed them and put the phone back to her ear. Then she followed the dare instructions and reached up to smooth her forehead.
"Imagine it"s me, lightly tracing your face. Imagine that I"m sitting with you, staring at your beautiful features. Those sharp cheekbones, the little point of your chin. Imagine I"m rubbing my thumb across the full softness of your lower lip."
Audra"s breath shuddered. Had any man ever looked at her like this? Ever memorized her features or taken such pleasure in imagining himself himself touching them? touching them?
"Slide your tongue out and wet your bottom lip," he said, his voice a lyrical seduction. "Then suck your finger into your mouth. Imagine it"s me."
She gasped, then squirmed in the chair. She wanted to touch herself, to ease the building pressure. But she couldn"t. Not with one hand on the phone and the other in her mouth. Did he know that?
"Your turn," he said after a few seconds. From his indrawn breath and labored tone, she could tell he was imagining himself in her mouth, too.
Audra hesitated, not sure what to say. Usually phone s.e.x was down-and-dirty instructions. Touch this, do that. Imagine me this way.
But with Jesse? She felt she had to dig deeper. To reach inside and really ask herself how to make this a special experience. To make it about more than simple physical release.
And d.a.m.n if that didn"t scare her.
"Audra?"
"Yeah. Um, hang on, I"m rolling the dice." She sucked in a breath and told herself to get a grip. s.e.x was s.e.x. And she"d never run from s.e.x.
"Even," she told him, looking at the snake eyes. "So you have to tell me the truth."
"Okay," he drew out. He sounded a little unsure.
Ha, served him right. He"d pushed her emotional b.u.t.tons, she was gonna push his.
"Tell me, truthfully...what"s your ultimate s.e.xual fantasy?"
His laugh was low and slightly wicked. More wicked than she"d have thought a good boy would sound.
"Ooh, this sounds like a good one."
"I don"t know if I can say it over the phone," Jesse admitted.
"Sure you can. Just pretend you"re with me. We"re lying together in a dark room, and you"re whispering in my ear."
Would he share? How truthful would he be? He"d agreed, and Audra had the impression that Jesse"s word was gold. So if he bared his soul and shared his real fantasy, how s.e.xy was this gonna get? She was willing to bet it was either one of two fantasies. The tie-"em-up-in-the-bedroom naughtiness, or the two-women-pleasuring-him scenario.
Audra glanced at the clock. Twelve minutes until closing. Screw it.
"Hang on," she ordered.
She flew from the chair to the front of the store. A quick glance outside a.s.sured her n.o.body was heading toward the boutique. With a flick of her wrist, the door was locked. A quick tug had the blinds drawn.
"Okay, start talking," she demanded as she headed down the hall toward the dressing room.
"Well," he started, sounding uncomfortable, "I guess it starts with dinner."
"Dinner?" Audra pulled the phone away from her ear to give it a baffled look, then shrugged. Without bothering to turn on the lights, she dropped to the couch and lay her head on the arm, with one leg thrown over the back. "Like, what? A family dinner? Dinner out at a restaurant? What?"
"No, dinner in. Candlelight, roses, wine. Just me and, well, in this case, you."
She grinned. "Me, huh? So you"ve had this fantasy recently?"
"Oh, yeah. It"s been getting a lot of mileage this last week. Although the memory of you on that couch in your dressing room has been replayed a number of times, too."
"I"m on that couch now," Audra said in a husky tone.
Jesse groaned.
"Nope, no sidetracking," she demanded. "So we"re having a candlelit dinner?"
"No. I"m sitting at the table. The room is dark except the candle flames. Soft rock, something with a solid beat but not a lot of lyrics, plays in the background."
Audra heard a creak, as if he was settling back in his chair or something. He sounded more relaxed, like he was getting into the story.
"Sounds pretty," she said softly. It did. Very romantic and nice. Not really a turn-on, though. Oh, well, so the guy didn"t have a wild imagination. He was definitely talented with his hands and had one wild mouth. Phone s.e.x might have added more to her fascination with him, so this was probably just as well.
"You walk in," he continued, "completely nude. Except for thigh-high leather boots, of course."
"Of course," she agreed, swallowing a surprised chuckle. So maybe he wasn"t so tame, if he wanted her, naked, for dinner. "Am I carrying food or something? Maybe serving you dinner?"
"Nope, there"s a sideboard filled with everything I need."
"Need? Like...?"
"You come to me and lean over for a kiss. It"s hot, a lot of tongue. Like we"re battling it out for who gets to be boss. The winner will eat dessert off the other"s body."
Oh. Audra hummed her appreciation of the image, her eyes dropping to slits as she imagined eating off Jesse"s hard body. Yeah, that was working for her.
"I win, of course."
"Why?"
"Because it"s my fantasy," he said with a laugh.
Audra frowned. Wouldn"t a guy"s fantasy lean toward being pleasured?
"I grab you, kind of quick and rough, and you give this breathy little moan and curl up on my lap. You run your hands over my body, using your nails a little to sc.r.a.pe at my skin. Nothing hard or painful, just a little wild."
Her breath short, she ran her tongue over her bottom lip to wet it.
"I grab a jar of chocolate-b.u.t.terscotch fudge off the table," he told her.
Audra sighed in pleasure. Her favorite flavor. How perfect.
"I scoop it up with my fingers. I rub some on your lips, and you lick it off. Then you lie back in my arm so I have full access to your b.r.e.a.s.t.s and stomach."
Audra curved her hand over one of her already aching b.r.e.a.s.t.s and squeezed.
"My hands sticky with the chocolate, I hold your b.r.e.a.s.t.s, squeezing at the same time I flick your nipples. I lick the chocolate off your mouth, careful to get that little drip from your chin. You taste delicious." His voice trailed off and she heard the snick of a zipper through the phone. Eyes closed, Audra smiled her pleasure and with one last tweak of her nipple, slid her hand down to the hem of her skirt.
She pulled it up, then pressed her fingers to her damp panties.