WHEN JAKE ARRIVED, I hoped he couldn’t tell how many times I’d changed. I’d finally settled on something decidedly unsexy—though if he’d gotten here two minutes later, I would’ve been in nicer clothes. But maybe this was best. My sweats and oversized t-shirt might be enough to keep the ‘payment’ from going further than it was supposed to.

Jake greeted me, raising an eyebrow at my attire, but not saying anything. He was dressed casually, too. He wore faded blue jeans, a flannel button down, and a white undershirt underneath. And he still managed to look hot.

He took his toolbox down to the basement. There wasn’t much down there besides old furniture and boxes of his belongings he’d never gotten around to moving out.

He tried lighting the pilot light, just as I had, and then he checked the gas valve. I didn’t tell him I’d tried both those things.

“This may be a while, in case you have something else you need to do,” he said as he crouched down by the base of the water heater. Then he looked up at me over his shoulder. “Like trimming your nails or moisturizing your hands.”

I threw him a nasty look that may or may not have distracted him from the blush I knew was forming across my face. It wasn’t fair that redheads with light skin couldn’t hide things like that.

I went upstairs and moved nervously from task to task, never quite settling on one. I straightened the throw pillows on the couch. I dusted. I threw out old magazines. Then I curled up on the couch with a book. I couldn’t focus enough to read it, but I had it nearby in case Jake suddenly appeared.

Half an hour later, I heard him coming up the stairs. I picked up the book, opened it, and hastily checked to make sure I was holding it right side up.

“All fixed,” he said. “You should have some hot water in half an hour.”

“Thanks, Jake. I really appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it. Your payment is thanks enough.”

I rolled my eyes. My eyeballs sure got a workout when he was around. “What, no small talk first?”

“This is a business transaction, Red, not a first date. So why don't you go change?”

I looked up at him in alarm. “It’s only a hand job.”

He grinned. “I’m well aware. But those sweats, that tee—I don’t want an orgasm administered by someone dressed like my old Uncle Bob.”

“You don’t have an Uncle Bob.”

“You got me. But what would it hurt to change into something nice?”

He words were reasonable, but he was using a sexy, commanding tone that always got to me. And his deep blue eyes were staring me down, making rational thought leave my brain. “All right,” I said. “Wait here.”

"Okay,” he said, following me into the bedroom.

I gritted my teeth and slid open my closet door, trying to choose from the outfits I’d tried on earlier. A noise made me turn. Jake was rooting around my dresser drawer, the one where I kept my lingerie. “Get out of there!”

He took another moment and then turned, his hands full of silky emerald green. “Will you wear this?”

Still irritated, I snatched it from him. He had a lot of nerve. But I softened when I saw what he’d picked. It was a teddy with a matching robe that he’d bought me just before we’d broken up. I’d never actually gotten to wear it for him. After our last big fight, I’d shoved it into the drawer and hadn’t given it much thought since. I doubted I’d even opened that drawer since he left.

“When I bought it, I thought it would go so well with your hair. I know we’re not together anymore, but I’d really like to see you in it once. Please?”

I stared at him for a long moment and then nodded.

When I emerged from the bathroom, the bedroom was nearly dark. Jake had lit two candles, one on each nightstand on either side of the bed. “As you said earlier, this isn’t a date,” I informed him.

“I know,” he said. “But I figured you’d feel more comfortable with the lights off.”

Oh. Well, yeah, maybe. "Okay,” I said.

“Thanks for wearing that. You look beautiful.”

I’d put on the robe, but I hadn't tied it. Aside from the plunging neckline, the teddy kept me fairly covered from my chest to the tops of my thighs which was good because the matching panties were little more than two small triangles attached by strings.

I moved to my side of the bed. He was already at his. How easy it was to fall into old patterns.

Jake kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed, on top of the covers. He put two pillows under his head and laid on his back, looking up at me. He patted the space next to him with his right hand.

Gingerly, I climbed onto to the bed, sitting next to him awkwardly. I looked at the fly of the jeans. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure I could do this.

“Relax, Fiona. Just lay here next to me for me a while.”

Since the alternative was to be bold enough to unzip his fly, I did what he asked. I lowered myself down next to him, my body facing him. His arm went around me, and we fit perfectly in that very familiar position. I’d laid at his side like this countless times, his arm around me, my hand on his chest. We’d often talked well into the night in this position—though most of those times those intimate conversations had turned into hot sex.

“Just relax,” Jake said again. His head shifted, and I felt his lips brush the top of my head. It wasn’t a kiss, not really. Just slight pressure that made me feel wanted. Safe. Cherished. Or at least it used to make me feel that way. Now I had to actively remind myself that he was not mine, and I was not his.

“Do you remember when we bought this bed?” he asked.

I did. I’d had an old double bed when Jake first started sleeping over. It’d been rather cramped. When he’d moved in with me, we’d celebrated by purchasing a queen-sized bed together. It had been hell on earth to get into the bedroom, but it had been worth it.

“Yeah.” I smiled against his chest. “Remember how much Mike cursed when he helped us move it in?”

“I remember you blushing for two solid hours.”

“That’s because you kept teasing me about what you were going to do to me as soon as Mike left. By the end, even he was blushing.”

“Sorry,” Jake said, not sounding sorry at all. “I couldn’t wait to get you alone on that bed. On this bed.”

I looked up at him, my hand settling on his chest. “You always did like to make me blush.”

“It was just so easy to do,” Jake said. “In public, all I had to do was look at you, and you’d turn red.”

“That’s because I knew you were thinking naughty thoughts,” I protested.

“It wasn’t always just me. Remember that bar downtown with the pool table in the back? How you squirmed with embarrassment the entire time we were there? I thought you’d caught poison ivy until I got you back home and tortured the truth out of you.”

I buried my face in his shirt. I couldn’t believe he’d brought that up. We’d been at a bar, and Jake had looked so hot in his leather jacket, tight black jeans, a deep blue shirt that brought out the color in his eyes. We’d gone into a back room to play pool, and I’d started fantasizing about Jake taking me right there on the pool table. I didn’t want anything like that to happen for real, not in public, but the thought took hold of me and got me all hot and bothered. When Jake took me home, he’d tickled me until I told him my fantasy. Then we’d had incredible sex that had been fantasy-worthy in its own right.

“Tell me that fantasy again.”

Now I brought my head up to look at him. He couldn’t be serious. It’d been embarrassing enough to tell him when we’d been together. I couldn’t talk about it again. Not in a candlelit room on a bed we used to share. “I can’t do that.”

“It’s just a fantasy, Red. I know it doesn’t mean that you’d actually want to do that in a public place. I know it doesn’t mean that we’re together. But tell it to me anyway.”

He met my eyes, and I held his gaze, even though part of me wanted to curl up in his shirt again. “Please,” he said.

“All right,” I said. If I were being honest—not that I planned to be with him—I’d felt my panties dampen the moment he first mentioned that bar. It had been a sports bar, but an older one. As there were no big games on that night, there’d been a small crowd. It had been a Tuesday. I’d gotten bored watching whatever ballgame was on TV and wandered to the back room. When I saw the pool table, I pulled Jake away from the big screen, ordered us two fresh beers, and made him play pool with me.

That’s what really happened. But as soon as we were in the back room, my brain started going in naughty directions. We could still hear the guys from the main room, and for some reason I kept thinking how wicked it would feel if we were misbehaving and no one up front knew about it. The whole time we played pool, I kept adding details to the fantasy, getting more and more turned on. Consequently, I lost every game in a spectacular fashion. Not that I’d cared.

"Okay,” I said, closing my eyes. “We went in the back room with our beers. We played one game, teasing each other, flirting with each other. We felt safe being naughty in public because no one could see the pool table unless they poked their heads in the door. So we knew we probably wouldn’t be seen, and we got bolder.”

I was moving my hand in circles across his chest now. His flannel shirt had fallen open, and I could feel his warm skin through his undershirt. His arm was still around me, and his fingers were tracing matching circles on my arm.

“I was wearing a button-down white shirt, tied under my breasts, and a short skirt,” I continued.

“Wait, weren’t you wearing—”

I put my finger up to his lips. “It’s a fantasy, Jake.”

“Right,” he grinned. “Go on.”

“And you were looking at me so hungrily that I couldn’t help teasing you. Leaning over to take a shot, letting you see the red lace bra I had on. Arching my back so my little skirt barely covered my panties. I remember you coming up behind me, pressing against me as I sunk the eight ball in the corner pocket.”

“Only way you’d ever beat me in pool is in a fantasy,” Jake chuckled.

Absentmindedly, I slipped my hand lower, rubbing over his abs above his jeans. “Do you want to hear what happens next or not?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” he said, pressing his hips up against my hand.

“You asked me if I wanted to keep playing, and I said yes. But then you grabbed me around the waist and lifted me onto the edge of the table, and I knew that you had a different kind of playing in mind.

“We’d never done anything like that in public, and I was scared we’d get caught, but at the same time, I was excited. Excited to know that at any moment, someone might come in. Then I felt your hands on my thighs as you spread my knees apart and stepped between them, pressing against me, holding me. And then kissing me.”

My fingers were at his waist now, trying to undo his belt buckle. His free hand joined mine, deftly unfastening the belt while I worked at the button and zipper.

“You had one hand in my hair, squeezing handfuls of it as you kissed me deeply. Then your other hand snaked between our bodies and untied the knot of my shirt. I wrapped my arms and legs around your torso, pulling you in closer.”

My fingers slipped into the slit in his boxers now, finding his hardening length. He groaned with pleasure. I looked up at his face. He had his eyes closed, which made it easier.

“You left my shirt open but on. You pulled the cups of my bra down under my breasts, pushing them up. Then you leaned forward, put one hand behind my back, and lowered me onto the table. You climbed on top of me, hovering over me, kissing down my neck, and then to one of my trapped breasts.”

I eased his cock out now, and it was fully erect. I began stroking it the way he’d always liked.

“You moved your mouth to my nipple, and it felt so good. I wanted to cry out, but I was afraid someone from up front would hear. We could hear them, hear the noise from several different games on TV, hear the clink of glasses, hear the cheers of fans.”

“Shit, that’s so fucking hot,” Jake murmured.

I kept stroking as I talked, and now I felt his free hand touch tentatively at the front of my teddy. He rubbed lightly across my breast, teasing my nipple when he found it.

“Your mouth kept moving from one breast to the other, while your hand moved down my body, teasing, tweaking, pinching as you went. When you reached my center, you found that my panties were drenched,” I said, knowing they were soaked right now, too.

Jake’s thumb and forefinger closed around my nipple, and I gasped but kept rubbing his cock. I slid my fingers up and down his shaft, over the sensitive head, and back down again, twisting my hand lightly as I did so. I also wrapped my bare leg around his jeans-clad one, loving the feeling of his firm thigh pressed up against my core.

“You roughly pulled aside my panties, and then you pushed two fingers inside me. I wasn’t expecting that so soon, and I shrieked. We both froze, waiting to see if someone was going to come investigate the noise. But when no one did, you started pumping your fingers in and out of me. It felt so damn good.”

I increased the tempo of my hand, knowing that Jake was getting close. His breathing was labored, I could feel his chest rising and falling next to me. He was still stroking my breast, and that had me breathing pretty hard, too.

“Tell me how it ends,” he said, his voice strained.

“You keep plunging your fingers into me,” I said, recognizing that I’d started narrating the events as if they were actually happening right now. “You’re getting me close, but then you stop and climb off the table. And I can see you panting, staring at me hungrily, and I know you’re deciding how to take me, and that thought drives me wild. A second later, you grab my hips and pull me toward the edge of the table. You flip my skirt up and rip my panties off.”

I was speaking very quickly now, and stroking his cock even faster. I knew he was very close, and I wanted to push him over the edge. “My legs are dangling off the edge, so you put one, then the other, on your shoulders. You yank on my hips so that my ass is slightly past the edge of the table. And just when I think you’re about to take me, your gaze settles on something past my shoulder. I panic, thinking that someone has entered the room, but no, your eyes have fallen on the pool cue one of us left on the table.

“Quick as a flash, you slide it between our bodies, bring it up under my knees. Holding it in both hands, you use it to push my legs forward, forcing my knees to either side of my breasts, bringing me into the perfect position for you. And it feels so slutty, being practically bent in half, open for you, waiting for you, wanting you to fill me with your hot, hard—”

Jake came with a loud groan, his cock spasming in my hand. I kept a firm grasp on it as he came, listening to the harsh noises he was making, loving that I was the one who made him come that hard.

He could barely catch his breath. “Fuck,” he panted. “Fuck that was good.”

After a few moments, he leaned toward the nightstand on his side, where I kept a box of tissues. He mopped himself up, cleaning my hand, too.

“That was so fucking good, Fiona.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” I whispered, snuggling against him, my leg still wrapped around his. I’d enjoyed it, too, and couldn’t help rubbing myself against the rough denim on his thigh.

He kissed the top of my head and said, "Okay, your turn.”

What? “That wasn’t part of the plan.”

“It was always part of my plan.”

“We had an agreement. This was just payment for the home repairs.”

“But you overpaid, babe. Telling me that fantasy, making me come so hard. You overpaid, so now I have to give you your change.” He shifted our positions, rolling me so I was on my back and he was on his side, leaning over me. His hand grazed down my stomach, moving to the edge of the teddy.

His touch felt amazing and sent tingles to every part of my body. But it was wrong. This wasn’t part of the deal. This was something more, and I’d already vowed that we shouldn’t do more. Not unless we were a couple again.

I grabbed his wrist, stopping his progress. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” he said. “You want this. You’re still trembling. You’re still breathing hard. You want release. Let me give it to you.”

“It’s just too—it’s too intimate for people who are no longer together. You touching me down there is too … personal.”

“I know you, Red. I know that look in your eyes. You need to come.”

“Not like this,” I said. Everything he’d said was true, but I knew I was in dangerous territory here. It was one thing, trying to make him come. That’d been part of our deal. This—if he touched me now, the way he had in the fantasy, it would mean something. To me, anyway. And the fact that it wouldn’t to him was a big part of the problem.

“Please, Jake. Not like this. It’s too intimate.” It probably didn’t help my case that my nipples were still rock hard and poking up against the slinky fabric of the teddy.

Looking deep into my eyes, he finally nodded and moved his hand off my stomach. “All right, not like this,” he said. Then he rolled on top of me. “So we’ll do it like this.”

I shrieked at the sudden feel of his weight on me. Half of me wanted to push him away, the other half wanted to wrap my legs around his waist and guide him into me. But before I could do either, he reached out and opened the drawer on my nightstand. A moment later, his hand emerged clutching my vibrator.

Shit. I’d forgotten he knew about that.

He slid back across me and put a finger to my lips when I protested. “This isn’t intimate. This isn’t personal. This is just the change I owe you,” he said, turning it on and running it between my breasts and down to my belly.

“Wait, Jake—”

“So where were we?” he asked, speaking over me. “Oh yeah. I’d just pinned you to the pool table, laying the cue across the backs of your thighs, pressing your legs up against your chest, opening you for me. Great visual, by the way,” he said, as he teased the buzzing vibrator past my navel and lower.

“You’re lying there waiting for my cock. The look on your face gets me even harder. You know how naughty it is to do that right there, in public. You know that at any moment, someone could come in. Maybe a couple of guys might decide they want to play pool. Imagine how it would feel if they saw you like that, your boobs hanging out of your shirt, your body bent in half, your eyes pleading with me to fuck you and fuck you hard. They’d think you were such a horny little slut.”

As he said that last word, he teased the tip of the vibrator around the edge of my panties and slipped it under the elastic. A moment later, it brushed against my clit, and I let out a soft cry.

“But no one comes. I hold the pool cue with both hands, pressing your legs back even further, getting you in the perfect position to take my cock. And I line myself up, brushing against your soft lips, even as I lean forward, staring into your eyes. I want to see your face as I fill you. See your face as I make you mine.”

He moved the vibrator in circles around my clit as I squirmed. I needed him to hold it still, to press it harder against me. And I needed him to keep saying such hot things to me.

“And then … I push my rock-hard cock all the way into you, balls deep, filling you completely.” As he said this, he zeroed the vibrator in on my clit and kicked it up a notch. His free hand was back at my nipples, squeezing, pinching.

“I hold myself all the way inside you, my body pinning you down, and you are mine, and you beg me, plead with me to pound into you. And I do, drawing almost all the way out and slamming into you.”

I was writhing against his body now, so close to coming, the vibrations so intense on my clit and his hot, hot words in my ear. I squirmed around so much that he used his free hand to grab a handful of my hair, pinning me to the bed, making me think of the way he was pinning me to the pool table in the fantasy. I was so close.

“And I thrust in and out, making your boobs shake, making you pant, making you moan, making your head thrash from side to side. You plead ‘harder, harder, take me harder.’ You don’t care if anyone hears. You don’t care if anyone comes in. You just want my cock. You want me. You want me deep inside of you.”

Oh god, I was going to come. I could feel it. My legs were shaking, and every muscle in my body was clenched. Just a few more seconds …

“I go harder and faster, pounding into you, absolutely pounding the shit out of you, and still, you beg me for more, beg me to fuck you harder, beg me to come inside you. I let go of the pool cue and grab you by the hips, yanking you all the way onto me, holding you tight as I come inside of you. And I look into your eyes, and I tell you to come … right … now!” He smashed the vibrator almost painfully against my clit and lowered his head, finding my nipple and biting it.

I exploded, my hips bucking off the bed, my upper body flailing about, so much so that he immediately let my nipple slide out from between his teeth. “That’s right, Fiona. Come for me. Come hard.”

Shocks radiated through my whole body and suddenly the vibrator was too much. “Please,” I panted, and Jake understood and eased it away from me.

“Mmm,” I moaned, trying to get my breathing under control. But aftershocks kept hitting me, making my body writhe next to his.

Jake tossed the vibrator on the bed beside me and rested his hand under my breasts, feeling my chest rise and fall. Eventually, I calmed down enough to form coherent sentences again—possibly. But now I wasn’t sure what to say. So, I allowed myself to be still for a few minutes, enjoying the heat from his body next to mine, enjoying the feeling of his hand resting possessively on my stomach.

Unlike me, Jake was never at a loss for words for very long. “So,” he said when I’d stilled. “My turn again?”

I laughed, grateful that he’d made a joke. That made it a little less awkward. And a little easier.