FOUR PLAY
"Three." Charli Sutton handed her boss the dress she'd loaned her. "Count them." She flicked out three fingers, a shiver of excitement slithering across the skin they'd touched, fondled and caressed. "Original Sin, Fake-cop dude, and the new guy, Fiddler. And did I mention, it was a date? A real sit-down dinner and dessert date."
"Oh. My. God!" Audrey Anderson wiped the sleep from her eyes and pulled Charli into her house. "You have got to be kidding me. Tell me everything." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Is it really three o'clock in the morning?"
"I only have a minute. I need to get home and catch some shut-eye, before my lunch date with Connor Mason."
"Screw sleep, I wanna know what happened." Audrey tugged a bar stool up to the kitchen counter and forced Charli into it. "Speak."
Sliding an elbow onto the counter, Charli sighed. "The night was magical with the three men wearing tuxedos looking so very dashing and debonair, and me in that black gown you loaned me, showing just about everything the good Lord gave me." She hugged Audrey. "By the way, thanks. I don't own anything nearly as sexy and gorgeous."
"Three men?" Eyebrows raised, her friend shook her head. "Three?"
Charli frowned. Maybe that sounded worse than it what it was. "It's okay. The sex was all consensual. Nobody forced me to do anything. In fact, they gave me the whip."
"Sex with all three?" Audrey pressed a hand to her breast and whispered, "You had a whip?"
"Really, Audrey, you're repeating everything I say." Charli chuckled. "Got to play the dominatrix this time, giving out the orders, popping them when they didn't obey." Images from the night floated through her mind, and her lips spread into a grin. "And it was a riding crop, actually, not a whip."
"Like that makes a diff." Audrey's eyes narrowed and she peered behind Charli. "I just want to know who you are and what you did with my friend, Charli?" She crossed both arms over her breasts. "This is so not like you."
"If that's the case, maybe it's just as well." Charli tossed her hand in the air. "The old Charli was bored out of her mind. This new one is having the time of her life."
"Yeah, but how long can this last?" Audrey lifted Charli's hands. "What happens when the dirty tricks stop and you're back to normal?"
Charli jerked her hands free and pushed her hair back off her face. "I don't know, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Frankly, when it ends, I might get some sleep. All these late-night trysts are exhausting ."
"You really need to stop this. All that sex can't be good for you."
"What's not good about it? We use protection, my vagina is getting a good workout, and I'm totally satisfied when it's over."
"Are you?" Audrey hugged her close, squeezing her tight. "I worry about you. This mystery thing can only go on so long before you realize it's not much of a relationship. Don't you want a happily-ever-after with a man who'll tell you his goddamn name?"
Charli pushed away and paced across the room. "I don't know. I'm liking the adventure." Though she would never admit it to Audrey, she had been feeling more and more frustrated at not knowing the identity of this mystery man with whom she'd had three nights worth of fabulous sex. The men he'd brought with him, while sexy, hadn't been the draw. The one she'd dubbed Original Sin held her attention and occupied most of her waking and sleeping thoughts since the dirty tricks had begun.
Coming to a stop in front of Audrey, Charli squared her shoulders and looked her friend straight in the eye. "I'm satisfied...for now. Isn't that all that matters?"
"Uh-huh, see?" Audrey pointed a finger at Charli's chest. "You are having doubts, and now you're beginning to wonder whether or not he has something to hide, thus the reason for the masks and mystery."
Mask . Her skin heated and Charli grinned. "He was so sexy in his Zorro mask. I practically came when he said hello."
"God, you're pathetic."
"No, I'm getting some."