Everything But (18 page)

“Are you close, baby?”

He clenched his teeth. 
“Yeah…yeah…real close.”

And then s
he stopped
moving her hand.  She wriggled off the bed and walked in the other room.

Sweet Jesus.
  What the fuck did she have planned now?  God, he was going to have the most vicious
fucking
orgasm of his life.  It was in those few moments that he knew she must have forgiven him and, maybe, she realized he
’d
tried to make her feel this spectacular yesterday.

So where the hell was she?  He heard her heels clicking across the tile in the entry area and then back over the carpeting as she got close to the bedroom.

He raised his head a little to see her.  She
peeked
her head in the bedroom and blew him a kiss.  “Call me tomorrow, lover.”

Then she turned around and he heard her heels clicking on the tile again, followed by the door to the hallway opening and closing.

What the fuck?

Chapter
Seventeen

WHEN ERIN CLOSED
the door to the hotel room, she felt all kinds of guilty.  But Jackie would be proud.  She’d followed the plan through
. 
A
ll
.
 
T
he
.
  W
ay.

She leaned against the door and heard Riley yell, “Erin, what the fuck? 
Come on back, babe.
”  This place was pretty ritzy and she knew the walls were pretty thick, so he
must have been
yelling loudly.
  It wasn’t that loud, but to her, it felt like everyone on the floor would be able to hear it.

So it was time to
amscray
.  She made her way to
the
elevator.  She just prayed Jackie was right and that he wouldn’t
fucking
hate her forever.

Maybe it would be something
she and Riley
could laugh about years from now.

She shook that crazy thought from her head and tried to push the guilt out.  S
he already
felt herself
caving.  She wasn’t going to be able to fully execute the plan.  Jackie had told her to wait for
hours
before letting him off the hook
, but she couldn’t do it.  She just couldn’t.  She’d already punished him enough just by leaving him high and dry
with no relief
.  And,
God
…he
’d
been
hard as a hammer.  He was going to be hurting badly already.  She wanted to teach him a lesson, not cripple him for life.

She could just hear Jackie’s voice in her head: 
Oh,
come on
, Erin.  It’s not
that
bad!

No, but her guilt was.

So, by the time she arrived in the lobby, she had made up her mind.  She walked to the counter and wasn’t surprised when the clerk from earlier raised her eyebrows.  The girl smiled but she was curious as to why Erin was there without her man candy.

When Erin approached the counter, the girl asked, “How may I help you?”

Erin took a deep breath.  God, she felt like such a shit.  She really should go back up there right now and
apologize.  But then she forc
ed herself to remember how he hadn’t stopped when she
’d
asked, stupid fucking
safeword
or not.  She took a deep breath, steeled again, and said, “Um…yeah.  You know the guy I came here with?”

The girl grinned.  “Well,
yeah
.  Riley Schultz.”

“Uh…well, I left him in a…compromising position, but I really have to go.”  She cleared her throat and placed the tiny handcuff key on the counter.  “Could you please send someone up to unlock him?”

The smile slid off the girl’s face
and her face paled
.  “What do you mean exactly?”

“He’s…uh...handcuffed to the bed.”

The girl’s eyebrows shot into the air.  “Is he…”

“Naked?  Yep. 
Mostly, anyway.”

The girl visibly gulped.  Maybe she was a little too young to handle this delicate situation.  She took a deep breath.  “Uh…I guess we can take it from here.”

Erin tried to smile warmly and took out a twenty as a tip.  She slid it on the counter to the spot where she’d set the handcuff
key
that
the girl now had in her hands.  “I appreciate that.  Thanks.”

She stood up straight and walked through the lobby and out the door.  She was aware of a few sets of eyes, eyes she hadn’t noticed when she’d been hanging on Riley’s arm.  Yeah, so the outfit drew a lot of attention.  Her stunt could draw more if
the desk clerk didn’t handle the
situation
with discretion.  But it was done.  She had to leave now before she totally
wussed
out.  Jackie was going to be disappointed as it was.

Her sleep was restless and she wondered how it had all ended.  Riley hadn’t called screaming at her and he didn’t come banging on her door.  Maybe that’s what
was making
her so damn nervous. 
Nothing
happened.

* * *

It was eleven-thirty.  Riley was pacing in his parents’ living room.  Hell, yeah, he was pissed but he also knew exactly why
Erin had
done it.  It was because she’d wanted revenge for what she’d thought was a breach of trust.  And, as angry as it had made him, he had to admit it was
a
good
plan, even though he’d been the butt of the joke
.  And even through the deep, delicious ache she’d put him through, he understood.

Still…how cold.
  But he wasn’t giving up on her yet.  There was one thing that would make it all okay.

And not knowing what she was going to say made him stare at that goddamned cell phone in his hand.  She
had
told him to call today, and—if he remembered correctly—she had called him around this time yesterday, so he was hoping it was her lunch break.

He would call
once
.  If she wasn’t available, he’d leave
one
message.  Then the ball would be in her court.

He
could
just text her, but he felt like this subject merited a phone call.
  So he took a deep breath and dialed.  When she answered, he could barely hear her voice. 
“Hi, Riley.”
  His teeth had been holding the tip of his tongue steady.  He let it go and said
hi
back.  Then she said, “How mad at me are you?”

“Really
wanna
know?”

“I don’t know. 
Do
I?”

“Probably not.”

“Can I come see you after school?  Maybe make it up to you?”

“What do you have in mind now
?”

“You’ll just have to trust
me
this time.”

He couldn’t help but smile. 
“All right.
  Why don’t you come by my parents’ house when you get done?”

She wrote down his address and told him she’d be there around four or four-thirty.  So he needed to find something to do in the interim to occupy
himself
.  Mom was hanging around during the day so smoking a little weed was out of the question.  Guess keeping his mother company was the best and only thing he could do until Erin arrived later that day.

But he wound up helping his mom clean out donation items from the attic and even used his parents
’ truck to haul them to the secondhand store
.  Then he came home and showered and it wasn’t too long
after
that Erin arrived.

She wasn’t dressed like a metal chick like she’d been the day before.  No, today she looked like he’d expected before…conservative but pretty, like he
thought a high school teacher w
ould look
from day to day
.  She was wearing a light spring dress, cream-colored with a pattern of tiny flowers, sleeveless and ending just above the knee.  She was
also
wearing sandals
,
her toenails were painted in pink
, and he
r
hair was pulled back
.
 
She was gorgeous. 
It was her smile, though, that disarmed him.

He opened the door and said, “Welcome to the Schultz residence.”  He heard his mother walking toward the foyer, responding to the doorbell.  She hadn’t known
he
was expecting someone.  In anticipation, he said, “Erin Lancaster, this is my mother, Margie Schultz.”

Erin’s eyes lit up in recognition.  “Margie.  I had no idea Riley was
your
son.”

Riley felt his eyebrows knit.  “You
know
each other?”

“Yes, son.
  I’m on the school board, remember?”  He nodded.  “So, I knew Riley had wound up winning the bid for you
for the cheerleading auction
, but I had no idea you were actually
seeing
each other.”

Riley felt his hackles stand up.  Did his mom not approve and, more than that, did she think he really gave a shit
what she thought
?  But Erin was charming and he’d had no idea
she could have that effect on his mother
.  She smiled at his mom and shrugged, saying, “Well, we kind of hit it off.  I don’t know if you’d call it
seeing
each other, but we
have
been hanging out some since then.”  She looked up at Riley.  “How would
you
describe it?”

“Fair enough assessment, I guess.”
  Or maybe just a more polite way of saying they’d seen each other naked and had played around that way.

His mother nodded.  “Well, not to be rude, but I have other obligations
I need to attend to
.
  Nice seeing you, Erin.
”

Thank God
.  The last thing he wanted was for Erin and his mom to spend all night yapping.  He’d known his mom was meeting his dad for
some
dinner
thing
, but he hadn’t known when she’d be leaving.  He felt immense relief
when hi
s mom walked in the other room
.  H
e said to Erin, “How about a mini tour?”

“Sure.”

As they started moving farther inside, h
is mom walked past them toward the front door again.  “Have fun, kids.  Riley, your dad and I will probably be home around eight or so.”

“Sounds good, mom.”
 
That should give them plenty of time alone together.  His mom
stopped and he kissed her on the cheek.

“Oh, one more thing,” she said,
then
headed
back to the middle of the house
.

He took Erin’s hand and walked through the living room in his parents’ house
.  He pointed out things that were already obvious to her,
hoping to bide his time until his mom was out of the house,
but before they left
the living room
,
Erin
noticed
the family
pictures on the mantle.  One of them was of two brown-haired, freckly-faced preteen boys
, him and his brother Brian
.
  That was the one she noticed.
  She paused and walked over to the picture.  “Is that you?”

“Yeah, on the right.
  M
y brother
’s on the left
.”

“You were
cute
.”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”  She smirked at him and then turned to look at other pictures.  Riley heard his mom in the kitchen on the phone.  God, was she going to leave or what?

They finally wound up at the back of the house where his bedroom was. 
Might as well
, he thought, because they were going to end up there anyway
if he had any say in the matter
.
  Before they walked in, he said, “Now…bear in mind that this room looks like it did when I left the house.”

“So what’s that mean?”

“It looks like a teenage boy lives there.  But it’s
kinda
cool to visit.”

Erin got a twinkle in her eye. 
“Dirty socks on the floor?”