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“You asked them to do that last time.” When I don’t say anything, he says, “If you’re wondering if that makes you a bad son, I would say yes.”
“Are you trying to piss me off today?”
“A little. I wish I was in a penthouse in New York. Instead, I’m at my home office, and my cat threw up a hairball ten seconds ago that looked like it had something moving in it, my neighbors are arguing again, and I’m getting arthritis by doing all your stalker research just so a guy who makes way more money than me can save his hands to win a giant trophy that we only place importance on but is actually meaningless.”
I take my phone away from my ear to make sure I’m on the phone with Joey. Sure enough, it says I am. His voice sounds like my assistant’s, but I’m not sure where this extra spice is coming from.
“Do you feel okay? Maybe you should take the rest of the day off.”
I only hear “thank you” before he hangs up.
I can’t help but laugh when I pull the phone away and realize that he actually did hang up on me. Joey’s always a little extra, but he’s on fire today. I text my accountant and ask him to give Joey a fifteen percent raise.
Then I pull Raeann’s text thread back up.
Me: I hear it’s only polite to say thank you after something like that. I wouldn’t want her to think it didn’t mean anything to me.
Raeann: HAHAHA. I’m sure she’ll thoroughly enjoy the treats you sent after she wakes up from her comfort-induced coma.
Me: It was nice to meet you both today.
Again, her response doesn’t come in for a little while, but I stare at my phone until it does. When it buzzes in my hands, my stomach clenches.
Raeann: It was nice to meet you, too, Micah Freeman.
Raeann: (It felt a little surreal typing that out.)
I want to tell her to drop the formality because she certainly won’t be screaming my entire name when I’m buried deep inside her one day?—
Shit. I shouldn’t have let my mind go there. Now I’m hard and only getting harder. Willpower has never been my strong suit. I reach down to adjust my dick, but I don’t stop there. With images of Raeann on my mind, her dress lifted to her hips and bent over the vanity in her dressing room, I stroke my cock. Picturing her cute, upturned mouth, hearing my name with that sexy accent and the sounds that could drop from her lips, my orgasm doesn’t take long. A guttural groan escapes my throat at the same time I shudder out a pleasureful breath, my cock still jerking in my hand.
Fuck me. It was satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. The real thing would be even better. Ten times better. A hundred times better.
I definitely won’t be able to stop thinking about that now.
5
Raeann
Tab and I hold hands while the label printer spits shipping label after shipping label of all the orders that need to go out. It’s been two weeks since I was onThe Paula Show, one week since Tab made a GIF of Athena humping Micah Freeman with the title, “Pet Threads: Where Pet Needs Come First” overlaid, and six weeks since the most embarrassing video ever went viral—and continues to be seen—and this is the largest order day we’ve ever had.
Ever.
I don’t know who starts to jump up and down first, but we’re squealing and jumping before nine a.m. when the paper trail falls to the floor. So many names and addresses. So many people who saw Pet Threads’ clothes and thought they were good enough to order. Also, let’s face it. So. Much. Money.
That part has been the most overwhelming. That and trying to keep stock in. The truth is, I don’t know how to have money. I don’t know anything other than living on barely anything andscraping by. There is more money in our business account right now than I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
My train of thought goes off the rails, and before long, I’ve stopped jumping and my hand is over my mouth while tears track down my cheeks. I draw in a ragged breath.
Tab gets teary-eyed too, then places her arms around me until my face is buried in her brown hair. “I know, I know. You’re getting upset because you don’t want to hear me say ‘I told you so’ about uploading the video.”
I crack a smile and push her away playfully. She doesn’t let me get very far, though. She gives me one of her signature lopsided smiles, and I squeeze her hands that she puts in mine. “You believed in me when no one else did.”
“Of course I did. What are friends for?”
I wipe the tears from my face before flinging my arms around her again. She hugs me back just as hard. I want to pinch myself because I think we may have changed our lives forever.
She steps back. “Okay, one, we need to hire an employee. Two, we have to figure out how much stock to reorder, and three?” If possible, her smile gets wider, those blue eyes of hers shining brighter. “We should think about hiring an accountant.”