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gone on in the dressing room. To her surprise, Jennifer felt a little thrill at the thought.
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Chapter 5
“I had a really great time last night,” Jennifer told Nik over breakfast the next morning. When he chuckled, she blushingly added, “I’m not just talking about what we did in the fitting room.” She smiled. “Though saying that was great is an understatement. I meant going out to dinner with Stacy and Craig.”
Nik sipped his coffee. “Yeah, I had a good time, too.
They’re fun to hang out with,” he agreed, then grinned. “Of course, hanging out with you in that fitting room was even better.”
Jennifer laughed as she picked up her own coffee cup with a blush. “That was absolutely the most outrageous thing I’ve ever done. I kept thinking we were going to get caught any second.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, me too. That made it even better.”
“Oh, definitely! I’ve never been so turned on in my life!”
she said, giving him a shy look over the mug’s rim. “And to tell you the truth, one of the things that made it so hot was knowing that Stacy and Craig were standing right outside the door!”
Nik lifted a brow. “Oh, really? That got you hot, huh?”
Jennifer felt her face color even more. God, she wished she would quit doing that! It seemed like she was blushing all 58
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the time lately. She couldn’t believe she was telling Nik this, but after admitting to him that she was into spanking, it just seemed natural to tell him about this, too. “Uh-huh, it really did,” she told him shyly. “The thought that Stacy and Craig could open the door at any moment and see us having sex was just about enough to send me over the edge all by itself! I never would have dreamed something like that could be so exciting!”
Now that she’d actually said it out loud, Jennifer discovered that she wasn’t nearly as embarrassed as she thought she’d be. That only confirmed to her how comfortable she was with Nik. She felt like there wasn’t anything she couldn’t tell him.
“It’s not really that strange, you know,” Nik said, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table. “Lots of people get turned on by the thought of having sex in front of an au-dience.”
“Well, yeah,” she said. “I’ve even written some exhibitionist stuff in my books, but I didn’t think I’d be the type of person to go for that.”
The corner of his mouth edged up. “A little fantasizing never hurt anyone.”
Jennifer said nothing as she sipped her coffee. She was certainly in agreement with that. She was definitely a pro when it came to fantasizing.
As they finished breakfast, Nik regarded her thoughtfully.
“You know, we should go out with Stacy and Craig again sometime. Or maybe ask them to come over for dinner. You could make that awesome taco-lasagna thing of yours, and we could play cards or something.”
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Jennifer set down her mug.
That was a great idea.
The other couple had taken them to dinner last night, so they should return the favor.
“That does sound like fun,” she agreed. “You want to do it tonight? I could call and find out if they’re busy.”
He nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
As it turned out, Stacy and Craig didn’t have any plans for that evening. “We’d love to come,” her friend said. “But I have to warn you, I don’t know the first thing about playing poker.”
Jennifer laughed. “Me, either,” she said. “But I’m sure the guys won’t mind teaching us.”
Since Jennifer didn’t have the stuff she needed to make what Nik liked to call her world-famous taco lasagna, she and her boyfriend went grocery shopping later that morning. On the way back, they made a quick stop at his place to pick up the poker chips and cards, then spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready for the impromptu dinner party that evening.
After what she and Nik had done in the lingerie store the night before, Jennifer thought she might be a little embarrassed in front of Stacy and Craig when she saw them again.
But to her surprise, when they got there that night, she wasn’t uncomfortable around them at all. In fact, every time she looked at the other couple, all she could think about was how excited she’d been by the thought of them walking in on her and Nik while they’d been having sex. Of course, as exciting as it seemed, if Stacy and Craig had actually walked in on them, she probably would have been completely mortified. If that were true, though, then why was her pulse fluttering?
Shaking her head at the direction of her thoughts, Jennifer picked up the casserole dish and carried it over to the table.
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While it might not be world-famous, her taco lasagna was still a big hit, and as the conversation moved from one thing to another during dinner, Jennifer found the images of having sex in front of Stacy and Craig fading into the background.
As she and Stacy were clearing the table afterward, however, the risqué thoughts came back in a rush.
“You and Nik seemed to have fun in that fitting room last night,” her friend remarked as she set the stack of dishes down on the kitchen counter.
Jennifer glanced over to where the men were readying the table for the poker game to make sure they hadn’t heard.
“Could you and Craig hear what we were doing in there?”
she asked softly, looking at her friend.
Stacy laughed. “Not really. But I have a pretty good idea.
Nik gave you a spanking, right?”
Jennifer picked up the dinner plates and loaded them into the dishwasher. “Just a quick one,” she said, trying to make her voice sound casual.
“It couldn’t have been that quick,” Stacy protested. “You two were in there for a long time.”
Jennifer knew that was Stacy’s not-so-subtle way of asking for details. “Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that quick.” She gave her friend a sidelong glance as she closed the dishwasher.
“Then again, that wasn’t all we did in there, either.”
Stacy laughed. “I knew it!” she said, then lowered her voice. “So, was it hot? Doing it in the fitting room like that, I mean.”
Jennifer paused in the act of washing her hands to look at her friend in surprise. “Don’t tell me that you’ve never had sex in a public place?”
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Stacy shrugged. “Well, never in a fitting room,” she said.
“So, was it hot or not?”
Jennifer smiled. “Oh, it was definitely hot! And doing it with all those mirrors around was so damn sexy!” Taking the towel off the rack beside the sink, she leaned back against the counter as she dried her hands. “You know, I never would have done anything like that with any of the other guys I dated,” she admitted. “But Nik is different. I’m just so completely comfortable with him. It’s like we were made for each other.”
Stacy eyed her thoughtfully. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yeah, I think I am,” Jennifer said with a smile. “I think I love him.”
Just saying the words made her heart begin to pound.
Wow, she really did love him!
Her friend returned her smile. “Have you told him yet?”
Jennifer’s gaze went to her tall, dark-haired boyfriend. As if sensing her eyes on him, Nik looked her way and gave her a wink. “Not yet,” she said to Stacy. “But I’m definitely going to.”
Beside Nik, Stacy’s boyfriend looked up. “You girls ready to play some poker?” Craig asked.
Stacy grinned. “Only if you two are ready to show us how,” she said, walking across the room to give him a kiss.
The guys were only too happy to show them how to play poker. Having never even so much as watched a game before, Jennifer was actually kind of surprised at how quickly she picked it up. Guys made it seem like it was so complicated, but it was actually kind of simple. The only thing she couldn’t seem to get was when to raise someone’s bet and when to call 62
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them on it, but she was sure she’d get the hang of it with enough practice.
They’d been playing about an hour or so, with Jennifer doing more losing than winning, when she finally got a great hand. Or at least she thought it was great. Trying to covertly look at the cheat-sheet that Nik had made up for her, she was pretty sure her two jacks and three queens would probably beat anything anyone else had. Jennifer fingered her small stack of chips excitedly, eager to place her bet. As she did, she had to work hard to keep a “poker face.” Nik had said it was important not to give away when you had a good hand. Dang, that was tough. She was almost bouncing in her seat!
To her chagrin, however, everyone else seemed to have a terrific hand, too, because the pot in the center of the table kept getting bigger and bigger. As the bid came around to her, Jennifer frowned when she realized she was down to her last two chips.
“I don’t have enough chips left,” she said.
“Then you’ll have to fold,” Nik told her.
Her frown deepened. “But I don’t want to fold. I have a really good hand.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to tell us that,” Stacy said with a laugh.
Jennifer ignored her friend. Who cared about a stupid, old poker face anyway! She just wanted to win a big hand.
“Couldn’t I just give you guys an IOU or something?” she asked Nik.
Her boyfriend leaned forward to rest his forearms on the table, clearly intrigued by the idea. “Maybe,” he allowed. “But you realize you’ll have to make a separate IOU with each one of us. And we’ll each get to name our price.”
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Jennifer chewed on her lip while she considered her cards. She knew she had a good hand, and she was starting to think that Nik was trying to talk her into folding. She’d bet that he didn’t have anything. “Okay,” she agreed, refusing to let him bully her.
Nik grinned. “Stacy?” he said, looking across the table at the dark-haired girl.
Stacy thought a moment. “If I win, you have to write a sequel to your first book,” she finally said. “You know the one I love so much.”
Jennifer should have known. Stacy had been begging for a sequel to that story for years. “Deal,” she told her friend.
“Craig?” Nik asked.
“I want a batch of chocolate chip cookies,” he said without hesitation.
Jennifer almost laughed at the offended look Stacy gave her boyfriend. It was no secret that Stacy couldn’t cook a pot of water. If Craig wanted homemade cookies, he’d have to make them himself. “Done,” she said.
With their demands out of the way, Jennifer turned to her boyfriend. “How about you?”
Nik grinned. Leaning over in his chair, he whispered in her ear.
When he was done, Jennifer pulled back to look at him in surprise. But her boyfriend only lifted a brow.
“Okay,” she said, then smiled. “But I win either way. You know that, right?”
Nik just grinned.
Stacy frowned. “So, what did you ask for?”
Nik’s grin broadened. “Just a favor,” he said. Before Stacy could prompt him for details, he looked at Jennifer. “So, I 64
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think that settles it. Go ahead and show us this really good hand of yours, sweetheart.”
Giving him a smug smile, she placed her cards down on the table face-up.
Nik’s brows shot up. “A full house,” he said. “Damn, you do have a good hand.”
Jennifer gave him a superior look. “Told you,” she said, then looked at Stacy.
The other girl made a face. “I got nothing,” she said, toss-ing her cards on the table.
Jennifer looked at Craig. He snorted in disgust and tossed his cards on the table beside his girlfriend’s. “I got even less that Stace. So much for chocolate chip cookies.”
“Don’t worry,” Stacey cooed. “We’ll stop by the bakery on the way home.”
Jennifer laughed and turned her gaze on Nik. “Well?”
He slowly placed his cards on the table. “Well, I only have two pairs: a pair of black aces…and a pair of red aces.”
Jennifer stared at the four aces, confused. “Does that beat my full house?” she asked.
Nik nodded. “Every time.”
She pouted her lips in frustration. She’d really thought she had a good hand! Suddenly, she remembered the words Nik had whispered in her ear, and she smiled. “I guess you win, then.”
“I guess so,” he drawled. “You ready to pay up?”
She started to nod, assuming he meant after their friends had left, but when he continued to look at her expectantly, her eyes went wide. “You mean now?”
Her boyfriend shrugged. “I did say at a time and place of my choosing.”
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She glanced at Stacy and Craig. “Yeah, I know, but…”
“I don’t think Stacy and Craig will mind if I take you in the bedroom and give you a spanking,” Nik said.
Jennifer blushed. She couldn’t believe he’d just said that in front of their friends! “Nik!”
“A spanking? Well, now I can see what Jennifer meant when she said she’d win either way.” Stacy laughed. “You don’t have to go into the bedroom, though. Craig and I don’t mind if you do it out here.” She glanced at her boyfriend. “Do we, hon?”
Craig grinned. “Not at all. She did lose the bet, so it only seems fair.”
“See, sweetheart? I told you they wouldn’t mind,” Nik said to her. “Why don’t you go get the paddle I bought you and meet us in the living room?”
Jennifer looked at the three of them in disbelief. If she didn’t know better, she’d think they planned this whole thing.
So, what was she going to do about it? Should she back out on the deal she’d made with Nik, or let him spank her right there in front of their friends? She knew the answer without even having to think about it.
She met Nik’s gaze. “I’ll be right back.”
Pushing back her chair, Jennifer got to her feet and walked over to her bedroom. Dear heavens, was she really going to do this? She took the paddle out of the bedside table.
The heroines in her books had gotten spanked in public countless times, and writing about it had always turned her on like crazy. Heck, she’d fantasized about getting spanked in public herself more than a few times. But could she actually go out there and get a spanking while her friends watched?