Chapter 15

After putting her wallet back into her bag, Naomi moved to the end of the counter to wait for her drink and breakfast sandwich. She knew she couldn’t avoid talking to Corinne forever, but she’d take the next few moments away from her if she could get them. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about Sebastian.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Naomi asked when Corinne joined her to wait for her order. Naomi recognized the question for what it was: a poor attempt to focus their conversation on Corinne instead of herself. And since Corinne usually enjoyed talking about herself, there was actually a chance it might work.

“Let’s talk about yours instead.”

Or not.

“I don’t have one,” Naomi answered with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, we need to rectify that.”

Naomi picked up her tea and plate as soon as the barista set them down. “I’m going to grab us a table before they’re all taken.” It bought her about thirty seconds of peace before Corinne joined her at the high-top near the window.

“So you’re not interested in Professor Peen?”

“Please stop calling him that.” Naomi cringed at the name. Mainly because when she thought about that particular body part on Sebastian it caused sensations she’d been trying to quell.

“I can’t help it. Now that I’ve seen his dick outline through his shorts, I can’t get it out of my head. It makes him even hotter than he was in that picture Sabrina showed us.”

Naomi’s first reaction was to insist he wasn’t hot, but she knew that was a lie. “Yeah, well, his personality’s not quite as attractive.”

Corinne broke off a piece of her blueberry muffin and gazed out the window as if the proper reply was written on a street sign and she just had to find it. When her attention returned to Naomi, she said, “You care if I go for him?”

“What?” Naomi asked with a quick shake of her head. “What do you mean, ‘go for him’?”

“Ask him out, fool around with him…whatever.”

Instinctively, Naomi wanted to tell her to stay away from the man. Friends don’t let friends date enigmatic narcissists. But she was also pretty sure this was a test to see if Naomi liked him herself and would therefore not agree to Corinne’s request. And if her friend was serious about asking Sebastian out, Naomi also had a feeling he wouldn’t agree to it if for no other reason than he seemed to have a clear aversion to positive human interaction. “Sure, have at it,” Naomi answered after swallowing a bite of her sandwich.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t care.”

Corinne definitely seemed surprised, affirming Naomi’s hunch that the request had been a test. “So when I have sex with him I can tell you about it?”

Naomi shrugged. “If there’s something to tell. He’s robotic. I doubt he’ll be any good in bed.” She desperately tried not to remember her dream—his smooth movements, the soft but firm caress of his fingers over her skin. The imaginary Sebastian had been anything but robotic. And she had to admit, the way his big hands had felt wrapped around her the other night made her find serious flaws in her accusation. I wish I knew for sure.

“What?”

It took Naomi a few moments of staring at Corinne’s puzzled expression to realize she’d probably said that last part aloud, and as a warm blush started to sweep across her face, she realized she wasn’t getting out of this as easily as she’d gotten herself into it. She needed to stop thinking out loud.

“You seem like you’ve given this some thought before,” Corrine said.

Keeping her eyes fixed on her tea as she ran her thumb over the handle, she said, “I had a dream about him.” No way was she telling Corinne about the kiss, because she fully intended to take that secret to her grave.

Naomi was always amazed at how people could raise only one eyebrow, and Corinne’s went higher than she’d ever seen it before. Once her face went back to normal, she inched her chair closer to the table as if the proximity would somehow make whatever Naomi was about to tell her more entertaining. “I’m assuming it’s a sexy dream or you wouldn’t have brought it up, so start talking.”

Naomi told Corinne about the dream she’d had of Sebastian, sparing no details because she hoped saying it aloud would get the thoughts out of her permanently. When she was done, Corinne said, “He doesn’t sound at all like a robot.”

“No. I know. Dream Sebastian is seriously hot in bed. But just like the real person, he’s also extremely frustrating. I haven’t had an orgasm in almost a month.”

“What do you mean? Why?”

Naomi glanced out the window, already feeling the anxiety that Sebastian caused her creeping back in. “I don’t know why. I just…can’t make it happen.”

“I can’t relate. I could get myself off right here at this table if I thought hard enough about it.”

Naomi’s lips pressed together as she stared at Corinne. Then she inhaled deeply before speaking. “That’s not helping. And it’s…weird.”

“You’re probably just worried about this whole award thing. External stress definitely has an effect on people’s sex life.” Naomi wasn’t sure if that was Corinne the nurse or Corinne the friend speaking. “And the more you think about not being able to get yourself off, the more difficult it’ll be.”

“Can you be a little quieter?” Naomi asked when she noticed a mom with three small children looking over at them.

“Sorry,” Corinne said, lowering her voice a bit. “Tell me what you’ve tried and how often.”

“Jesus, Corinne. I don’t know. I haven’t tried anything weird. All the normal ways or whatever.”

Corinne looked pensive, like she was using her knowledge of sex and medicine to draw some sort of conclusion. “And how many times did you say you’ve tried unsuccessfully?”

Naomi sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe five.”

“Five,” Corinne repeated thoughtfully. “Hmm…That’s a lot.”

“Thanks for that,” Naomi replied dryly.

“Well, I’m being realistic. Once or twice could be a fluke. But five shows an established pattern of sexual dysfunction.”

“I’m not sexually dysfunctional,” Naomi said much too loudly for their current environment. She saw the mother a few tables over hurrying to clean up the trash on their table and get her kids away from the two inappropriate lunatics by the window. As the woman stood and ushered her children toward the other side of the shop, Naomi gave her an apologetic wave. “Can we stop talking about this?”

“You brought it up. I was only following your lead. And besides, it’s interesting. You were so sexually frustrated that you had a sexy dream about the man you supposedly hate. Freud would’ve had a field day with you.”

“No,” Naomi said with a quick shake of her head. “I wasn’t sexually frustrated before the dream, only after. He was the cause, not the effect. Even Fantasy Sebastian finds a way to make my life unbearable.” She plopped her face down into her hands for a few moments in defeat. When she finally looked up again, Corinne appeared to be holding back a laugh. Against her better judgment, Naomi asked, “What?”

“Fantasy Sebastian?”

“Yeah,” Naomi answered, annoyed with herself for revealing that tidbit of information. “It’s what I call the Sebastian that keeps popping into my head when I’m trying to…you know.”

“Well, shit. This changes things. I didn’t know Sebastian was in your spank bank.”

“I don’t have a ‘spank bank,’ ” Naomi replied. “I’m not a fourteen-year-old boy. I just picture whatever pops into my head at the time. Usually it’s like a scene from a movie or book I’ve read or just some imaginary hottie I met vacationing in Paris or something. I don’t even think I’ve ever had someone I know become part of my fantasies before this.”

“Maybe instead of getting so frustrated, you should ask yourself why the first real person you’ve fantasized about is Sebastian Blake.”

Corinne’s half-smile should have warned Naomi she probably wouldn’t like what was coming. But she had no one to blame but herself. Well, herself and Sebastian. She could always blame Sebastian.