Marek Outlaw? What are the odds that the one person who pisses her off the most and is her boss was her mystery dream date? This is just her luck, though it’s not actually her fault—it’s Dakota and Tara’s fault. They pushed her into this whole speed-dating-in-the-dark thing. She didn’t want to have anything to do with it, and this is what she has to show for it.

So annoying.

Dammit, she feels incredibly stupid for not realizing it was him in the first place. She spends so much time thinking about how incredibly sexy his voice would sound during sex and yet she was so discombobulated during their speed date the thought never crossed her mind. And, why would it? Marek is a fucking girl’s wet dream come to life, why the hell was he even there in the first place. Women have to be throwing their panties at him on a regular basis. People who look like him, don’t need help in the dating department that’s for sure.

She scoops another cup of flour into the bowl as she works on a new cupcake recipe. As annoying as it sounds, Marek’s drink last night gave her inspiration: Guinness and dark chocolate cupcakes with a caramel whiskey buttercream frosting. Her mouth starts watering just thinking about it. She even came up with a cute name for them: Irish Cake Bombs.

She mindlessly hums along to the song on the radio as she quickly mixes the dry ingredients together. Her bangs fall into her eyes, and she tucks the loose strands behind her ear without missing a beat. She dances along to the song as the singer preaches about wanting to “Feel Good,” getting her body into a rhythm with each sway and mix of the spoon. She gets so lost in what she’s doing that she almost misses it when her phone vibrates across the counter as a new text message comes in. She wipes her flour-covered hand across the bottom of her shirt and picks it up. Surprisingly, a text from Marek is waiting on her screen, and she thinks maybe she should change his name in her contacts. On second thought, maybe she should just delete his number from her phone. That’s probably the smarter plan.

Her heart rate picks up a notch. Too hasty? What does he mean by that? He couldn’t mean he actually wants to give this a try, could he? She quickly combines all the wet and dry ingredients together. While mixing the cupcake batter with one hand, she sends another text with the other.

Her anxiety skyrockets as the familiar three dots pop up, alerting her to the fact that he’s typing a response. Part of her knows this is a bad idea, and she can’t possibly see how it could go well. As it is, they constantly argue at work, and that’s not very stable ground to start a relationship on. On the other hand, that’s how they are at work. Most couples don’t work together because they just can’t, and between the first date and their texting conversations, being with Marek seems right, like they fit together and he could be the one. How do you deny yourself the person who could possibly be your soul mate? The answer is, you don’t. If you only get one perfect person for you in this life, you don’t let anything stand in the way of finding that person.

She again contemplates leaving his name as Mystery Date in her phone but then types his name instead. Something about having his real name pop up on the screen any time a text or phone call comes through feels even more deliciously deceptive, like they could get caught at any moment, and the idea of that thrills her to no end.

Tinley giggles to herself as she puts her phone down and continues mixing the batter. She knew what he meant when he sent that text, but she can’t help but mess with him a little bit. She releases a small squeal when her phone suddenly starts ringing, and Marek’s name pops up on the screen. It’s not something she expected at all. This situation calls for a little extra help, and fortunately, she’s got just the thing. She cracks open the bottle of Jameson sitting in front of her and takes a couple of heavy swigs, which instantly go straight to her head. Ugh. She’s such a lightweight.

She picks up her phone and accepts the call before she questions her own sanity. “H-Hello?”

“I want you to get one thing straight: I never said I wanted to keep you a secret. I only said we should wait and see where things go before we add in the politics from work. I’m not the kind of dick who would hide a relationship, so get that through your head right now. There’s no point in stirring up shit at work if this thing crashes and burns.”

Oh, she can’t just leave that comment be. She chugs another shot of the whiskey down, and this time the intensity is lessened. If anything, she’s just starting to feel warm and good…so good. “So now we’re going to crash and burn? Gee Marek, I’m not sure I want to start something up with you if you’re already planning out how it’s going to end.”

“Fuck, are you drunk right now?”

How can he tell? She’s only had a few sips, not enough to actually do enough damage…right? Her head swims slightly as she looks down at the bottle in front of her. When did that happen? A third of the bottle seems to be missing, and she hasn’t even started making the frosting yet. Oops. Maybe she had a little bit more than she thought. She giggles again and steadies herself against the counter. “I may have enjoyed a bit of the whiskey I’m using to make cupcakes.”

“Whiskey cupcakes? That’s a thing?”

She giggles and realizes she might just be a little drunk after all. “No silly, I’m putting beer in the cupcakes. The whiskey is for the frosting. I’m making Irish Cake Bombs. Let’s just say I had a little inspiration.”

There’s a long pause at the other end, and she almost asks if he’s still there, but then his voice comes over the line. “So you’ve been thinking about me?”

Shit. She didn’t mean to let him know that.

“That’s pretty sexy. I’ve been thinking about you too.”

That statement is enough to sober her up a bit. She stands up straighter and completely forgets about the cupcake fixings in front of her. Her voice cracks a little as she responds, “You have?”

“Mhmm.”

Something about the way his voice hums through the phone gets her all hot and bothered, and thoughts like that make her wonder what else he can do with that mouth of his, what the vibrations would feel like against her body. She collapses against the counter behind her and places her hand over her rapidly beating heart.

“What else have you been thinking about?” she asks boldly as she starts playing with the neckline of her shirt.

“Is that what we’re doing now?”

She runs her hand down her torso, lightly grazing her nipple, and continues down, teasing the hemline of her top. “Maybe? Is that what you want to do right now?”

His breathing comes out a little heavier when he says, “I’d rather our first time having sex be in person, but seeing as I’m currently trapped at home I’d settle for a little phone sex.”

The thrill travels through her body as she teases the hemline of her yoga pants. She runs her hand down the front of the outside and throws her head back and lets out a throaty moan as her fingers graze over her clit.

“Fuck that was sexy. Please tell me you’re touching yourself right now.”

Bringing her hand back up she slips her hand underneath her waistband and on a sigh she replies, “Mhmm.”

She hears his zipper slide down, and her entire body lights up on fire. “Tell me what you’re doing to yourself right now Tinley. I want to hear that sexy mouth say naughty things.” He groans from his end, and she can hear the friction of his hand sliding up and down himself.

She pushes her hand inside of her panties and her finger dances along her nub. She almost screams out as intensity of pleasure shoots through her body. She picks up her speed racing toward a release that she knows won’t take her long at all. As she continues pleasuring herself she pants out, “I—”

“Hey, do you have a bottle of wine open in here? I could really use a drink right now.”

Shit. Without even thinking about it, she quickly rips her phone away from her ear and hits end. She tosses it onto the counter and reaches into the cupboard behind her for a glass. Dakota comes walking into the kitchen as Tinley is downing a glass of cold water.

“Are you okay, you look a little flushed and are you drinking whiskey? Since when do we have the hard stuff?”

Tinley laughs, but it comes out forced. She takes another gulp of water. “I was browsing Pinterest and found a recipe I wanted to recreate, sort of. Irish Cake Bomb cupcakes.”

“Ooh sounds good.” Dakota fills a glass with wine and starts heading out of the kitchen, but then she turns around. “You’ll have to let me know when they’re done.”

Tinley nods and heaves a sigh of relief when her roommate is out of sight. Her phone comes back into view and she quickly sends off a text to Marek. She doesn’t anticipate being able to salvage her impromptu phone sex date, but she needs to at least send an explanation text as to why she suddenly hung up the phone.

She waves her hand in front of her face and finishes off her glass of water. Why does the sound of that turn her on so bad? She’s never been into the whole BDSM thing and she couldn’t finish the popular book that everyone else at work was raving about, but she could get on board with a little naked spanking from Marek. Maybe she has a little kink in her after all?

Is she really going to do this? Is she going to date Marek Outlaw? It sounds like a horrible idea when she puts it like that, and the one person she wants to talk it over with is someone she can’t tell about it. Even if they didn’t work together, Dakota despises Marek and has always said as much, but she can’t let her best friend’s feelings affect her relationships, can she? The thought runs through her mind over and over as she abandons her cupcakes to jump in the shower. She is thoroughly hot and bothered and she has way too much on her mind to even consider trying to finish herself off. No, instead a nice long cold shower is just what she needs. And maybe it’ll help with giving her a little more clarity on the situation. She hopes.