Page 8 of Misadventures With The Mistaken Twin
“Is he always this way?” Jack jerked his thumb toward Mike.
“Pretty much.”
“So, Violet's house? Not yours?” Jack asked as we stood there, the other men mesmerized by some fancy basketball replay.
“Oh, um. No.”
Jack just stared at me waiting for more, as if he had all the time in the world. I'd heard he was a lawyer. I guess the skill came in handy when he was trying to get the truth out of a witness on the stand.
I sighed. “There was a small fire at my house. In the kitchen, actually. It's being fixed, but in the meantime, I'm staying at Violet's.”
“And where is she?” He lifted his hand to the back of his head. “She wasn't the one who...no, you just told Mike you drove me to the ER.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You think we pulled a switch?”
Jack shrugged casually. “It wouldn't be a surprise,” he commented, his voice a little bitter sounding.
My mouth dropped open in shocked anger. “The last time we did a switch was in first grade.”
“Really?” It was clear Jack didn't believe me, his one eyebrow arched up.
“Violet,” I enunciated the name so he would be clear about who was who, “is at a conference in Utah. She's a first-grade teacher.”
“Then it really was your paddle.” Again, his eyes dropped to rake over my body, resting squarely on my chest and the breast he'd seen earlier. Maybe he had X-ray vision like Superman or was just reliving the moment. My nipples tightened even more. I felt my cheeks get hot. One glance from Jack and I melted like an ice cream cone in the summer sun.
“Why, because first-grade teachers don't use sex toys?” I asked, my voice full of snark.
“I have no idea if they do or not. I meant you swing one like you've had lots of practice.” He smiled. That great smile with one side ticked up. I'd loved his smile in high school. Right now, I just wanted to punch it right off his face. Maybe give the new paddle a test swing or two.
“Yup, lots of practice. I'll send you a bill for it.” I started to walk off but Jack's hand on my arm stopped me. It wasn’t a tight hold. Too gentle, in fact. But the heat from his touch headed south to all the important places. I picked up his dark, tantalizing scent in the air and, damn, he smelled good.
“We're exchanging bills? That's great because the one from the hospital's going to be a doozy. They did a CAT scan after all.”
Oh, brother.
“V, let's go!” Mike shouted. Jack dropped his hand and I stormed off, ready to hit him again.
6
I spent an hour standing in front of the men, my back to the fire, going over the various sex toys I'd pulled from the box. Even though they were fully grown, the guys acted like boys, coming up with lewd and totally inappropriate comments about each one. Fingertip vibrators, edible body powder, and nipple clamps were all hits. Joe even tried a clamp on himself, got it stuck and Mike had to help get it off. No way was I volunteering for that job.
I pulled a blow-up doll out of the box. “Here, can someone blow this up?”
“Mike will. He's so full of hot air!”
“Yeah, and he's had experience with blowing?—”
“Arty,” I interrupted. Shook my head. Too much information for me. Even though I worked part-time in an adult store, details of people's sex lives were not required. Nor wanted. Especially Mike's, or any of my other friends.
“Sorry,” he replied, contrite.
“A blow-up doll. Awesome!” Mike got to work, finding the little air valve and filling the doll up, one breath at a time.
“While Mike's taking care of that, here's the next thing I want to show you. It's a paddle, if you're interested in spanking play or even BDSM.” I heard Jack laugh. At me. I felt my cheeks flame and I avoided looking his way. I passed it around and they tested it against their hands.
“How do I introduce this to my wife?” Tom asked, hitting his palm gently with the fur lined side. For once, someone had a serious question. Or at least I thought so.
“You say Bonnie, this is Paddle. Paddle, this is Bonnie's ass!” Joe replied to roars of laughter.