“Hey,” Jae murmurs, his voice quiet and hoarse on the other end of the line.
“Why are you calling me?” I ask, trying not to sound too desperate for an answer.I’d been waiting all afternoon for this very moment.
“I call you every night at this time.”
“I guess you do,” He’s not wrong.I don’t even know why I asked that.
“I was just thinking about you.”
“What about me?”He was thinking about me.The butterflies multiply by six hundred.
“How beautiful you looked today.”
I blush even though he can’t see me.
“That top was ridiculously attractive. I don’t understand how you looked so good in it. I can’t wrap my head around you, Riley.” Jae’s normally perky and bouncy voice is dreamy and ambrosial.
I don’t even know what to say. It’s been so long since I’ve flirted without looking like a total dork.I stay silent on the line, but place the phone near my face so my breathing is near the mic so he can tell I’m still listening.
“It doesn’t hurt hearing that,” I tease him. “Thanks for the ego boost.”
“Please. Your ego needs it, frankly.” Jae laughs lightly on the other end of the line, and I hear him shuffling.
“Where are you?”
“I just got into bed.”
“I’m already in bed,” I answer, talking faster than I mean to for fear of spilling the coalition of dirty thoughts barging into my mind like I’m fifteen and discovering that guys are like, kind of hot, actually.
“What are you wearing now?” Jae’s voice is softer than velvet and sultrier than a little black dress.
“I feel like a phone sex operator answering that,” I giggle.
“Is that so bad? I bet it pays well.”
“What are you wearing?” I flip the question on Jae. “Wait, I take that back. I don’t want to know.”
I don’t want to know so badly, because once I know, I won’t be able to stop thinking about it. I picture Jae in his fictionalCalifornia king bed, sprawled in a jungle of cotton linens, and I am immediately flustered because that is surely the situation right now.
“Why not?” It’s Jae’s turn to chuckle and it sounds ridiculously cute coming from a grown man’s body.
“It’s none of my business,” I answer matter-of-factly. I desperately want it to be my business. “But you don’t strike me as a flannel pajama pants kind of guy.”
“You’d be right about that.” Jae gives me a taste of his golden laugh again.
What kind of guy is he then?I wonder if he’s a briefs or boxers guy.
“Only for matching family photos on Christmas morning.”
“You do strike me as that kind of person.” I’m grinning ear to ear. “Especially when it’s for next year’s holiday card.”
“Oh, you know it. I have three sisters and a niece. It’s matching pajamas or death.”
“You would know.”
“Do you have any siblings?” Jae’s voice lowers as he asks me.
“I don’t. It’s just me.” I let out a somber sigh. “My parents moved to North Carolina when they retired.”
