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Chapter One
Oakley
Clothes being shed. My body on display, perspiration peppering my skin.
My hands are tied. A blindfold over my eyes heightened all of my other senses. A man is worshipping every inch of my body.
People are watching.
Although I can’t see them, I can feel them staring at the scene as it unfolds. Their desire in watching me fuels my ultimate fantasy.
I woke with a start, tangled in my bedsheets and completely alone. The sound of rain on my bedroom window pulled me slowly from the lingering shadows of my dream back to reality.
Fuck. My recurring dream had grown more vivid in recent nights, mocking me for something I could never have. Familiar shame washed over me. I was a good girl who’d had three sexual partners, not a deviant who got off on people watching her have sex.
Besides, hadn’t I already learned the hard way what happens when you try to push the limits of what’s considered normal in a relationship? Although it had been eight months, the judgment from my ex-boyfriend and the lasting fallout still stung.
After rolling out of bed, I got up to take a quick shower, anxious to get the day moving. I had a big weekend ahead. Getting packed was the first order of business. When the phone rang, I answered with a smile.
“Hello,” I greeted Kate, my childhood best friend. I switched the call over to my ear pods so I could pack my suitcase while talking to her. My bridesmaid dress and shoes were pulled out of my closet first since they were the most essential items for the weekend.
“Hi, you all packed?”
“Working on it as we speak.”
“You’re not packed already? I hope you don’t forget anything for the wedding.”
I had to bite my tongue at her tone, which had turned judgey lately. There was plenty of time for me to pack this morning before my ride picked me up. On top of that, I’d worked a forty-hour week in three days in order to take the upcoming two days off for her wedding.
The difference in our goals had created tension over the last few months. Maybe this was typical when best friends started to grow apart. When one stayed in their hometown and the other moved away.
“Don’t worry. I won’t forget anything.”
“I’m excited to see you.”
“Me too.” And I genuinely was. Kate had lived across the street when I was growing up, and her house had provided a safe haven during my teenage years when my parents seemed to be more concerned about fighting than about their only child. Then when my mom and dad had divorced during my senior year, Kate’s family had allowed me to stay with them to finish out high school, so I wasn’t forced to move during such an important time of my life. I owed a great deal to Kate and her family.
“How are things with Shawn?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Going well.” Shawn was a college friend of Kate’s fiancé. A month ago, she’d set us up when he’d moved to the city. We’d been out on three dates over the last three weeks, and I liked him, but I was also cautious. After my last relationship had ended in a humiliation of epic proportion, I wasn’t exactly eager for another. And there was also something about Shawn I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“I know you’re thinking about what happened with Evan.”
The name made me cringe even eight months later. I’d thought I could trust him, but in the end, he’d betrayed me.
“But you need to get back out there, and what better way than by sharing a hotel room with Shawn this weekend?”
“Yeah, it’s a big step.” The rooms were expensive at the wedding venue, but even so I hadn’t been ready to share one with Shawn. Then he’d suggested a suite with two beds so as not to pressure me and I’d cautiously agreed.
“Hopefully in a couple years, it’ll be you two getting married.”
Dude, it had been three dates. She needed to slow her roll. Ever since Kate had gotten engaged, she’d been ready for all her friends to take the plunge. And since she and her fiancé were responsible for setting me up with Shawn, she seemed even more anxious for us to work out.
In her mind, she wanted all of her friends to get married, move to upstate New York, and have babies together in the small town we’d grown up in. I shuddered at the thought. I was two years out of college and just starting in my career. Small-town living with the people she’d grown up with might be her idea of happiness, but it certainly wasn’t mine.
After moving to the Big Apple, I’d become electrified by the energy of the city. I loved my job as a marketing coordinator. Sure, my salary might be small, my apartment even smaller, but I was happy with my life here.
Since my parents had moved to different states after their divorce, there was less reason for me to return to our home town these days. Especially in January. Speaking of which: “How much snow is on the ground?”
