This is insane. It doesn’t seem like it could possibly be real.

Yet here I am. In a tattoo parlor with my legs spread, and a heavily tattooed man is trying to get me off. A guy who, it turns out, I used to go to school with.

I remember Gabriel Irwin as being the kid who never paid attention, and was always in trouble for it. He used to try to distract me, pulling my ponytail and poking me in the back with his pencils.

It used to annoy me since I always wanted to do well at school and be the best student in the class.

Never in a million years did I ever think I’d find myself with him like this.

But the way he’s touching me is unreal. It’s actually the most unreal element of what is happening. Because no one has ever made my body feel so incredible before.

What do I do?

He actually bet me he could make me have an orgasm. And a mind-blowing one. Just like in the books I read.

“Fine, get me off,” I say, huffing.

“You’re taking my bet?” Gabe sounds surprised.

Choosing to ignore the bet comment altogether, I say, “Just do it, if you’re going to.”

“Well I don’t know if I can right now.”

“What?” I exclaim, my back filling with tension.

“You’re overthinking it again. You need to be relaxed.”

“Are you serious?”

“You need to clear your head.”

“See, you’re full of it. You can’t get me off.”

“Only one way to find out.” His mouth forms a half smile.

“So do it, already.” My foot raises and drops in frustration.

“It’s not going to happen now, you’re too worked up.”

I roll my eyes and say, “You can’t just say you’ll do it one second, and then back out the next.”

“I’m not backing out. I’m discussing the timing,” he says, chuckling.

“Is this your way of getting me to go for dinner?”

“It’s my way of making your body feel things you’ve never felt before.”

“That’s what the piercing is supposed to do.”

The piercing was the entire reason I came here. It’s the thing that’s supposed to make me orgasm. Not to be fingered by some random guy who works in a tattoo parlor.

“The piercing is great, but I’m telling you that in your case it’s probably not going to make you get where you want to go.”

“Because I’m uptight,” I snap.

“Your words, not mine.”

If my body wasn’t on fire right now, I’d storm out of here. I’d run away, offended, and forget today ever happened. But Gabe’s fingers still have my clit between them, and there’s no way my body will let me go anywhere.

Even if I did know him when we were kids.

The longer I sit here and let the whole thing run through my mind, the more and more uncomfortable I get. It would be easier if we hadn’t known each other when we were kids.

I wish he hadn’t told me.

Gabe leaves his fingers where they are, and places his other hand on the very top of my thigh. Maybe he’s going to finger me. Shifting my gaze to the ceiling, I brace for it.

There’s a watermark on the ceiling, just to the left of where I’m sitting. I can’t remember if this is a two-story building or not. It must be. I think all the ones around here are.

Whatever’s above here had a leak. I wonder what’s up there. An apartment?

“Jewel, this isn’t going to work.” Gabe’s voice is loud, and I flinch.

“It isn’t?”

“If you really want me to get you off, I’m going to need you to look at me. That way I know you aren’t going off into your daydreams.”

“You had a leak,” I say, pointing up.

Gabe’s eyes follow my hand. “It was my dishwasher.”

“You live upstairs?”

“Yeah, I own the whole building.”

“That’s an easy commute—” Gabe tugs gently on my clit, silencing me.

My head rolls against the chair, loosening my ponytail. Gabe’s looking straight at me. When our eyes connect, his eyes bore into mine, electrifying me.

This is wrong.

This is naughty.

But years of desperation wanting to know what the heroines in my books are feeling keeps me where I am. Though I’m starting to think Gabe’s all talk. Even if my body is buzzing.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Gabe says. “It’ll feel a lot better for you if I use my mouth. My tongue is a lot better than my fingers.”

“I don’t know, your fingers seem pretty competent to me.” As I say the words, my mind races over the possibility of letting him use his mouth on me and the thought makes my heart race.

How far am I willing to go to feel waves of pleasure wash over me?

“I promise you, you’ll be thanking me for the rest of your life.”

The door to the outside bangs and footsteps drag over the tiled floor. Gabe doesn’t react. I remain in place, though I fix my eyes on the entrance to the room.

“That’s Ryan, my business partner. He never picks his fucking feet up when he walks,” Gabe says.

I stiffen, but Gabe continues to roll my clit in his fingers.

A scary-looking bald man with tattoos across the side of his head walks into the back room, and says, “Now that’s what I call working through lunch.”

Gabe yanks his hand away and pulls my skirt down in one quick movement. “Dude, go have another coffee.”

“Can’t. A client’s due in ten minutes, I have to prepare,” Ryan says casually.

“So tell him to fucking wait,” Gabe says.

“Just do the fucking piercing already,” Ryan says.

“Oh God, don’t tell me he knows why I want the piercing,” I say under my breath.

Gabe smirks and I want to wipe the look off his face. “He only knows what you’re getting, not why you want it.”

“I’m getting it again, am I?”

“You were always getting it,” he says, massaging the sides of my calves.

“For fuck’s sake, can’t you two get a room? This is a workplace, I don’t want to see that.”

“Fuck off, I’ve never complained about anything you do,” Gabe says, glaring at him.

“This is too weird, I’m sorry. I have to go.”

I force myself past Gabe and out of the chair.

“No need to rush off,” he says and I ram my feet into my shoes.

“What’s the matter, darling? Did I scare you away?” Ryan says to me.

If I thought Gabe was intimidating, Ryan is downright scary, and I scurry out of the backroom and straight out of the main door. Fumbling for my keys, I open my car and get in.

The situation turned so fast, but maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I got carried away, and Ryan’s arrival brought me back to my senses. Back to the person I actually am instead of the one I was pretending to be for the afternoon.

The entire drive home, all that goes through my brain is what on earth were you thinking?