“Oh, there you are.” The woman’s voice is loud after our hushed restraint. “We’re all playing spin the bottle, so I need a—”
“Spin the bottle?” Rae throws me a frantic look. “That’s a bad idea,” she says.
“Pfft. It’s fine!” The woman’s opening cupboards in search of something. Probably the bottle in question. “We just need—”
“No spin the bottle.” I don’t turn all the way, given the current state of my erection, but my voice carries, low and resonant, like I’m still deep in a scene.
The woman stops in her tracks. “Huh?”
“No spin the bottle,” Rae explains.
“Not now. Not ever,” I add. Oh, the irony. The hypocrisy.
With a disappointedtsk, the woman throws up her hands. “But I love spin the bottle. We always—”
“I’ll bet you also love that you have a job.” I’ve got no problem being a prick when it’s called for.
“Are you serious?” She appeals indignantly to Rae. “He can’t threaten me like that.”
“I…” Rae looks at me for the solid five seconds it takes her to dry her hands on the towel before turning to her colleague. “Actually, Blake, he sure can.” Her face is a remarkable study in contrasts. Flushed, but calm. Those cheeks bright red, which could be from the steam rising from the sink. More likely it’s from the climax I just caused her to have in the workplace.
“No spin the bottle, Blake,” she reiterates.
“It’s company policy.” I shut off the water and accept the towel from my partner in crime.
“Company policy.” The woman’s eyes flick between Rae and me. “Really?”
“Yes, Blake.” Rae nods. “Please tell the others.”
“And if they’re unhappy,” I add, “they are welcome to come see me.”
“Wow. All right, I guess.” Blake gives us one last long stare before leaving in a huff.
Without looking at me, Rae says, “Thank you.”
My eyebrows lift of their own volition. “What exactly are you thanking me for now?”
Her flush darkens. “For standing up to Blake. She can be… pushy.”
Oh, that. “You’re the one who laid down the law.”
She appears to consider. “Well, then, thank you for supporting me. And, you know, being the bad guy.”
“I am the bad guy, Sunny.” We share a long look as I step closer, reach around her, and unclip the shiny metal claw holding up her mass of hair. It tumbles around her shoulders like something liquid and alive. “Now, how about we get back to obeying those rules?”
Her glare is perfection. One more thing to add to the list. “After what just happened? You want to go back to the rules?”
“What just happened proved that we need the rules, wouldn’t you agree?”
She watches me with narrowed eyes, chin jutting at a stubborn angle.
“If you’ve got something to say, Rae, I think now’s the time to say it.”
“Are you telling me that what you… what we just did was all to prove a point?”
“Yes.” I can’t even tell if this is a lie or not, but it’s necessary.“We’ll go back to how things were. We need structure, control, rules, dammit.”
“And what? Sweep this whole escapade under the rug?”
