“You’ll be alone then? If she is gone?”
I nod, which he can’t see, but he seems to sense the answer. “I know what that feels like. I want to help you, which is why—against my better judgment—I’ve agreed to let you do this project with me. I could offer you a thousand different positions working for me, but I sense that you wouldn’t accept because your sense of fair play would be offended. Somehow you think that doing these things for Malcolm, you’ve earned it.”
“Yes.” My voice is nearly inaudible. “I guess I figure that no one gets hurt that way. That I’m not taking advantage of anyone. That my debt is paid. But hey, if you want to just give me a million, I guess I’d be okay with that.”
“A personal jackpot? It’s yours. I’ll send a cashier’s check over in the morning.” He’s dead serious.
“I wish I could accept it.”
“But you won’t because you think you can do this job for me, right? What if I said that you could deliver packages for me and earn the same money?”
“I’d know I was ripping you off.”
“And you’d never sleep with me then, would you?”
“No, because it would feel like you were paying me for sex.” I hurry and add, “Not that I’m going to ever have sex with you anyway.”
“Of course.” His voice is colored with mild amusement. “Good night, Tiny. I’ll be thinking of you wearing the peach-colored panties with the flowers. You have very good taste.”
After he hangs up, I pull the box onto my lap. I know I shouldn’t but I can’t resist. Inside I find a coral pair of panties. The lace is shaped in little rosettes with vines and leaves weaving them together. The band has side bows made out of some soft stretchy material. I’m surprised that the lace isn’t itchy but rather conforms to the curves of my butt like it was custom-made. I don’t know what to believe. Did he really buy all this stuff just to get me into bed? If he only knew. I’m way easier than that. Maybe that’s how the rich do it, though. Like, they exchange presents as a courting ritual. If he expected one in return, then he was going to be sorely disappointed.
That night I sleep in the forbidden panties and dream of being chased in Central Park by a big lion. I hide under a park bench and the lion transforms into Ian, only he’s in his Batman garb and the rustling of his cape tells me it’s windy. I hop backwards and hunch down to make my small body less noticeable. As his big black cape is wafting in the wind, he leans forward to wave a carrot at me.
I creep out and grab the carrot with my paws. I’m nibbling when the net falls around me. I wake up, my little bunny heart pounding five thousand beats-per-minute. Taking a deep breath, I orient myself. Ian scares and attracts me at the same time and by the accelerated rate of my heartbeat, it seems the best thing I can do is to stay away—or as away as I can now that I’m his indentured servant.
Despite the expert fit of the panties, I feel constricted, as if he’s tightening his hold on me through my dreams. I can’t escape him—and worse, I don’t even want to.
Chapter 9
THE NEXT MORNING, I WAKE to the default ring tone on my phone and I know even before I answer it is Ian. “Bunny.” He sounds pleased.
“I don’t really like the name Bunny. I had bad dreams about being a bunny last night.”
“What was I doing?"
“Why do you think you were in my dream? I said I had a nightmare about being a bunny.”
“I’m imprinted in your brain now. It’s why you knew it was me before you even heard my voice.”
“Huh.” I don’t know how he knows this, so I remain silent.
“So what was I doing?”
“You were wearing your Batman costume, holding a carrot.” I’m not good at subterfuge.
“Did you come out and get your carrot?” The last word comes out slowly. There’s some high-level player skill at work here. He’s making the name of a vegetable sound like a sexy caress. I press my palm to my forehead like I’m a Victorian maiden. I’m not swooning, though, I’m trying to keep my emotions in check.
“I think you were going to kill me, but I woke up before that gruesome event occurred.”
“If you suffered death at my hands, bunny, it would be in my bed and you’d still be breathing after you rode it out.”
I cough at his explicit suggestion that he’d be giving me an orgasm. “So is the gift part of the extras that come with the job you want me to do?" It had bugged me last night.
“No,” he says curtly. “What we do together is between us and completely separate from the job.”