Slice of Pi 2 (15 page)

“Oh, now I'm earning it?” He stood up, smiling, his eyebrows raised in mock disbelief.

Iris nodded. “Yup. You want to be a good boy for me, don't you?”

She couldn't miss the reaction that had on him, the full-body shiver. His response was in a completely different tone. “Yes, I do.”

He meant it, too. She could tell. Having that much power over him was intoxicating. “Starting tomorrow, I want you to edge twice a day, including Saturday before you pick me up.”

“What? Oh come on.” He rolled his eyes.

“Make that three times.” She barked it out, the escalation coming immediately to her lips.

Owen's eyes widened. A brief moment of hesitation, where she thought he might tell her that was too far, and he smiled. “Yes, Miss. I'll see you on Saturday.” Still grinning, he left.

Iris poured herself a glass of wine as soon as he left and drank it, the alcohol soothing her jangled nerves. She was getting in way over her head, and if her suspicions were correct, Owen was, too. They'd barely been together at all, but she was already craving more of him after every time. She hoped a few days' distance would be good for both of them. She had other things on her mind, like the portfolio she was still putting together for the
Endgame
freelancing position, but Owen had been on her mind through all of it.

She needed some quality time with a girlfriend. Maybe Jen would be free to go out on Friday night. They hadn't really spoken since Iris had returned from Clearwater Beach, and she had yet to fill Jen in on what was happening between her and Owen. She couldn't wait to see what her friend's reaction would be.

9 

By all rights, orgasm
denial and three edgings a day should have put Owen completely out of sorts. He'd been worried that the denial would make him irritable. Instead, he found himself calm and relaxed as he prepared the bread dough on Friday morning, humming to himself throughout his shift. He had only gone in to work for an hour on his day off yesterday, practically a record, choosing to use the rest of his time to clean his apartment, buy groceries, and finish a few errands he'd been putting off. He found himself actually enjoying the mundane aspects of work that morning, his head clear and his whole body relaxed.

After she came in for work, five minutes early as usual, Sarah didn't take long to notice his good mood. “So what did you do with the rest of your day yesterday?” She phrased it politely, but he could see her trying to hide a smile.

“I ran some errands,” he answered truthfully.

“Well, you seem happier. Sleeping better?”

“That must be it.” He was happy to let her think whatever she was thinking as long as she didn't get inappropriate with their interactions. While setting up the pastries for the day, he made small talk, which he almost never did. “How are your classes this term?”

“About the same.” She took a few minutes to count the cash drawer and then opened the register. “I'll be done this spring, though, finally.”

He hadn't given much thought to losing Sarah. “What's next for you, after you graduate?”

“I don't know. My family's here, so I'd like to stay in the area. Maybe grad school? I'm not sure.” She shrugged.

“Oh.” He realized that he seldom complimented her on her work, aside from a few cursory remarks now and then. “Well, you're a very good cashier here, and I hope you'll consider staying on while you can.”

Her face broke into a smile. “Thanks, Owen. That means extra, coming from you.”

Probably because he never complimented her. “No problem.” He would need to get better at that. He didn't want his employees to feel like he was ungrateful and leave. As much of a control freak as he was, he couldn't run this place alone. Maybe he should give his team a little more responsibility, like Iris had been insinuating. Juan had certainly been asking for it. While he wasn't ready to give the guy free rein, he could maybe throw him something a bit more than what he was doing.

When Juan came in at nine, Owen had already checked the calendar and made a decision. “Hey, Juan. I'm thinking about taking next Sunday off if you'd like to work the whole day.” It was November 1, the day after Halloween, and he could stay up late and give out candy.

Juan turned, his mouth opening in surprise. He finished washing his hands with the same dumbfounded expression. “But Sunday is weekly ordering day.”

“I know. We could see how you do.” Owen reexamined the calendar. “It's a long shift, though, doing the full day, open to close. I understand if you've got plans or don't want to do it.”

“No, man, I'd love that.” Juan's smile broadened into a full grin. “Thanks.”

Owen's good mood persisted for the rest of the day, even knowing that he had edgings to complete later. Normally he'd say his good mood was because he'd gotten laid, but he hadn't even come. Instead, he just loved the way he felt during his sessions with Iris. He knew it wasn't emotional, but if he wasn't careful, he could let things get emotional. Serving her felt more intense than he'd expected. Intense, but also fulfilling in a way that transcended sex.

He was on dangerous ground here and he knew it, but damn it all, he wasn't willing to stop. Not when he was getting everything he wanted.

---

Iris was putting the final touches on her makeup when her apartment buzzer sounded. Jen appeared at her door a few minutes later, dressed in a pair of slim jeans and a cute sparkly blouse. Honestly, Jen looked cute in everything. As soon as she came in, she surveyed Iris's outfit admiringly, a retro fit-and-flare dress patterned with roses. “You look fantastic. And those red heels! Fabulous.”

“Thanks! Your hair looks gorgeous.” Iris walked around Jen to see it from the back. She'd curled it, and the long spirals cascaded down her back like a golden waterfall.

Jen beamed. “You think? I never take the time to curl it, but I thought I'd do something special tonight. Are you ready to go?”

“Sure.” Iris was already holding her clutch. If she offered Jen a seat or a drink before they left, they'd end up gabbing all night instead of going out. It was how their friendship worked. “We can wait for the cab downstairs. It should be here any minute.”

“Ready.” Jen tossed an overnight bag onto the table. “Craig is on baby-sitting duty all night tonight, so we can get hammered with no responsibility.”

“Excellent.” Iris felt a fluttering of excitement in her stomach—it would be just like college again, when it was just the two of them. She didn't begrudge her friend her new domesticated life, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss the old Jen sometimes.

Once they were safely in the back of the cab, and Iris gave directions to the cabbie, Jen touched her arm. “So, are you going to tell me all your sexcapade stories from Clearwater Beach?”

“When we get to the bar.” Iris patted her hand. She still wasn't sure how much to tell Jen about what had transpired between her and Owen. She'd never kept secrets like this from Jen before, but she'd never had a secret of this caliber, either. She changed topics. “Aidan's all over the chicken pox now?”

Jen rolled her eyes. “Yeah. You have no idea how much bullshit that is to deal with. I should've gotten him the shot. He puked all week. I don't remember chicken pox coming with puking when we had it.”

Iris grimaced. She remembered very little of her own chicken pox experience, but puking was definitely part of it. “I don't think I was able to keep anything down for a week when I had it, I was so sick.”

Jen shook her head in dismay. “I was so worried about him, you know? Aidan's so young, and he relies on me for everything. I just want to do right by him.” She blinked at Iris. “I'm sorry. This is probably so boring for you. You don't have kids, so it's hard to explain.”

Iris resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This was the first time Jen had whipped out the “you can't know because you don't have kids” card, and it sat unpleasantly on her shoulders. She would assume best intent. “You're right. I don't really understand, I guess. How's work?”

The subject change went smoothly, and Jen shared some of the latest highlights from her job as an IT manager at the local hospital. Stupid end users breaking computers, filling out tickets that made no sense for repairs that were impossible, etc. In the middle of one of her stories, the taxi pulled up in front of the bar.

“I'll get this one, you get the way home?” Jen suggested, pulling out her credit card and swiping it in the machine. Once they were out, she finished her story, and Iris was still laughing when they found seats at a table near the bar.

“Seats on a Friday night. We're lucky.” Iris signaled the server over and got a whiskey sour for her and a cosmopolitan for Jen.

“It's been easier to get tables since we switched from the bar closer to the college,” Jen said with a laugh. Iris thought back to their other favorite haunt, how much she'd liked hanging out and dancing to the music, too loud and too hot and too close, but after her midtwenties, she'd stopped feeling comfortable there. While she didn't want to yield to her upper twenties or—shudder—thirties, certain elements were unavoidable, and leaving a college bar was one of them. This wasn't a bad compromise, though, as bars went. Dark in a swanky way, rather than a seedy way, the bar was lit by amber hanging Edison bulbs. Copper shelving and exposed piping and brick gave the entire place an industrial vibe. It still had music, only it was live music by bands that had names without swear words in it. A little tamer than college, but still fun. Plus, she could still have fun in other ways, Iris reminded herself. Her time with Owen was certainly fun, after all. A little too much fun. Iris felt her cheeks color at the thought.

The server delivered their drinks. Jen took one sip of her cosmo and, as if reading Iris's mind, latched back on to her topic of conversation from the taxi. “So tell me about your adventures at the beach. Who did you take? How did you meet him? Are you going to see him again?”

Iris rolled her eyes. “Jen. One question at a time.”

“Fuck that. I'm a settled-down mom now. You're my only shot at adventure.” Jen waggled her eyebrows.

Iris paused over her drink. Was this what was waiting for her? She didn't want to think that settling down was a one-way trip to boring, an end to her life as she knew it, but Jen seemed to have accepted this as par for the course. “Come on. You're still fun. Don't give up yet. We're fifteen years away from getting to be those inappropriate older women who hit on all the hot young guys.”

Jen laughed. “Can I still become a cougar if I'm married?”

“I don't know. Maybe there's a book of rules somewhere.” Iris took a large gulp of her whiskey sour, which tasted stronger than she had expected. Hell yes.

Jen flapped her hand. “Stop changing the subject. Sexcapade stories. Now.”

“Okay.” She dragged the red stirrers around the inside of her glass, giving herself something to watch instead of Jen's rapt expression that was making her a little nervous. “So I invited this guy Owen. He owns the bakery around the corner from my apartment. Sugar Rush. I don't think you've ever been there.”

“No, but you've mentioned it a few times. That cheesecake you brought to my birthday was from there, right?” Jen was downing her cosmo at an alarming rate.

“Yeah, that's the place. Anyway, I've been eyeing him for a while, and I ended up there after Will's wedding a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to make a move. I invited him to come hang out at the beach, and he did.” Iris pounded back another long gulp of whiskey sour.

Jen waited, her expression eager, while Iris swallowed, the alcohol burning her throat in a delightful way. After a few moments, Jen's face became impatient. “And? Go on. There has to be more.”

Iris smiled. “Yeah, there's more. We had some pretty fantastic sex, honestly.” She licked her lips, remembering the way he'd felt beneath her that first time, before she'd even known the full extent of what they were capable of together. “And then he went home.”

Jen's face fell a little bit. “That's it?”

Iris considered. She could stop there, but Jen would figure a few things out soon enough, namely that Iris was still seeing the guy. “That's not really it.” She wasn't sure how to describe this. She took another sip of her drink, the whiskey burning in the back of her throat. “We're still getting together.”

“What, like dating? Like a booty call? What?” Jen stared across the table at Iris with intense green eyes, dying to know everything.

Iris licked her lips, tasting a bit of whiskey there, and decided to just go for it. “He's kinky. He wanted a woman to dominate him. So . . . I said I'd do it.”

“What?” Jen's excited exclamation caused people at the next table over to look at them in alarm, and she didn't even seem chagrined about it. “You're fucking kidding me.”

Iris smiled at Jen's outburst. “You know, you swear a lot for somebody with a kid.”

“I don't swear at home, so I have to get it all out when I'm with you.” Jen waved her hand dismissively. “Don't change the subject. Tell me everything.” She returned to her cosmo, finished it, and flagged down the server for another.

“I will not tell you
everything
.” Iris had more of her drink. A few sips in, the whiskey was going down more smoothly. “He asked, I said yes. He's come over a couple of times since then. He's coming over again tomorrow.”

“So this is just kinky sex, or what? What are you getting out of this?”

“A lot of orgasms, actually.” Iris laughed. She felt looser with the whiskey in her system, her shoulders tingling in that way she always felt when she had alcohol in her bloodstream. “And I like him. He's fun to be around.”

“Do you think there's something more there?” Jen looked over at the bar, impatient for her cosmo even though she'd literally just ordered it. “Ugh, they're taking forever.”

Iris laughed. “You're going to end up on the floor if you keep pounding those back.” Iris took another sip of her own drink, slower this time.

Jen's expression was pure disbelief. “Really? Now who's getting old?”

Iris narrowed her eyes. “Low blow, Jen. I am not getting old.”

“We're all getting old, Iris.” Jen sighed. “We're not in college anymore. If there's something more with this guy, maybe you should take it.”

“Fuck you.” Iris said the words without any heat, giving Jen's shoulder a teasing shove. “I barely know him. It's been, like, a week and a half. I'm just going to keep this up and see where it goes.”