Shaking the thought away, I tried to settle down. I couldn’t be this riled up before work. Walking into a male-dominated workplace with a healthy flush to my skin spelled disaster for me. I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself up in a towel, focusing on the task at hand: getting ready for work.
It didn’t matter what I did, however. It didn’t matter how many cups of coffee I had or what outfit I picked out. It didn’t matter how meticulous my makeup was or how long it took me to get my hair just right. The only thing my mind wanted to focus on was that dream. Those lips. That rumbling chuckle that filled my ears.
Driving to work, I still had the dream on my mind. I walked up the stairs to my office and sat down in my chair, then grimaced at how wet my panties were, all because of that damn dream. Even as I sat there trying to plot out new projects to discuss during the multiple meetings that day, that stupid dream was in the back of my mind.
My mystery man had swallowed every part of me whole. One dream, one encounter that wasn’t even real, and I was a slave to it. I wanted to know who it was, what he looked like, what his damn name had been, because in all the encounters I had almost had with men over the years, this was the only time I’d even considered allowing someone inside me.
And the damn man didn’t even exist.
Logan
“So, do you work tonight?” I asked.
“Mmm, yeah. I think so,” Camilla said.
“You think so?”
“Wait. It’s Thursday, right?”
“It is.”
“Then no. I don’t work.”
“Okay. I just figured you might have been texting your boss about work.”
“I am.”
“Is everything okay?”
Camilla held up her finger to me before she shoved her face back into her phone.
Damn it. All I wanted was one night out with her. We hadn’t had that in almost two weeks. I wanted one night where it was just the two of us with no work, no phones, and no friends.
Camilla had been distant lately. We hadn’t been talking as much. Things seemed weird even though our sex life was as explosive as always. But that was what it seemed like these days, nothing but sex and filler moments in between where we sat but didn’t talk.
Like tonight, with her face stuck in her phone and me practically talking to a brick wall.
“How did you sleep last night?” I asked.
“Fine,” she said mindlessly.
“Did you do anything fun today?”
“No.”
“Did you go shopping? Get yourself anything? I know you said you needed new clothes now that you had gotten promoted.”
“No.”
“No to getting the new clothes? Or no to needing them?”
“Can you hold on a second, Logan?”
I bit down on the inside of my cheek as her eyes remained right on her phone. Her damn phone. Her fucking useless little piece of technology. I ran my hands up and down my thighs before I sat back in my side of the booth.
My plan for the night was already a bust. I had wanted to take my girlfriend out for a little bit of fine dining Chinese, then take her on a cruise around the outskirts of the city to stand by the waterfront and talk, or maybe take a walk hand in hand. I just wanted to do something romantic that didn’t devolve straight into sex.
Things didn’t seem to flow well between us any longer. Maybe they never had.
Our food was set in front of us, and not once did Camilla look up. Not once did she even acknowledge that her plate had been set in front of her. I picked up my fork and stabbed at my food, trying to get some of my aggression out.
“You good over there?” she asked.
“Surprised you noticed,” I murmured.
“Hmm?”
“Nothing, beautiful.”
“Aww, you’re so sweet.”
I looked up at her and caught her eyes briefly before her head sank right back to her phone. I wanted to take it from her and chuck it out a damn window. What was so important anyway? Clearly, whatever it was, it ranked above me.
I went back to my food, trying to just get through the meal without tearing my hair out.
“Oh my gosh! What are you doing here!?”
Camilla flew out of her seat and wrapped her arms around someone. That someone was Ava. I nodded at her as the two girls hugged, then settled myself in for what I knew what was about to happen.
It would go as it always did when Ava caught us out somewhere. Our date was about to turn into Ava being a third wheel, except Ava wouldn’t be the third wheel; I would. Camilla would turn her attention to her best friend and ramble on about things that would have taken me hours to drag out of her—if I could have peeled her away from her phone long enough.