Free Negotiation Tactics by Lori Ryan [romance/suspense] Page A

fingers in hers, but still he didn’t speak.
    “I pulled away the day we kissed because I…I don’t know. I just can’t even imagine being with anyone other than Kyle, you know?” Jennie asked. She didn’t expect an answer and he didn’t give one. Jennie knew that Chad did know. Somehow, he understood.
    Jennie raised her bottle to her mouth and took a sip. “Truth or dare?” she asked.
    A long drawn-out moment passed before Chad answered. “Truth.”
    “What are you thinking right now?” Jennie asked.
    Chad cleared his throat. “That you’re strong as hell. That I hate that there’s nothing I can say or do to take away your pain. That I want to go back to easier questions.”
    Jennie laughed but there wasn’t much humor in it.
    “Truth or dare?” Chad asked.
    “Truth,” Jennie said.
    ***
    They played on, well into the night, keeping the topics light and fun. As with everything between the two of them, it eventually snaked back around to sex and Chad threw back a question Jennie had asked him earlier.
    “Kinkiest thing you’ve ever done.” Chad’s answer had made Jennie blush when she’d asked the question earlier in the night.
    Jennie squirmed, not wanting to tell Chad. But, he’d know if she lied. He always did.
    Jennie focused on the corner of the label on her beer bottle, peeling it away from the sweaty glass so she wouldn’t have to meet Chad’s eyes.
    “When we were in college, Kyle bought me these panties that, um…” Jennie started. “They had, um, well, they were battery operated. And he had the remote control. We’d be studying and he could turn them on whenever he wanted and I couldn’t stop him. He’d get all turned on knowing he was teasing the crap out of me and, well, clearly I’d get all worked up. We’d see who could hold out the longest without jumping the other one.”
    Jennie thought back and laughed. “I don’t think it was really fair, though.”
    “Wh...” Chad cleared his throat. “Why not?”
    “When he lost, it just meant he had to do the dishes. When I lost, I got a spanking.” Jennie was laughing but as soon as she said it she remembered how hot it had been when Kyle won.
    Jennie looked up at Chad and realized she’d probably had way too much to drink. That wasn’t a story she should have told. He was looking down at her, eyes intense and heated and focused only on her. She swallowed.
    Chad got up suddenly and put his beer on the table next to them. He walked in the house without saying a word. Jennie followed, laughing.
    “Where are you going?”
    He didn’t answer.
    “Chad?” Jennie padded after him, a little wobbly on her feet after so many beers.
    Chad walked in the bathroom but didn’t shut the door. He walked straight back to the shower, stepped in with his clothes on, head down, as he turned the water on full blast.
    Jennie burst out laughing at the sight of him.
    “Oh my God! Chad, what are you doing?”
    Chad kept his back to her. “Taking a cold shower, Jen.”
    “You’re crazy!”
    Chad raised one hand to waive her off.
    “Nite, Jen. Get some sleep.”
     
     

Chapter Fourteen
    Chad woke with a headache. The cold shower had done little to erase the effects of Jennie’s vibrating panties confession. His dreams had been filled with images of Jennie moaning and squirming underneath his hands. He knew they’d played with fire last night and he’d paid the price for it all night long as he chased Jennie from dream to dream.
    It didn’t help that they’d had too much to drink either. It had started with margaritas at dinner and ended with beers at the villa. Way too many beers. And too much talking. Chad would’ve liked to focus on Jennie’s story about her very special little panties this morning, but his head was stuck on the fact that she was nowhere near over her husband. He had suspected as much, but knowing it for sure seemed to cut deeper somehow. There were no words for how Chad felt about that.
    Maybe his mom was right.