Page 49 of Overtime

“I’m not sure you deserve the gift I got for you then.” I pretend to scowl at him.

“You got me a gift?”

“Yes, as a thank you for doing this despite the fact your PR team has been a nightmare. I’m sure they’re giving you a lot of pushback on even being here. I hope that’s not part of the reason for your bad day.”

“They’ll get over it. I’m sorry we can’t do it how you’d like.”

“It’s okay. I have an idea for how we keep them happy but do something that could be even hotter.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. But we’ll get to that in a minute. First…” I reach into my bag and pull out the black box.

“What’s this?”

“Open it.”

He undoes the box, sliding the top open and pulling back the insert, unveiling the pale teal oval and remote inside. He puzzles at it and then looks up at me.

“What’s this?”

“An apology for torturing you. I’m not promising I’ll stop, but this might even the field a little bit.”

“How so?”

I pull it out of the box and hold up the two sides. “It’s a remote-controlled vibrator, and it has a little magnetic piece here so it can be used with whatever pair you want to see me in. This is the remote. But there’s also an app it can connect to if you wantremoteaccess.”

His eyes lift to meet mine, and a smug smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

“And when are you wearing this?”

“If you’re good? Tonight.”

He grins at me and takes a step forward but stops. Frowning at the box and then at me.

“Fuck you make this hard, you know? Right now, all I can think about is kissing you.”

The burst of honesty from him about something so sweet takes me off guard, and I feel a flutter in my chest, the slight dip that makes me feel like I’m off my axis and able to spin off course any second.

“Me too,” I admit.

“Good. Then IknowI’ll get to torture you with it.” He glances back as he sets the box on a side table.

“I suppose I deserve that.”

“So what do you need me to do to get started?”

I snap back into business mode then, working him through the first set of photos I want to take. Most of them are just of him being his handsome self, relaxed, and doing his sweet Midwestern charm thing. Black and white in his street clothes and in his uniform, and then slowly shedding those clothes to reveal his chest and abs. As long as I stay behind the camera, I can forget how very real and gorgeous he is. How much I want him. But when I pause to look up… That’s when I fall apart. So I try to limit it, going through my paces as quickly and professionally as possible. Treating him just like any of the other guys.

Until we get to the last round. The one I’m not sure how he’ll react to.

“All right. Now for the hard part.”

“What’s that?”

“Did you bring the gray sweats with you?”

He pulls them out of his bag and holds them up.