Page 144 of Burn

“Maybe.” And I can hear it in his, too.

“I have one.”

Caleb lets out a breathy sigh, as if he needs to prepare himself. In the background, I can hear the boys arguing, and laughter as something gets knocked over. “Let’s hear it.”

“You in your turnouts, all of it, again, with me bent over my desk again.”

“Damn you.” His breath hitches when he chuckles. “But I remember how hot that was in the bathroom. I nearly passed out from heat stroke. Can’t you think of something else?”

“Like what?”

He pauses and then sighs. “Like you in that red dress . . .”

“Okay, well I’ll wear the red dress, and you can just wear the mask. It was so sexy I think I came just from the way your voice sounded when you groaned in my ear.”

He lets out a quick but heavy sigh. “Now I’m hard.” I can hear him wrestling around, no doubt trying to adjust himself so no one can see. “Fuck, this is embarrassing.”

“So? What’s the problem with you being hard at work? Surely those sick fucks you work with don’t mind.” I imagine those guys have to take matters into their own hands at the station from time to time. The thought of Caleb doing that, thinking of me as if he’s so worked up he can’t wait until he gets home is kind of a turn on. My panties are wet just from the images my brain conveniently provides for me. “Do you . . . um, you know, take care of it at the station?” My voice sounds like the first time I asked my mom what sex was when I was nine and then proceeded to ask why the hell anyone would put anything in their vagina. I quickly found the pleasures in doing so five years later but still, my voice was shaking and my eyebrows were hot. Much like right now.

Caleb’s quiet, the only sound his gentle breaths on the other line. “Are you asking if I jerk off at work?”

It’s like my eyebrows are on fire now. Forget being hot. “Yes,” I manage to squeak out.

“No, I don’t. But I don’t get off work for another fifteen hours and that’s a long time to wait so maybe I’ll have to make an exception.”

I smile into the phone, my body buzzing with excitement that we’re talking about this and that I have his phone number. I could for all intents and purposes send him a naked picture of me. We could sext.

“Sorry, buddy.”

“You’re not sorry. I can tell by the tone of your voice right now you’re imagining me with my hand on my dick, thinking of your wet pussy . . . aren’t you?”

Christ, he’s good at making me squirm. “Yeah, I am.” Sitting back in my chair, I fan my face with a nearby folder. “Are you?” I add, eagerly awaiting any detail he might provide.

And then he laughs, as if he was playing me the entire time. “No, I’m not. There’s a room full of guys around me. Last thing you do around them is touch your dick. Unless you’re Jay. He’s always touching himself because he can’t get his fuckin’ wife to.”

My excitement deflates. I even stick my bottom lip out. “Damn it, there goes my fantasy for later.”

“I’ll bring my mask home if you promise to wear the red dress and let me tie you up.”

I pause, acting like I have to think about it for about a minute, probably the longest minute of his life, and he sighs. “Oh, come on, don’t tell me you’re getting shy now?”

“I’m not. I’m envisioning.”

“All right, this is too much.” He laughs.

To distract himself, I think, he asks about work and how my day went.

He laughs as he tells me how he placed Coke cans under the bedposts of Owen’s bed and I almost forgot how that sound affected me. Caleb can make just about anyone smile with his warm laughter. It’s contagious.

“So . . .” He pauses. “If I were to get home in the morning, do you think there’d be a naked girl waiting for me?”

“I might be able to arrange that.”

Then his attention seems to shift. “Hey, I was . . .” There’s an uncertainty to his words, but there’s also a calmness I’ve missed so much finally returning. “I’ve got some vacation to use and I was thinking of taking a week off soon. Thought maybe we could go away for a weekend.”

“Really?” There’s no hiding the excitement in my voice.

“Yeah. I want to take you away for a little while. Get out of the city.”

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