He stepped out to get rid of the condom while I washed my hair. We helped each other clean up, and I giggled as he made my breasts super clean. The water had gone cold by the time I washed the conditioner out of my hair.
Ever the gentleman, he handed me a towel when we got out, and I dried myself off. I dressed quickly and ran the blow dryer through my hair. I braided it so it was out of my face, not caring if it was still damp.
Blaise stood in my hallway, looking down my steps, when I came out of my room, dressed and ready to leave. “What?” I asked.
“You need a railing. Is that even code?”
I shrugged. “It’s fine. Let’s go.”
He walked down the steps behind me, and I locked up my apartment. The ride to South Street wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. Blaise was nursing some sort of heartbreak, so maybe a no-strings night of animalistic fucking was just what he needed.
“So how many siblings do you have?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation light to pass the time.
“Six.”
“Six of you?” I exclaimed. “All boys?”
He laughed. “My parents were only children. I have one sister, Maja. Her and Michael are twins.”
“That’s wild. I have one older brother. I think.”
“You think?”
I frowned. “My mom ran off when I was a baby. Who knows? I might have other siblings.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. My mom’s gone too, but it was cancer.”
That one I already knew. Hal was a total silver fox, and ladies certainly took notice of him. I’ve sat at his bar many times and watched him flirt with women until they propositioned him. I thought he had a rule about not dating customers. When I asked him why he never took up their offers, he pointed to his wedding ring and said he was still in love with his dead wife.
Blaise’s knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel. He was tense, and I got the feeling talking about his mom was hard.
“I’m sorry,” I offered.
He unclenched his fists and gave me a weak smile. “It was a long time ago.”
“Your dad still wears his wedding ring.”
He made a grumpy noise in his throat.
“What?”
“My mom’s death broke him. I don’t want to be like him.”
Before I could ask him what he meant, he turned down onto South Street and miraculously found a parking spot in front of the shop. That never happened.
“Thanks for driving me to work.”
His hand clasped my thigh tightly. “Thanks for the good time last night and this morning.”
He had that cocky grin on his face again. Blaise Holmstrom would be a hook-up for the books. “It was a good time. Thanks for the ride!”
His smirk grew. “See you around, sweets.”
“Bye, hockey boy!”
I got out of his car before I did something foolish like kiss him goodbye. I walked into the shop and one look at our receptionist, Olivia Yang, did me in.
“You look like hell,” my bestie quipped.
“Just got my world rocked all night long.”
She laughed and I went into the office to drop my purse and look at the schedule. I was working a lot for Andy, but I needed the money, so it was okay.
Olivia came into the office, waving a Wawa coffee and a bag that was definitely a greasy breakfast burrito. That was why this girl was my best friend. She arched a black eyebrow at me, and it looked flawless against her olive-toned complexion.
“Girl, eat before you work,” she ordered. She slumped into the seat in front of me with a grin. “And tell me all about your night. Date that good, huh?”
I shook my head. “Nah, it was a bust.”
“Really?” she asked but narrowed her eyes at a spot on my neck. “So why do you look like you were ravished last night? Also, you have a bite mark on your neck.”
“Ravished? You gotta stop reading so many historical romances. I got laid, just not with my date,” I explained.
Olivia shook her head at me but grinned in amusement. “What am I gonna do with you?”
My face flushed at her words because they were pretty damn close to what Blaise had said to me last night before he held me across his thick thighs and spanked me like the bad girl we both knew I was. It had been nice to be with a man who took control and let me feel free. Sleeping with Blaise Holmstrom had been a Grade A good idea.
Olivia threw some napkins at me and I sipped on the ‘black like my soul’ coffee she brought me.
“Spill,” she ordered.
I smirked. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Bullshit, you love giving me play-by-plays of your recent conquests.”
I waggled my eyebrows at her and shoved more of my burrito into my face. I loved that Olivia never slut-shamed me for the past year while I discovered the hook-up game. It was nice she didn’t think only men were allowed to do that shit. Because that was utter bullshit. The good news about my promiscuous side? I wasn’t bad at sex like Seth told me. The bad news? He definitely was.
“Hockey player,” I answered.
“From the Bulldogs?”
I shook my head. “He’s from here, but he plays for Toronto. He was sweet at first. He said he didn’t do one-night stands.”
“Aw,” she cooed. “Did you believe him?”
I nodded. “He was going through a breakup, and I think it had been a while for him. But he seemed to know what I wanted. And…”
Olivia’s dark brown eyes lit up. “And what?”
“He used a sex toy on me and let me tie him up later,” I gushed.
Her eyes got wide.
Olivia was into what I would call ‘vanilla sex.’ Not to her face, but when we got drunk after my break up, and I revealed I liked to get my ass slapped during sex, I thought her head would explode. It was okay to enjoy vanilla sex, but it was okay to like what I liked too. What wasn’t okay was to judge people about their desires.
“Wow, are you going to see him again?” she asked.
I gave her a sour look. “One, he lives in Canada. Two, I only do casual.”
She frowned. For the past year, Olivia had been trying to get me to see that I could find love again. I had a good guy, and then he walked away. So what was the point?
“Was he hot?” she asked instead of pressing the issue I knew she really wanted to talk about.
“So hot, like muscles on his muscles, big ass I wanted to take a bite out of and thick muscular thighs. Mmm…he was delicious.”
She laughed. “Oh, my God! Well, anyway, eat quickly because Andy left us hanging.”
I sighed, but she pulled out a piece of paper and started reading off it. “I also had someone call specifically asking for you. An Aaron Riley? Ring any bells? Rox Desjardins referred him.”
I chewed thoughtfully and sipped on the last of my coffee. The name didn’t ring any bells, but Rox did. I did a big piece on her thigh last winter. It was a collection of different-sized blue snowflakes running from the top of her hip to mid-thigh. If she was bringing me more clients, I might do her touch-ups for free. Okay, not really because I needed the money, but it was cool she was referring people to me.
I held my hand out, and Olivia handed me the schedule book so I could look over my clients for the day. “Can you call him and tell him I have an opening today?”