“Red to stop. Yellow to slow. Green to keep going.”
“Where are you right now?”
“Chartreuse?”
“Is that yellow?”
“It’s green.” I hear the shakiness of her inhalation, the nerves, the excitement. “Bright green.”
“Okay, then. And what do you do if you’re unable to talk and you need to stop?”
She leans over and taps three times on the desk.
“Excellent. Any surface is fine. My face. Your skin. I will hear it, feel it, or see it, and stop. Then I’ll check in with you. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Have a drink of water.”
“What?”
I point at her desk, where there’s a mug with the wordHamiltonwritten across it. “There clean water in there?”
She nods.
“Then drink it.”
With an annoyed little sigh, she picks it up, takes a swig, and at my patient look, swallows the rest down. Then she shows me the inside.
“Thank you. You may put it down.” I suck in a long, deep breath. “Now. The rules go in your mouth.”
“What? No, I—”
“Are we doing this?”
After a moment’s wide-eyed hesitation, Rae stuffs the paper into that gorgeous mouth, wedging it between her teeth.
I’m hard as nails but also calm. Ready.
With a slow sigh, I press on. “Pull the dress up, over your hips. Show me what you’ve got on under there.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Rae
IT’S HAPPENING. IT’S HAPPENING.
My hands shake as I grasp the sweaterdress and slowly drag it up, up, up, baring tall boots with long socks beneath them, and above that… That’s right.
Nothing. It’s what I decided to wear to work today.
The moment I woke up this morning, I knew I was done with the silly rules, one way or another. Grant would have to suffer. The fact that I still wanted him after Friday, despite his rejection, really annoyed me. So cute sweaterdress it was.
I’m not sure I’m supposed to hear the whispered “Holy fuck” he lets out as the hem reaches my hips. “Turn around,” he says in a quiet, stern voice. “Hands on your desk.”
Oh god. Oh god. Ohgods.
My brain’s a wild thing, flailing around like it doesn’t know up from down and side from side, and it is way too much. I’m almost outside of my body with how big this feels.
