9. Chapter 9 Primal, Needy, Wanton Heat
Chapter 9: Primal, Needy, Wanton Heat
J ENNY
Jenny jerked to a halt when she saw Wade heading for his room. The TV had been blaring for a while, but since he hadn’t made any sound, she assumed it was on for white noise. A blush suffused her entire body when she realized he might have been in the living room while she used Gloria’s gift. No, no, no.
He couldn’t know she was thinking about him the whole time she used it, could he? She had to play this cool. There was nothing she could do about blushing, but if she kept avoiding him, he’d know something was up. Why wasn’t he looking at her? Is he embarrassed? Did he guess? Or worse, did he hear her?
Oh God, oh God. Does he know what she did? Is that why he won’t turn around and face her? Was he embarrassed for her? Okay, he’s looking at her now, but it’s over his shoulder. Crap, this is somehow getting worse.
She wouldn’t die of embarrassment, but her body didn’t get the memo. Somehow, she’d surpassed the audiobook debacle. Gloria would be amused, but she was horrified. What would her friend do in this situation?
Gloria would brazen it out. No, Gloria would have invited him to join her in the first place. Oh, how she wished she were as comfortable in her sexuality as Gloria. Jenny felt guilty for the thought. Gloria’s attitude about herself and sex were hard-won, not innate.
However, her friend had no qualms about going after what—or who—she wanted. She didn’t get embarrassed easily, either. If someone didn’t return her interest, she shrugged it off and moved on with her life, rightly assuming that it was the other person’s loss. Jenny couldn’t even imagine that level of confidence.
“Sorry, if I interrupted you,” she said with fake cheer. “I just came to get a glass of water. I ate a snack and called Gloria,” she lied, “so now I’m thirsty.”
He said nothing but continued to look at her over his shoulder.
“I’m thirsty,” she rambled. “Can I get you anything?”
He cleared his throat. “No. I, uh, am gonna return Kyle’s call. Check in. Make sure everything’s going okay. I’m done with the TV now if you want it.”
Before she responded, Wade disappeared into his room. Jenny’s shoulders fell. Great. Things were even weirder now. He probably heard her masturbate, and he had to wonder what prompted it. Would he guess she thought about him and Gloria’s suggestions that she date—or at least have sex with—a geek?
She had thought of little else since her friend planted the idea. Gloria took every opportunity to remind her that she had the perfect chance for a sexy fling during this trip if she was brave enough to go for it. Jenny wanted to be brave, or at least braver.
It was Gloria’s text with the words, “Go for it!” that prompted her to open the gift and use it even though it was daytime, and Wade was in the sitting room. She’d never used a vibrator while another person was around, and she found it both terrifying and thrilling. Until she exited her room to see Wade fleeing.
Ugh, thinking about Wade in a sexual way was a terrible idea for all the reasons argued against it. She loved her job and enjoyed most of her co-workers. It wasn’t worth the hassle if things became even more awkward. Or worse. What if she expressed interest, and Wade thought she was sexually harassing him?
She needed to put that genie back in the bottle and stop viewing him as a potential romantic partner. There was too much to lose.
Good. It was settled. She’d keep an open mind to any other prospective hookups, mostly to tell Gloria she did. It wasn’t in her nature to shift from one crush to another, but it would be smarter. Safer. Less fraught.
But she couldn’t stop thinking about Wade as she drank her water. Who was right: her or Gloria? Was he attracted to her like Gloria thought, or did he think of her only as a friend and co-worker, but not as a woman?
Was Gloria right about hooking up with a geeky guy? Jenny again wondered if her friend’s comments about geeks and their attention to detail would make a difference for her.
She’d always assumed there was something wrong with her that she couldn’t orgasm with someone else, but that didn’t make sense. If a vibrator could get her off, she was physically able to come. Maybe a stranger who she wouldn’t see again would be a good idea after all.
***
JENNY
Jenny rummaged around in her laptop bag looking for her charger, but it wasn’t there. Grr. She knew she’d packed it since she’d made that mistake once before and now had it listed separately on her packing checklist.
After she removed everything from her laptop bag and searched again, she came up empty. Exasperated, she dragged everything out of the closet. Maybe her charger somehow got mixed up in her suitcase.
Since they drove, she brought much more with her than she would on a plane. Her extra luggage included a bag of snacks and bottles of water to avoid paying hotel gift shop prices and more clothes than she’d need for a week. As she dug through the rest of her bags, she set aside some workout clothes and walking shoes. Exercise would help with this ready-to-jump-out-of-her-skin feeling.
Jenny unpacked while she searched. She hung up her clothing, put shoes in the closet, and moved her toiletries to the bathroom. At Gloria’s recommendation, she also brought bath oil, a couple of bottles of wine, and a few paperbacks. Since her apartment only had a shower stall, she was excited about the garden tub.
Unfortunately, she still hadn’t found her laptop charger by the time she put everything away. She hadn’t used her laptop on the drive, so she was confident it hadn’t been left behind at any of their stops. Suddenly, she remembered that she put her laptop bag behind the passenger seat so it wouldn’t fall over.
It was still in the car, and the keys were probably in Wade’s room. If only she had charged her laptop last night. She could take notes on her tablet, but she intended to do some work this evening after the event ended. To do that, she needed her laptop to log in to the company VPN.
Jenny huffed out her breath, frustrated and torn. This was no big deal. She would explain the situation and ask to borrow the keys. Then she’d head to the fitness center and work off more frustration. Her time earlier barely dented it.
The longer she waited to talk to Wade, the harder it would be, so she should get it over with. Pull on her big girl panties and deal with it.
Thinking about Wade and her panties in the same breath was a bad idea. Why was she so terrible at even talking to men she was attracted to? She never did stupid things like this around Chad, which was a sign of something she didn’t have time to explore.
Jenny changed into her workout gear and slicked her long hair back into a ponytail. When she checked the mirror, she smiled. Yes, she was overweight, but she was also strong. And her ridiculously expensive sports bra did nice things for her cleavage while keeping her boobs in check.
She grabbed her phone and key card and slid them into her zippered pocket. After she filled her sports bottle, she ran out of ways to procrastinate. It was now or never, and she needed to check the car.
Jenny took a deep breath, relaxed her tight shoulders, and stretched her neck. She laughed. As usual, she was building it up in her mind. She’d apologize for making things awkward again, get the key, and run off with the perfect excuse of needing a workout after being in the car for so long. It was flawless.
With a smile already in place, she marched across the living area towards Wade’s doorway. However, as she raised her hand to knock, she froze at the grunting sounds that came from the other side of the door.
Jenny struggled with what to do after hearing the groans that came from Wade’s room. Was he hurt? Maybe he was epileptic and wasn’t prepared for a seizure, or perhaps he was diabetic and had gone into some kind of shock. She didn’t know his medical history and was uncertain—
Another groan came, and a scarlet flush surged over her skin. Holy shit. That wasn’t the sound of pain.
That was… heat. Primal, needy, wanton heat, and it scorched her. The sound wrapped around her. It echoed in her mind and called to all her needy places. She was hypnotized, entranced by the sensual nature of it.
Oh my god. This was her punishment for masturbating earlier, wasn’t it? First, she alienated the only guy she’d ever been attracted to who seemed to like her instead of merely tolerate her. And now she’d never be able to forget how he sounded when he jacked off.
She imagined Wade sitting on the edge of his bed, his legs spread wide as he stroked his cock. Or maybe he lay against the silky sheets, his strong legs straining as he thrust into his hand. His eyes were open but unseeing as his grip blurred around a thick, veiny erection topped by a bulbous head. Jenny bit back a groan of her own as she imagined his strong hands. God, she loved his hands.
He swirled his fingers over the pre-cum that leaked from the slit at the top. Her mouth watered as she fantasized about tasting his pre-cum as her tongue swirled around the head of his throbbing cock while he continued to masturbate. Wade let out another sound as if he could sense her excitement or smell her arousal.
The sounds of his broken breathing reached her, and her wetness increased. In her mind, she fondled his balls while he stroked himself harder and faster. Then she latched on to one of his nipples, and he choked out a breath. Jenny’s own nipples strained for his mouth, and her pussy ached to be filled.
She should have been ashamed for listening at his door, but her feet were frozen in place. Morally, she needed to leave him to his privacy, but she couldn’t. She’d never been a voyeur—was there a different word for an auditory voyeur?—but she’d also never listened to Wade get himself off before.
Then, she was struck by the idea that he was in this same position an hour ago. She had to know if his own sexual excitement was why he ran out when she left her room earlier. Rather than horror at what he overheard, did he need to take care of himself, too? For a whole hour?
Her breathing quickened at the very thought of a man with stamina. Then she imagined the two of them touching themselves as the other one watched.
Even without touching him or being touched by him, Jenny was more turned on by Wade than she could ever remember being aroused by another person. Her romances could get her hot, but not a partner. None of them tried very hard.
She bit her lip to contain the whimper that nearly escaped when Wade let loose a loud guttural moan. The sound of it was beyond description, but she wanted to hear it again. She could only imagine him in his orgasmic glory: his eyes closed, his head thrown back in passion, the cords in his neck strained as he came with several thrusts of his hips.
Suddenly, another noise shattered the quiet, and Jenny snapped back to reality. She shouldn’t be here. It was one thing to talk about sex with him, or to unintentionally overhear each other pleasuring themselves, but she should have moved on once she realized what was happening.
Even if he did the same thing, which she still didn’t know, that didn’t make it okay for her to violate his privacy so egregiously.
As quietly as she could, she fled to her room and carefully shut the door. Now she was turned on a million times more than when she hid earlier to use the vibrator, but she was already worried her vibrator could be heard in the sitting room. She’d have to save it for bath time later tonight after he went to bed.
With any luck, she’d find a sexy scene in one of her books, though she doubted it would compare with the hot-blooded man a few hundred feet away.
After a quick internal debate, she decided to head straight to the fitness center. She couldn’t stay here, or she’d scream the place down as she came. Her need for a physical outlet was even greater than it had been when she got dressed to work out.
Another thing was abundantly clear. She needed to talk to Wade about exploring a physical relationship between them, at least during their trip. There was no way some random hotel-hookup was going to compare to Wade’s attention to detail, stamina, and those sexy as fuck noises that got her so worked up. She had to figure it out. Gloria was right again.