Free Status Update by Mari Carr Page B

water, shown her exactly how hot the same thing could be with the right man.
    Smug bastard.
    She smiled. “I loved it and you know it. But my admission does not give you permission to gloat.”
    He tightened his embrace, kissing her on the top of her head. “I think it does. You ready for the other shoe to fall?”
    She looked at him. “Lay it on me.”
    “I was in complete control of everything we did. And you loved that too.”
    Laura started to refute his comment, but the truth had a way of crashing down hard. He’d tied her up, issued commands and played her body like a concert pianist. Through it all, she’d followed his lead, let him call the shots. Instead she giggled.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “I’m thinking it’s a shame we never hooked up in high school.”
    Bryan shook his head. “Jesus. You, me and teenage hormones? We would have fucked like bunnies.”
    She closed her eyes, soaking up the warmth Bryan provided as exhaustion began to win out.
    “Yeah,” she whispered. “Just like bunnies.”
    With that, she fell asleep.

Chapter Four
    Laura Sanders
    Anybody up for the Time Warp again?!
     
    Laura was just about to turn the light off and head to bed for the night when she heard a knock at the door. She glanced at the clock. It was nearly eleven.
    “Who on earth?” She walked to the door, but hesitated before opening it.
    Bryan was out of town again. His job kept him on the road a couple of weeks each month as he traveled from worksite to worksite. He once described his role in the engineering company as the starting pistol. He helped work crews and their foreman lay out a game plan before they started a new job. It was up to him to determine what got done when and by whom. Once the construction was started and things appeared to be running smoothly, he would return home to work on plans for the next project coming down the pike. Because he worked for a large company, he was in charge of covering four states and that large territory kept him hopping.
    “Who’s there?” It was times like this when she hated living alone. It had taken her three months of living in the townhouse on her own before she stopped jerking awake in the middle of the night, terrified by every creak and groan. For her own peace of mind, she’d bought a baseball bat that she kept tucked under her bed.
    “It’s me.” Bryan’s deep voice didn’t stop her heart from racing, but at least it was excitement, rather than fear, now driving the quick beat.
    She answered the door, surprised to find Bryan standing on the threshold with a bag in his hands. She had missed him. Since their first date in March, they’d gone out three more times, each date ending with him in her bed. Sex with Bryan was never boring, never the same. She suspected she’d already had more orgasms in the past month with Bryan than in the entire twenty-three years of her marriage.
    Laura started to hug him, delighted to see him, but pulled up short. She laughed. “What are you wearing?”
    “I’m Brad.”
    She slowly shook her head. “And I’m not following.”
    “I believe the correct thing to say after hearing Brad is asshole .”
    “Wow. Have you been drinking?”
    Bryan laughed and walked into her townhouse. Laura closed the door, hard-pressed to hide her smile. Five minutes ago, she’d been exhausted and dragging herself to bed. Now it was as if she’d been given a shot of adrenaline.
    Fortunately, Bryan hadn’t forced her to face what it was between them yet. For now he seemed content to go with the flow. They were friends who had a lot of fun and amazing sex. It was all Laura felt capable of giving. She was still leery of entering a real relationship, terrified of losing herself again.
    “I was hoping I could convince you to help me check an item off my list of regrets.” Bryan had gotten a kick out of Laura’s resolution to try things she’d always wanted to do, and was determined to go along for the ride with her.
    “And what would