I woke to the chirp of my cell phone. I didn’t need my alarm ninety percent of the time, but I set it so I wouldn’t spend too much time in my workshop before opening the cafe.

But instead of my cool microfiber sheets under my cheek, it was the nubby fabric of my throw blanket. My back screamed from the hole I’d put myself in during sleep last night. I struggled out of the depths of my couch and winced at my state of undress. At least I had a shirt on. Not that I’d had one on when I fell asleep.

My eyes widened. I’d fallen asleep with Hudson in my house.

I rolled to an upright position and swung my feet to the floor. My legs were still bare, and my panties intact.

I would have remembered if he’d gotten me out of those. I hadn’t drunk that much wine. Things got hazy after the…well, the orgasm. Hudson had been right. I’d never had a real orgasm before.

And definitely never at my own hand.

My face flushed at the memory. The stupid alarm finally dented my brain again. I hauled myself up and across the room to where my jeans had landed. I found my phone and shut off the alarm, then slung them over my shoulder as I went around the room finding other pieces I’d been wearing last night. I glanced down. I definitely hadn’t gone to bed in my angry kitten shirt.

I frowned, but spotted my laundry basket on the chair in the corner. Something was draped on the chair behind it. Probably an apron. God, my messy housekeeping had been on full display.

He’d put a new shirt on me, but had left the rest of what I’d been wearing on the floor. Was it that hard to look at my boobs? He’d certainly seemed to enjoy them last night.

I wiped my hand over my face. I couldn’t think about that. Not if I wanted to have a semi-productive day.

I brought my clothes to my laundry room off the side of the kitchen, then stopped into the kitchen to start some water for coffee. My tin of hickory coffee was in the center of the island and my Aeropress was in the drainer. He just couldn’t resist.

Next to the tin I noticed my notebook was open to a fresh page. Hudson’s bold handwriting filled the page.

Kitten,

I would have stayed for coffee, but got a reminder on my calendar that we were heading out today to do some promo in SF for a charity benefit we’re doing next month.

I totally stole a thermos from your cabinet. Your coffee is as incredible as you are.

I’ll be out of pocket for a few days.

Keep your phone on. Lesson two commences today.

H

My heart raced so loud the room faded away as I reread the letter three times. I could count the number of times I’d gotten a note from a man on one hand.

Actually, I could count it on one finger.

Hudson.

I pulled the press out of the drain and set my kettle to boil as I grabbed a quick shower. I didn’t have time to do my hair, so I shoved it up in a messy bun and took a three-minute shower. I ignored the twinge between my thighs and tried not to freak out at the scruff burn on my neck.

God. I couldn’t exactly wear a scarf around my neck. Everyone would know. Maybe if I left part of my hair down, I wouldn’t attract attention.

The kettle whistled while I was hopping my way into jeans. Damn Levi and his pastries. I jammed my feet into flats and shrugged into a lightweight cardigan as I ran back into the kitchen.

The Aeropress was good in a pinch until I got home and could use my gear. And because I was a glutton for punishment, I made the hickory coffee that Hudson preferred.

Sap.

My phone buzzed and I raced to get it. Disappointment crashed when it was Tabs instead of Hudson. We carpooled into work most mornings.

Cripes, he was working. I couldn't get wound up about him. That was beyond stupid. I took down one of my travel mugs and filled it to the brim. I added a cinnamon stick and a healthy spoonful of raw sugar before capping it, then I grabbed my keys. No bag since I’d left the store with pretty much my phone and nothing else.

Again, so not like me.

I met her at the end of my street and slid into her little hatchback. “Hi.”

She sat behind the wheel, her auburn hair piled artfully on top of her head whereas mind looked like a two-year-old had just learned how to use a rubber band. “I’m not moving this car until you tell me what happened.”

“Nothing happened.”

“That scruff burn on your neck says otherwise.”

I pulled forward the layer of hair I’d left down. “That’s nothing.”

“Uh huh.”

A horn blared from behind us. “Can we just get moving?”

“Nope. Not moving until you spill it.”

I clicked my seatbelt into place and crossed my arms. “Nothing. To. Tell.”

She simply arched her perfect brow.

“Nothing you would count as anything. How’s that?”

“Now I’m even more intrigued.” She stomped the clutch and released the break as she zipped into traffic.

I grabbed the door. Some days I wondered why I went with Tabs. She was a maniac. Then again, I hated parking and driving in the city, so I guess taking my life in my hands daily was my tradeoff.

Tabs lifted my mug to her mouth.

“Hey.”

“Man, that’s good stuff.”

“I know. I’d like to drink it.”

“Your boyfriend’s penchant for the heavy coffee is rubbing off.”

“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a friend.”

“A friend that is trying to get to know your tonsils?”

I frowned. “No, actually.”

“No? You have rugburn on your neck and you haven’t Frenched him?”

“We’ve barely kissed. Okay, we have, but let’s just say he hasn’t kissed me first.” And that was a fundamental detail, considering how the kisses I instigated tended to go.

“Oh, Piper. Now you have to tell me everything.”

I scrunched down in my seat, my fingers wrapped around my phone. I wasn’t sure how that had happened, but we hadn’t actually kissed yet. In fact, the only parts of me he’d touched so far were my breasts and, um, my hands.

He really liked to hold my hand.

Or at least he said he did while he was teaching me how to not flinch away from simple handholding. God, I was such a freak. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t held hands with a guy before. I’d done it plenty in high school when everyone else had.

Otherwise, I’d been perfectly fine with maintaining my space. I’d never been a clingy sort. And yet last night had happened. Me falling asleep in Hudson’s lap. Sometime in the night we’d ended up curled on the couch together, but the details were fuzzy.

Exhaustion from a streak of working double shifts, then the mother of all orgasms had been better than any sleeping aid on the market.

“Guess he kissed other places instead. At least according to that smile.”

I pressed my lips together before clearing my throat. “We have a very unorthodox thing going on.”

“You’re telling me. I heard the lessons thing in the conversation. At least snatches of it.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, well, I have non-existent game. Hudson’s sort of teaching me how to have some.”

“You’re very weird.”

“You wouldn’t know what it’s like.”

“Me? I live in the land of the beautiful. I know how to fake it really well.”

“You’re gorgeous.” I smoothed my hand over the bumps of my scraped back hair. “I’m a mess.”

“You’re not a mess. You just don’t make girl things a priority. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Yeah, except that men looked through me as if I was Plexiglas. And about as interesting as it too. “Hudson seems to find me intriguing enough.”

“Yeah, he does.”

I glanced at her. “You really think so?”

Tabs laughed. “Honey, if nothing else, he finds you to be a challenge and that’s the best space to be in right now. Just don’t make everything easy for him. And most of all—” She broke off and revved the engine as she spotted a parking spot on the street. In a flash, she snaked her way into the spot with her little sporty car. She cranked the emergency break and turned to me. “Have fun.”

I got out of the little white car and followed Tabitha up the street to the cafe. “Easy for you to say.”

“Easy for anyone to say. Hey, you have one of the hottest rockstars in the world all up in your business. Enjoy it.”

I unlocked the front gate and lifted it to open the front doors wide. The padding footsteps of a half dozen felines greeted me as I opened the back room and went to the food bins for the cats.

Three of the shop cats leaped up on the feeding station. Rosie sat up on her perch in the highest cubby. Her tail twitched in silent reproach.

“I’m sorry.” I took her favorite treats out of her locker. “I didn’t mean to leave you here last night.” I climbed up on the ramp and perched on another of the cat cubbies to her left. “I thought I’d be back after dinner.” I settled a few treats in front of her. “Forgive me?”

Her tail swished twice before she finally lowered her head to eat, then she bumped her head against my hand.

“There we go.” I jumped down then stroked my hand down Hank’s back. “Hi, buddy.” He wasn’t nearly as particular as his sister. He twined around my ankles with a purr, then both Abyssinians followed me to their food dishes.

Tabitha had already started the various coffees for the carafes we kept on hand. Most drinks were made to order, but we had a few people who liked regular coffee.

By the time we were halfway through prep for the day, Maya decided to come out for her food just as Levi came over with the day’s bakery items.

“Morning, gorgeous ladies.” He held three boxes with a sack on top.

Tabitha leaned on the counter. “Whatcha got there, Levi?”

He set the boxes down with a flourish. “Your usual suspects. Cupcakes in one, fritters in the others.”

I groaned. Seriously, my jeans weren’t going to fit by the end of the day. They were already pinching off circulation.

“And in the bag?”

“Ah, the bag. That’s a special little test. I figured I could try out a new morning treat on my favorite ladies.”

Tabs rolled her eyes. “Laying it on a little thick.”

Levi straightened. “I’ve been fighting with my sous vide all damn morning.”

“Oh?”

He reached into the bag and brought out two wrapped packages. He set one in front of each of us. We both tore it open and found flaky croissants. Except instead of the usual crescent shape, they were square and the buttery scent fairly knocked me over.

“Oh, no.” Inside the sandwich was a finely cooked egg with thick cut bacon wrapped around it and a crust of sharp cheese.

Tabitha had no such problem with the masterpiece. She instantly picked it up and bit into it. The egg was just slightly soft and her eyes rolled back into her head. “Yeah. You can make me one of these every day.” She took another bite and spoke around the food. “Every hour.”

Levi was practically preening.

My stomach roared at the scent and I lifted it for a bite. I could feel my ass expanding with each blissful bite. “Can I make an order for these?”

He nodded. “We’ll write up a menu?”

“Definitely. You are evil incarnate.”

He grinned and tucked a golden curl over his ear. “Some asshole opened up a cupcake shop across the street and now I have to bring my A-game.”

I popped the last bit of the pastry in my mouth and held up my hand to finish chewing. “Rainbow Sprinkles?”

“Yes, I thought it was just going to be a fluff outfit with overly sweet cupcakes, but it’s run by these two guys. They’re partners in every sense of the word and have cornered the market on the cute guy and Instagram love fest. It’s disgusting.”

I laughed. “Everyone tries to find a gimmick. Yourself included, Jewish-Mexican boy.”

He waved it off. “I had to find something to get people in the doors. I can’t compete with romance and sugar, for fuck’s sake.”

“Well, you did it.”

He gave me a smug smile. “I sure did.” He stood up straight. “Thanks for being my guinea pig. And if that rockstar of yours comes in, make sure you get a picture of him eating one.”

“I’m not giving you shameless promotion via Hudson’s social media.”

“Come on. If you’re hooking up with the dude, at least get something out of it.”

“Who's says I’m hooking up with him?”

“The beard burn on your neck and your relaxed shoulders.” He snatched the empty bag and his thermos of coffee Tabs had brewed. “I can always tell when a woman has had a good night. Too bad I wasn’t the one giving it to you.” He winked and headed to his side of the building. “I’ll be back with the afternoon order.”

I gaped after him. What the hell had that meant? Too bad…him? Levi and me?

“You’re smoking over there, Piper.”

If my eyes got any wider, they’d probably pop out of my head. “Did you hear him?”

“Of course, I did. Levi has been looking for an angle to get into your pants for six months.”

My mouth dropped open. “How did I not know this?” I swore under my breath as the first of our customers came through the door. “We will discuss this later,” I said out of the side of my mouth as I smiled and took an order from the trio of women.

I didn’t have time to look up again until it was almost eleven o’clock. I may have told Levi I wouldn’t use my…whatever it was with Hudson to my financial gain, but all it had taken was a bit of talk and a mention of my shop and we’d doubled our foot traffic after Callie’s baby shower.

The good thing was I had half a dozen people interested in adopting a litter of kittens I’d been watching for Love and Paws. They were out and about and being all sorts of cute in the cat room today.

Hank and Rosie were being their usual acrobatic selves and my phone was lighting up from tags of the shop on social media.

What it wasn’t doing? Showing a text from Hudson.

I knew he was working and I couldn’t expect him to actually text me like he said he would. Maybe later tonight when his and my day were over.

Didn’t stop me from checking my damn phone fourteen times.

Luckily, most of them were because of a notification from Instagram so I didn’t look like a demented, lovesick idiot.

Maybe I should have set his phone to a ringtone. My phone buzzed again and Tabitha just smirked.

No. Definitely not on the ringtone. Then she’d know if it was him texting me for sure. Or not.

Oh God, I was being ridiculous. I needed a cat infusion. “I’m heading in back to collect dishes.”

“Sure. Don’t forget your phone.”

And because she said that, I left it on the counter and stalked into the cat room. Rosie and Hank were mid battle as I walked in. That wasn’t unusual. The fact that Maya was in on the fray, however, was.

“Hey!”

My voice was enough to distract Hank. Which gave Maya the in she needed. She rolled into him and took him out flat. Rosie arched away in one of her crazy acrobatics and landed on one of the protruding cubby stations along the wall.

I swore she was a reincarnated ninja.

Hank raced for me and climbed my jeans until I snuggled him up against my chest. “Hey, buddy. What’s going on in here?” Hank only purred and tried to climb onto my shoulder.

Maya turned away and started cleaning her paw.

I glanced up at Hank. “I know there’s trickery afoot here, but I don’t know why. Please don’t kill Maya.” Hank’s reply was an even louder purr. “Mmm-hmm. Charmer.” I scratched the top of his head and dumped him into the cubby next to his sister.

The back wasn’t quite as trashed as I thought. Our second string of help had come in around nine and they were very good at keeping the place picked up, even with a line out to the street and the cat enclosure packed.

I stacked cups and plates and put them on the table by the door. I needed a second to just breathe. I collapsed onto one of the couches and tipped my head back. A furry butt landed on my lap. I opened my eyes to find Maya calmly washing herself as she perched on me. Since that never happened, I sat very still.

“Hi.”

She turned baleful blue eyes on me as she licked her paw and coasted it over her ear. And she definitely didn’t have an inkling to move faster. I lifted my hand to the side of her neck, but her tail twitched and her eyes narrowed.

Nope.

Evidently, I was good for furniture and that was about it. By the time she got to washing her back, I was done. She dug her nails in, but I picked up her squirming little body and narrowly missed losing a finger.

Tabitha came in with wide eyes. “Maya let you pick her up?”

“No. Definitely not.” I didn’t have it in me to explain. “What’s up?”

“I’m heading out for lunch. Want anything?”

“What are you getting?”

“Tacos.”

“Oh, bless you. Yes, I’ll have my usual. Take money out of the tip jar.”

“Perfect. Be back in a few.” She paused at the door. “Your phone buzzed by the way.”

My heart rate skittered. “It’s been buzzing all day. Instagram is crazy.”

“Yes, but there may have been little green text bubbles.” She held up her hands. “I didn’t look. Much.”

I rolled my eyes. “Go.”

“He has perfect punctuation in his texts. That’s unreasonably hot.”

“Go!”

“Going!” She closed the door just before Maya slipped around her feet.

I pointed at the cat. “No, ma’am.”

She leaped onto the overstuffed chair and sat up straight, then curled her tail around her feet, the tip twitching.

“Don’t even think about attacking, you little heathen. Or pulling a Houdini.” I collected the dishes and sneaked out before she could make a move to escape.

I told myself I wasn’t rushing to my phone, but that was a lie.

Because I’m a masochist, I forced myself to load the dishwasher before I checked my cell. And a basketball team’s worth of people came in for orders just as I was picking it up.

I huffed out a breath and tucked my phone into my hip pocket. Little pulses came from it as I was grinding beans and building espresso shots and lattes. Another three pulses came through as I was trying to make one of my designs on a flat white.

It had to be Instagram.

Not him.

Nope.

Couldn’t be.

As I was waiting for the credit card machine to go through, I sneaked a glance at the cell screen and sweet mercy. They were all from him.

I quickly flicked through the dozen texts. The last one made me blush enough that I had to put it away.

The girl in front of me flashed a smile. “Must have been some text.”

I cleared my throat. “He thinks he’s funny. I’ll reply to him in a few minutes to disabuse him of that fact.”

The customer let out a delighted laugh. “That’s right, girl. You make him work for it.”

My lips twitched, but I didn’t answer her. “Thanks for coming in.”

She dropped a five in the tip jar. “I’ve been coming in for months and have never seen a smile like that on your face. Make sure you text him back.”

I frowned, but the customer was already heading out the door.

What did that mean? And how did she remember me when I didn’t remember her at all? I was usually good at knowing my regulars.

Ten minutes later, Tabs sailed behind the counter with a white bag. “Go eat.”

“I’ll just…” I glanced at the line that never seemed to end.

“Me and Jen have it covered. Go eat before they’re stone cold.”

“Are you sure?”

“I ate mine in the car. I’ve got this.”

I huffed out a breath, but I was starving enough to take her up on her offer. And dammit, I wanted to read the texts. I headed to the small break area in the back and collapsed on one of the plastic chairs.

I unwrapped one of the soft tacos and took a bite as I unlocked my phone.

Sorry I had to run out this morning. Totally forgot about the flight I had. I much prefer your coffee. I don’t make it right. Tasted only half as good.

Zach snores. I’ve never really contemplated murder when it comes to my bandmates before. Okay, that’s a lie. I almost drowned Reed last month.

I just realized that I spent the entire night with you and I know the taste of your pussy, but not your mouth when I’m in charge of the kiss and it’s a little less…toothy. That will need to be rectified. Lesson three?

I nearly choked on the last bite of my taco. Lord. And what about lesson two? Or had my orgasm been the second lesson? Touch then orgasm? I thumbed to the next text.

Lesson two has not been forgotten.

I snorted and continued reading.

In fact, I’m going to start it right now. I’ll need your cooperation or this is going to be a long day of boredom for me.

Since you’re not answering, I’m going to take that as a yes. Either that or you’ll have to block my number. Are you making my delicious coffee? I’ve been dreaming about it. Oh, and your legs wrapped around my head. Was a good daydream. Much more interesting than the radio interview I’m sitting through.

Lesson two is starting now. Do you need to hide your phone? Have you already hidden it? Is it in your bra? I think I like the idea that my pervy texts will be nestled there.

Oh, did I not mention what lesson two was? Sexting.

I choked on the next taco as that text came in while I was reading. I didn’t know how to sext. I didn’t even know what went into it. And evidently, I shouldn’t be eating tacos as I was reading his texts.

I nibbled on my lip as I formulated an answer in my head, then tapped back a response.

Sorry. I was working and just now picked up my phone. You might want to see someone about your murderous intent. I don’t think Reed deserves your ire.

I hit enter and started the next text but he was already replying. I tried racing the little bubbles at the bottom of my screen, but he’d already gotten one through.

Reed deserves everyone’s ire. Are you twisting your hair as you try to figure out how to reply about sexting? Or are you nibbling on that delectable mouth of yours?

I pressed my lips together. What? Did he have FaceTime on? I didn’t bite on my lips that much. Did I? And did I read that right? I read the text again. Yeah, he said delectable. I’m pretty sure no one ever said delectable about any part of me before. I moved my cursor up to the top of my text and added an extra line to my reply.

I’ve never sexted before, thank you very much. But I’m all for new experiences. Are you doing this with everyone around you?

He replied almost instantaneously. Dude must have seriously fast fingers.

That put a whole deluge of thoughts in my head. Those fingers had felt amazing last night. But he hadn’t been hurried. In fact, he’d made sure to string out every tug, pull, and twist of my nipples until I’d been nearly insane.

And there was no hope for me if I thought about that again. I’d successfully stuffed that memory to the back of my head as I worked. But as if I’d given my brain permission to relive it, my skin tingled and my panties grew soaked.

I’d never had that problem before. At least never like this. Getting a little hot under the collar when Jason Statham did pull ups in a movie was a lot different than what happened with Hudson.

“You okay back here?”

I pressed my phone to my chest. “What?”

Tabitha crossed her arms and leaned on the doorjamb. “Dirty texts?”

“No.” But my voice must have been too sharp because she tipped her head back and laughed.

“It’s normal. Just tell him to warn you before he sends snaps of his junk.”

“Why would he do that?”

“They’re very proud of their dicks, darlin’.”

I frowned. “But he’s famous. Kind of. Well, in some circles.” I huffed out a breath at her eyebrow waggle. “Seriously?”

She shrugged. “Not like I googled Hudson Wyatt’s junk before so I don’t know for sure what he’s packing. If you want to forward some though, I won’t say no.”

“He hasn’t sent me pictures.” Yet.

“Don’t sound so alarmed. I swear, you’re going to have the vapors like my great-grams.” Tabs stood up straight. “Just have fun. That’s what he’s supposed to be for you, remember?”

“Right.” I blew out a breath. “Fun.”

I glanced down at his text.

That’s the best part of dirty texts. Everyone thinks you’re talking about scores, Aunt Martha’s bunion, or picking up groceries. Instead I’m telling you that I want to kiss you until your dark eyes are huge and unfocused like they were last night. I want to put my mouth on your skin and taste that dark nipple I twisted and tugged on yesterday. You smell like coffee all the time. Do you taste like it too?

Good freaking hell. How was I supposed to reply to that?

Tabitha came farther into the room and plucked my phone out of my hand.

“Hey!”

“Oh, this guy’s in the majors.”

“What? Why? What do you mean?”

“Most guys are like ‘I wanna stick it in your pussy’.” Then she made a grunting sound. “Then you get a dick pic.”

“That doesn’t sound sexy. I mean penises are, by and large, ugly.”

Tabs collapsed into the chair next to me with a laugh. “God, you have no filter.”

“Am I lying? I mean I’ve watched a few, well, movies.”

“Porn?”

I blushed. “I tried to see what the fuss was all about.”

“Those are usually not made for us. And the monster cocks in the videos are definitely not like reality. Maybe half the size in reality. If you’re lucky.”

“I think Hudson might be porn-worthy.”

“Might? You haven’t…” She made a fist and thrust it forward.

“Punched him? No. But I accidentally grabbed him and it was…sizable.”

“Oh my God. What am I going to do with you?”

“Help me text?”

“No way. You’re on your own there. He’d know it wasn’t you if I gave you stuff to say. Just trust your gut and have—”

“Fun.”

“Right. Just don’t send him any pictures. All right?”

“Why not? I mean, I wouldn’t, but why not?”

“Because you don’t know him that well yet.”

“He’s friends with Callie. I trust him. Mostly.”

“See, at least you have that self-preservation instinct. He seems like a good guy, but you don’t know him yet. So all you have to do is remember that part.” She stood up and patted me on the head. “Fun.”

I batted her hand away. “Jerk.” But she was right, I had to do it on my own. I was never going to learn my lessons if I didn’t do the work.

Why did the idea of a lesson throw my whole system out of joint? Old tutoring fantasies? Considering I had been the one doing the tutoring when I went to college, that probably wasn’t right. And I certainly didn’t want to date any of the jocks who had hired me to get them through their calculus classes.

I was good at math. Why I was good at building and running a business. Math made sense and never let me down.

I couldn’t say the same was true about the men I’d let in my life. Except my dad. He was as loyal as the day was long, just wasn’t much good with the whole emotional nurturing thing.

“Ugh.” I blew out a breath and texted Hudson back.

If I tasted like coffee, does that mean you’d go down on me for hours? Especially the hickory kind? Maybe I should mainline it so it’s coming out my pores. Would you spend an hour on the lesson?

God, was that stupid? It was stupid. I hit the backspace button, but hit return by accident. “Fuck.” God, he was going to think I was lame.

When the bubbles flashed, I closed one eye before I read it.

If your pussy tasted like that fucking coffee, I’d never leave your bed. Shall we test it out?

I dropped my phone and slapped my hands against my hot cheeks. I couldn’t believe that had worked. That so shouldn’t have worked. Maybe he was just being nice.

My heart raced as I picked up my cell again.

I’m brewing a pot as we speak.

Okay, so maybe that was a lie, but he didn’t know that. Maybe I should go brew one and take a picture. For Hudson, that was probably as close to porn as you could get.

I stifled a laugh and went back into the cafe. Before I could tell myself it was stupid, I snapped a picture of one of my carafes of hickory coffee and sent it off.

Not playing fair, kitten. There will be punishment for teasing me. I’m all the way in San Fran. There’s no way I can find a cup like yours.

I swallowed and tried not to be inordinately pleased that my blend was the only coffee he wanted. And I tried doubly hard not to look at that as anything more than a coffee thing. Because I was terribly afraid I wanted to be his only coffee already.

Fun. Just fun.

I so couldn’t do this.

All my cups are unique.

There, my version of a reference to my breasts. It wasn’t the best dirty one-liner ever, but probably not the worst either.

If he even got what I meant. Maybe I should post a sexting key for him since my thought patterns were a little off-center.

Coffee meant pussy.

Cups meant tits.

Cat climber meant driving into home. My home. The one between my thighs.

Good lord, I needed to chill.

I stuffed my phone into my ass pocket and jumped in to help with the line of people. While I assisted customers, my cell buzzed a few times then went silent. I wanted to check it, but there were far too many eyes on me.

By the time I got a chance to pull it out again, there were four more texts. But it was the last one that made my heart sink.

Oh, no doubt there. Your cups are the best I’ve ever seen.

I was almost certain I was flushing right down to my navel. And it was probably not due to Levi’s bakery treats causing my jeans to constrict like a tourniquet. But this time, I didn’t get to reply.

I gotta go. Sorry, kitten. I’ll find you tonight.

What did that mean? He was coming home tonight? The fact that I wanted it to be true so badly made me clench my fingers around my phone.

This was why I shouldn’t get attached to him. What, was I going to sext with him while he was on tour? Maybe we’d share FaceTime stripteases and engage in mutual masturbation?

I shut my eyes while my blood heated. It might be exciting now, but would it be when the nights got longer, and he was on tour for weeks or months on end?

I tapped my phone against my forehead. Talk about jumping the gun.

Even if I was almost positive his gun would be more than worth the leap.

I texted a quick looking forward to it, then threw my phone into my purse. I was not going to be a slave to it any longer today.

Liar.