“David tells me you’re a reporter,” Hank said, an expression of polite interest pasted on his face.

Next to him, his girlfriend Gwen was busy studying her fingernails. Despite assuring me that tonight was okay for our double date, they’d walked in late, their clothes askew. Ever since they’d sat down, Gwen had looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.

“I am. Just local stuff though.”

I nudged Victoria’s shoulder with mine. She was playing down her success at the paper, something I noticed she did whenever someone complimented her on her writing. “Victoria’s just being modest. She’s the one who broke the story about Mayor Donaldson’s second family.”

“No way,” Hank said, obviously impressed. He turned to his scowling girlfriend. “Did you hear that?”

She glanced up, her eyes flat. “Congratulations.” Her tone couldn’t have been less congratulatory if she’d tried.

Hank pushed Gwen’s nonplussed response aside with a quick flick of his hand. “Don’t mind her. She doesn’t like to read.”

“I do too,” she said, shooting him daggers. “Just not all that boring stuff you’re always droning on about.”

Not surprisingly, I wasn’t a fan of Gwen. Come to think of it, I hadn’t been a fan of any of Hank’s recent girlfriends. He liked them beautiful and bitchy. The problem was, Gwen assumed I didn’t like her because she worked in retail and didn’t have a college degree. In reality, I couldn’t have cared less what she did for a living. I didn’t like her because she was miserable to be around. I couldn’t remember a time I’d ever seen her smile.

“What sort of books do you like?” Victoria asked, popping a warm olive in her mouth.

“Trust me, you’ve never read them.”

“You might be surprised.”

“Fifty Shades of Grey is my favorite book,” Gwen answered. “I’m all about the BDSM lifestyle.”

Hank spit out his water and then sucked in a lungful of air. “What she means,” he explained once he’d caught his breath, “is that she likes trashy romance novels about couples who are into BDSM.” His neck and cheeks had turned a mottled shade of scarlet. “We’re not, um, we don’t …”

Gwen laughed, and I swore it was the first time I’d ever witnessed her enjoying herself. “Relax Hank. Vicky knows what I mean.”

Victoria pushed a wayward strand of hair out of her face and sipped from her glass of wine. “I have a ton of respect what E.L. James did for the genre. Since you liked Fifty Shades, you should check out The Reckoning. Most people love Broderick, but I’m a Nicky fan.”

My palm dropped to her knee under the table while I reached for my glass with the other. I knew Victoria devoured romance novels, but I’d never paid much attention to what they were actually about. Maybe I needed to. Was she secretly into BDSM? She’d never mentioned it before, but if this was her way of saying she wanted to be tied up and spanked, I was more than willing to give it a go. Not that I necessarily knew what I was doing, but I was smart and a fast learner.

“Is Nicky another naïve young virgin who falls in love with a controlling billionaire?” I asked, shooting a smirk Gwen’s way.

Yeah, I knew what the book was about.

Gwen laughed and shook her head. “Nope. Nicky’s a dude. He’s the head of one mob family, while Broderick is the head of another. They went to boarding school together, and you know what happens at an all-boys school.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

I tried to keep the surprise from my face as I turned to Victoria. I was learning all sorts of things about her reading preferences tonight. “You read gay romance?”

She shrugged. “Some of them are really well written. You want a tear jerker that ends in an epically satisfying conclusion? Start with a couple who defies the odds in a way no hetero couple ever can.”

“This particular story isn’t strictly gay though,” Gwen interjected, leaning forward with a gleam in her eye. She liked shocking people, and from the way she was inspecting me, I got the impression she was hoping to give me the shock of my life.

“There’s also Mia, the woman they both love,” she continued. “The threesomes are epic. When Broderick forces Nicky to fuck Mia in front of him before he turns around and then fucks Nicky himself … wow.” She mimed fanning herself as she tossed Victoria a conspiratorial wink. “I needed to come so bad after reading that scene.”

Under the table, Victoria’s hand skated over my thigh, coming dangerously close to my cock. She dropped her fingers down between my thighs and palmed my balls before her hand floated away.

I replayed Gwen’s description of the book in question in my head, my thoughts growing frantic. Was bringing up this book Victoria’s way of indicating she was interested in pursuing that sort of relationship? If it were, I didn’t know if I could do it.

But what if it’s the choice between giving her what she needs or having her seek it elsewhere?

I reached for my water, chugging down the entire glass. When I set it down, I turned to watch Victoria’s face as Gwen recounted the chapter where the three had their first sexual experience together. As she droned on, Victoria caught my eye and winked.

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

I took a few deep breaths in an attempt to quiet the storm raging in my mind. Eventually— thankfully—Hank had had enough of Gwen’s monologue.

“We’re in public,” he bit out from between clenched teeth. “And you just met Victoria. Show some decorum, please.”

“It’s fine, Hank.” Victoria laughed easily as I fought to get my emotions in check. Then, steering the conversation from the scandalous to the scholarly, she added, “The thing most people don’t understand is that these books aren’t just about sex. I mean, yes, some of them are, but they can also be empowering for women. Some of my favorite authors tackle topics relating to social justice and societal prejudices, all while allowing readers to grow comfortable with their own sexuality. There are a number of intelligent authors writing gripping, thought-provoking stories. You should give ‘em a shot.”

Hank huffed out a frustrated breath. “You sound just like Miranda.”

Gwen crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes as she looked away. “Fucking Miranda.”

“Miranda?” Victoria popped another olive into her mouth and looked to Hank, whose face was slowly turning purple.

I jumped in to help him out. It was easier to talk about Miranda than to wonder if I’d gotten in over my head with Victoria.

“Professor Miranda Whitcomb. She teaches a course on the role of feminism in modern literature. She was the speaker at that first lecture I invited you to.” I looked at her meaningfully, feeling my pulse spike at the memory of our reunion.

“Hank’s also secretly in love with her,” Gwen sneered.

My best friend sighed and dropped his head into his palm, his elbow resting on the table. “For fuck’s sake, Gwen. We’ve been over this. I am not in love with Miranda. I can barely stand the woman.”

“Oh yeah? Then how come you talk about her non-stop? Just this morning you were—”

Victoria scooted her chair back and dropped her napkin onto the table. “I’m going to head to the bathroom,” she whispered, pointing over her shoulder before sliding from her seat and click-clacking her way across the restaurant.

I pushed back from the table as well to chase after her. I had so many questions that needed answers. Ones that I didn’t think could wait. I needed to know what I was dealing with here … what I might be up against.

Before she reached a door that opened onto the hallway where the restrooms were located, I grabbed hold of her elbow and spun her around. She opened her mouth in a startled gasp, but then quickly shut it when she saw it was me.

Her eyes warmed and she smiled. “Your friends are insane. What is their—”

I cut her off. I didn’t want to talk about Hank and Gwen. I wanted to find out the meaning behind her fondling my balls while listening to a story about two dudes fucking the same woman and then each other. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and ushered her into a curtained-off alcove. “Is that what gets you off?”

“Come again?” She looked at me with confusion in her eyes, her perfectly sculpted brows slanting down into a deep vee.

“That book with the two mobsters. Is that what you like?”

She stepped closer and peered up at me, studying my face for a couple of long, quiet seconds. Her expression went from confused, to worried, and then to something that looked like acceptance. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

“Wait. What do you think I’m asking?”

She set her palm to my chest and continued staring up at me, her brows drawing even tighter.

Suddenly, I got the feeling we weren’t on the same page. At all.

I opened my mouth to explain when she let out a long sigh, her breath ghosting against my neck. She cocked her head toward the main part of restaurant. “Back there, when Gwen and I were discussing that book, you gripped my knee pretty tight and you looked like you were having trouble breathing. You were hard, too. And now you’ve chased after me, wanting to know if a book about two mobsters fucking gets me off.”

The longer she spoke, the looser my hold on her grew, until I slid my hands from her body and took a step back.

Holy shit. Realization dawned. We definitely were not on the same page.

She thought I was into other guys.

At the same moment my realization took root, Victoria rushed to assure me there wasn’t anything wrong with having homosexual fantasies. “It’s perfectly natural. I mean, I thought you—”

I raised my hand to put a stop to her babbling, doing everything in my power not to laugh from a mixture of hysteria and relief. “Victoria, stop.”

“Sorry,” she squeaked. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Just so there’s no further misunderstanding, I’m not bi.”

My words took a moment to register, but when they did, her face clouded with confusion. “You’re not?”

I scrubbed my palm over my jaw to hide my burgeoning grin. “No, I’m not.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed … ” Her gaze bounced around the room, searching for a safe place to land. Eventually, she returned her eyes to mine.

I smiled fully then, the lead ball in my stomach disappearing. I didn’t care that she’d been worried that I was into other men. All I cared about was the fact that she didn’t.

God, we were such idiots.

“Wait, you’re not mad?” she asked, chewing on her lip.

Curiosity warred with good intentions. I knew I should put an end to this discussion, but now I had other questions.

“Say, purely for the sake of argument, that I was bisexual. And I had been about to confess my deepest, darkest fantasies. What would you have done?”

She straightened her spine and lifted her chin high. “I was going to support you.”

“Yeah?” I asked, pulling her into my arms. She nuzzled into my chest to avoid my curious gaze, but I pressed my fingers to her chin, lifting her eyes to mine. “How were you planning to support me?”

My heart clanged loud in my chest waiting for her answer. I knew what lengths I’d been willing to go for the sake of her pleasure—the sacrifices I’d decided to make to keep her by my side—but I needed to know if she would have done the same for me. Hypothetically, of course.

“Victoria?”

“I would have done that … with you.”

“Just to clarify, you would have had a threesome with me and another dude? You would have let me fuck him in front of you?”

She nodded and her eyes went glassy with unshed tears. “If that’s what you needed, I would have shared you. I don’t know that I would have been able to accept you being with someone alone, but I—”

Wow.

Wow.

I cut her off by crashing my mouth against hers. She let out a surprised squeak, and I used that moment to slide my tongue inside. Her shock quickly morphed into desire, and soon she was returning my kiss with equal fervor.

I would never get enough of the taste of her on my tongue … but this was the second time I’d been near to fucking her in public in as many weeks and I didn’t want to make a habit of it. I slowed our kiss and gently eased us apart.

“You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and I am so fucking lucky to have you in my life.”

She dropped her forehead to my chest. “I am the silliest woman you’ve ever met, and it’s me who’s the lucky one.”

I hugged her tight, taking a moment to just enjoy the fact that as crazy as this conversation had been, it confirmed how much she loved me. That we were in this together, one hundred percent.

“Come on,” I said, leading her from the dusty alcove, “let’s get out of here.”

With our fingers linked together, we made our way back into the main part of the restaurant only to find our table deserted.

“Where’d Hank and Gwen go?” she asked, glancing around the large, open space.

“They’re probably having sex in his car right now.”

She shuddered. “I honestly don’t get why they’re together. They don’t actually seem to like each other that much.”

I plucked our coats off the back of our chairs and helped Victoria into hers. Dropping enough cash onto the table to cover the bill, I guided her toward the exit. “They don’t. But Hank says the sex is good, so …” I shrugged. It was what it was. It also wasn’t my problem.

Stepping out into the cold night, we strolled toward my car in easy silence. After a few moments, Victoria looked up at me. “I’m not necessarily Gwen’s biggest fan, but do you think she’s right about Hank and that other professor?”

I shrugged again. “Hank loathes her, too.”

“I hate to point this out since he’s your best friend, but he hates a lot of women. That doesn’t really speak well of his character.”

She wasn’t wrong, and yet, Hank was battle scarred in a way few knew. We’d grown up together, so I’d seen the shit he’d been through. While his dad had been easy going, his mom had used fear to rule their household when her husband was away on business trips. Subsequently, it had left Hank a bit confused with how to behave with women. He gravitated toward ones who were beautiful, but cold and mean. And if they didn’t start out that way, he poked and prodded until they broke.

While I thought Miranda just might be the woman to put Hank in his place, I also hoped they never gave into their explosive attraction. I didn’t think our department could handle the fallout.

“Let’s just say he has severe mommy issues.” I clicked the button on my key fob and the tail lights on my car flashed. Opening the passenger side door, Victoria slid into her seat, snapping her seatbelt into place. I closed her door and jogged around to my side. “But enough about Hank,” I said, sliding in and turning the ignition. “Let’s get you home so you can read some of your dirty books out loud to me. I want to watch you get all hot and bothered.”

Victoria covered her face and let out a groan, followed by a weak laugh. “Is that what your boner was all about?”

“That, and it seemed like you’re a fan of the idea of being tied up. That’s not something I’ve done, but I could be down with that.” I chanced a quick glance her direction as I navigated the wet and icy roads. “But mostly, it was the thought of licking your pussy while you read your favorite scene out loud, your juices running down my face from how turned on you were.” I held her gaze, letting her see the raw, naked desire I felt at the idea. When she shivered, I flicked my eyes back to the road.

A few seconds later, we came to a stop at a red light and I turned to face her. “That’s why I was hard at the restaurant. It’s my new favorite fantasy.”

She licked her lips and her eyes dropped to my mouth. With her face lit up by the glow of the instrument panel, I could see how turned on she was picturing the scene I’d just described.

“I think I know just the book.”

I stepped on the gas, and my car shot forward.

I couldn’t wait to see what she had in store for me when we got to her house.