Park Avenue Player(35)

In the end, though, I rolled over and decided against it.

I can’t.

But after several minutes of lying there staring into space, insomnia won. I finally succumbed to the fact that I would need a release to fall asleep tonight. I slipped my hand under the pillow and pulled the thong out.

My heart went from racing excitedly to skipping a beat when I noticed the silky fabric. The hot pink color. This was not the same thong.

This. Was. NOT. The. Same. Thong.

I stared at it in my hand as if it were alive.

What the fuck now, Hollis?

How did she know to look under my pillow? What was she doing in my bedroom? I wanted to give her a piece of my mind for trespassing. How dare she snoop when I was at work?

But she had me exactly where she wanted me, because I couldn’t even address it to reprimand her.

I was madder at myself than Elodie. I’d caused this. Why? Because I was impulsive, horny, selfish—and a goddamn panty snatcher, apparently.

I opened my bedside drawer and threw the hot pink thong into it before slamming it closed. So much for sleeping now.

I stared at the drawer as if I’d stuffed a body in a trunk. Elodie could have taken her black thong back and left nothing behind. She could’ve snapped a photo to taunt me. Instead, she opted to leave another one. She was enjoying this little game, messing with me, capitalizing on my sexual attraction to her.

She wants me to have it.

I opened the drawer slowly and took the thong into my hands, threading the silky fabric through my fingers. I brought them to my nose and took a deep whiff in. Ohhhhh. Fuck. Me. Whereas the other pair had just come out of the wash, smelling like detergent, these smelled like a woman. She’d worn these. There was no debate left. I got up and double-checked that my door was locked.

Then I returned to bed and lay back, placing the panties over my face. Taking out my rigid cock, I stroked it hard, simultaneously breathing in. If I was going to hell for something, at least this would be worth it. And getting off to her actual scent—knowing she’d taken these off for me, knowing they’d been up against her pussy today—made me crazy.

It didn’t take long. I came fast and hard, all over my abs. One would think it had been days since I’d last jerked off, when in fact it was last night.

But as the high of my orgasm wore off, I started to come back to reality. I was back to seeing myself as a filthy pig lying here with her panties on my face. I crumpled them up, threw them in the drawer, then slammed it shut again.

***

The following afternoon, my concentration level at work was even worse than the day before. Once again, I hadn’t been able to look Elodie in the eye when I left for work this morning. I’d taken her damn panties out again when I woke up at the crack of dawn, took care of business, then left them under the pillow exactly where I’d originally found them. I wanted her to think maybe I’d done nothing at all with them, maybe I’d never found them, maybe I’d redeemed myself and no longer wanted anything to do with her.

I knew I was kidding myself. I’d had aftershave on, and she’d smell me all over them.

Maybe a part of me wanted that, too. I was sick.

Addison’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “Hello? Earth to Hollis!”

I’d been twisting a pen around in my hand when she interrupted my rumination.

I threw the pen down. “What?”

“We’ve been waiting for you in the conference room for nearly a half hour. Did you forget about the two o’clock meeting?”

Shit. I totally forgot. “Sorry. I’ll be right in.”

For the entire meeting, Addison kept staring at me, squinting…assessing. She’d known me a very long time and could see through anything.

After we left the meeting, she cornered me in my office.

“What the hell has gotten into you now, Hollis?”

At first, the thought of Addison knowing what was going on seemed mortifying. But the truth was, I could use her unbiased opinion on how to handle this situation. In the end, I was Elodie’s boss, and what I’d done was beyond inappropriate. So from both a professional and personal viewpoint, I needed input.

“Today is your lucky day, Addison.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because I’m about to give you blackmail material you can hold over my head forever.”

“Uh-oh. What did you do? And please tell me this has to do with Elodie.” She grinned. “I’ve been waiting for some juice.”

I braced myself and began to tell her the story.

***

Addison was all too amused. “You dirty dog. This is better than I ever hoped. Although I don’t know who’s worse, you or her.”

“Skip the taunting. How do I handle this?”

“I’m just kidding. This isn’t a real problem, Hollis. It’s all in good fun.”

“You don’t see a problem with this? If I stole your underwear, you could sue me for harassment, and it would ruin my career. How is this any different?”

“Well, you definitely took a risk. But I think you did it in part because you know there’s a reciprocal attraction there. You’re comfortable with her. And you also stupidly assumed you wouldn’t get caught.”

I sighed. “Okay, so what now?”

“Just see where things go. Why do you have to have a plan?”