JENNIE
Lisa didn't take me to the restaurant my mother had suggested, thankfully. We went to a fancy chef's table place in Music Row, where the entire dining room consisted of long tables arranged in a square around the open kitchen. Diners sat on the outside, watching the show as the two chefs prepared the different courses and plated them to look like art.
The food was amazing, but the company at my side was even better. Lisa wore a charcoal gray suit without a tie, and a white dress shirt with the top few buttons undone. She looked every bit the part of confident, rich doctor during the drive over in her BMW, her expensive wristwatch gleaming in the early evening sun.
I smoothed my palms down the floral dress I'd borrowed from Lilith, that was just a little too sexy and formal to call a sundress. The spaghetti strap top was simple black, cinched at the waist, but gave way to a flowing skirt patterned with cream-colored flowers. She'd also lent me a pair of gorgeous black heels, where the straps crisscrossed around my ankles and made me feel like a bombshell.
That was, until I was seated beside her in the car, heading toward dinner. My forty-year-old girlfriend was undeniably sexy, so what the hell was she doing with a barely twenty-year-old girl? I loved that she wanted to take me out, but I dreaded it at the same time. What kind of looks were we going to get from everyone at the restaurant?
Huh.
No one batted an eye at us.
Maybe my makeup and sexy dress gave me enough of an edge to look older. I had a fake ID in my purse I'd gone back and forth on bringing. Felix and I, along with a group of our friends, had bought them last semester from a shady website which I was certain was a scam, but a month later a package from China arrived at Felix's dorm. An innocuous teddy bear with six expert fake IDs stuffed inside.
I didn't get carded at dinner. Lisa ordered a bottle of white wine and the server brought two glasses. As I sat at the table, a glass of sauvignon blanc in hand, watching the sizzling skillets and impressive knife skills on display, I felt like an imposter. I was a child pretending to be an adult, but as long as I faked it convincingly, no one but Lisa would know.
Her hand rested in my lap, and I was worried I was going to vibrate out of my seat. She was so comfortable with this. With being with me. I loved every freaking minute of it and did my best to look like I belonged with her. When it was just the two of us, I did, but out in public? That was going to take some getting used to.
Course after course was served, and although I wasn't usually an adventurous eater, I ate every drop on the odd-shaped bowls and square plates, maybe even the garnish I wasn't supposed to. Wine buzzed through my system, mixing with the powerful effect of her touch on my leg.
"How is he?" I finally asked, after the last course had been served. We'd avoided talking about Felix all evening, but I couldn't put it off forever. He'd come back from North Carolina on Sunday, and tonight was the first time I was seeing Lisa since her son had returned.
Lisa's expression shuttered. "He's fine."
The mood between us shifted faster than a rabbit bolting from a cage, and I struggled with how to get it back on track. "Uh, good. How were your rounds this morning?"
"I asked him to stay at a friend's place tonight," she announced quickly.
"Oh." I hesitated. "Why?"
The hand on me moved. It slipped beneath the hem of the dress, so her palm brushed against the top of my thigh, and the bare skin contact sent a tinge of pleasure zipping to my center.
"Because," Lisa's eyes darkened a shade, "I have something to give you."
"What is it?"
"A surprise."
I inhaled deeply, and anticipation thickened my blood. Whatever Lisa had planned, she didn't want Felix around for it, and I tried to curb my enthusiasm. It was a lost cause, though. It'd been five days since I'd seen my girlfriend, and my fantasies and my own hand only got me so far. I leaned over, mustered the most seductive voice I had, and whispered in her ear.
"I can't wait."
By the time Lisa parked in the garage, my slight buzz from the wine had disappeared, and that was disappointing on multiple fronts. Walking in the ankle-breaking shoes was easier when I was distracted and not concerned about looking foolish.
Felix's Jeep wasn't in the garage, and Lisa's shoulders relaxed a degree. The tension I didn't realize I was holding left my body too. She shut off the car, climbed from the seat, and hurried around the back end of the car to open the door for me. I took her offered hand and let her help me to my feet, where I teetered on the shoes.
"Thank you for dinner," I said.
She stood so close, I breathed in her cologne, and tried not to swoon at the scent. Her arm slipped around my waist. "You're welcome. Let's go inside so you can open your birthday present."
She led me up the step into the house, but instead of taking me to the bedroom, I clip-clopped on my heels into the living room, where she sat me down on the couch. I gazed up at her, puzzled, but she just smiled and bent at the waist. She captured my face in her hands.
"This gift is kind of selfish, I'm sorry." She caressed her lips over mine, moving too quickly to call it much of a kiss.
"What?"
"Hold on, you'll see." She released her hold and stood. "I'll be right back."
I watched her disappear down the hallway to her bedroom, and then I swallowed dryly. What was she about to give me?
When Lisa reemerged, she was carrying a pale pink box tucked under an arm, and she wore an expression that was an even mixture of excitement and something that looked suspiciously like anxiety. She sank down beside me on the couch and gently set the apparel-sized box in my lap.
"Happy birthday, Jennie."
I cast my gaze down, and all the sound in the room faded out.
The pink box had a black satin ribbon banded around one corner and tied in a bow in the other, and the words Agent Provocateur were scrawled in fancy script across the top.
"I hope it all fits." Her voice was uncharacteristically tight, and then dropped low. "It does in my fantasy."
With nervous, excited fingers, I slipped the ribbon off a corner, opened the lid, and pulled the tissue paper back.
It was a bra, garter, and panty set of dusty pink tulle trimmed with black lace, and two stockings of luxurious black silk. I ran my fingers over the delicate lingerie, then slowly held the bra up to look at it closer.
"Do you like it?" she asked softly.
"It's beautiful." But the price tag dangling from the back was outrageous. "Lisa, I can't—"
"Oh, yes, you can. I told you this gift was selfish. It's more for me than you." Her eyes gleamed with mischief. "I'll send it back if it doesn't fit, but there's only one way to find out."
I grasped the sides of the box, not sure what to do. I hadn't seen the bill tonight at dinner, but it had to be a small fortune, and now this . . . I didn't want a sugar daddy.
She must have sensed how uneasy all of this made me. She set a hand on my wrist. "There's more that goes with that."
"More?" I didn't know how to feel about what she'd already given me. I mean, I liked it, but was I supposed to? Shouldn't I feel uncomfortable about it? My mother had raised me to be polite and reject gifts that were too extravagant.
She smirked, and it looked utterly indecent. "You'll like it, but you have to put that on to find out what it is."
I swallowed a heavy breath while my gaze traced the intricate lace. I wanted this sexy lingerie and was excited to see how it would look on my body. Even if I demanded she return it, I was pretty sure I wouldn't let go of the box when she tried to take it from me. But my curiosity was even greater. What else did she have planned?
"Trust me." Her words were laced with enough persuasion, my decision was made.
"Where should I change?" I stood, clutching the box in my hands, my palms clammy. I assumed she didn't want me to do it in front of her—she'd want the big reveal.
"My bedroom." Her grin was enormous, lighting up her beautiful face. "Come back out here when you're ready."
I carried my gift into her room, set it on the bed, and quietly shut the door. My heart pounded loudly in my ears as I eyed the box, and my face flushed hot, but I went to it, gripping the sides of my skirt in my hands to take off my dress. When it was done, I laid it gently on the bed, then undid the hooks of my strapless bra.
Every piece of the expensive lingerie she'd given me fit, but it took me a while to put it on. I moved painfully slowly, terrified of getting a run in the black stockings. I'd also never worn a garter belt before, and it took me a minute to figure out how to catch the top of my stocking in the clasp and lock it into place.
As I tugged the panties up over my thighs, a soft knock came from the bedroom door. "How we doing in there?"
I could picture the smile on her lips as Lisa stood on the other side of the door.
"Good, but I need another minute," I said. "So many straps," I muttered under my breath.
When I had it all on, I stepped into the shoes Lilith had lent me, doing the delicate buckles around my ankles, then strutted into the bathroom where a full-length mirror hung on her closet door.
Jesus.
The pale pink mesh of the bra, panties, and garter belt matched my skin tone. It was see-through, so the coins of my darker nipples were faintly visible. In contrast, the black lace trim drew lines on my body, crisscrossing below my waist and leading down into the straps that held the black tops of my stockings up.
I peered at the girl in the mirror and barely recognized her. I wanted to be the brunette sex kitten who was staring back at me. Her legs looked long and beautiful wrapped in black silk and ended in those fuck-me stilettos. She wasn't a teenager, she was in her twenties now, and she was about to walk out of this room, greet her girlfriend, and thank her properly for the evening.
It was darker in the living room than when I'd left it. She'd turned off the lights, but more than a dozen candles flickered around the room, from the side tables, the bookcases, and the fireplace mantel. They cast a warm glow in the space, and wavering shadows up onto the walls.
Her sharp intake of breath pulled my attention away from the room and set it firmly on her. She was still wearing her fitted gray suit and was just as breathtaking to me as I seemed to be to her. My heart fumbled along in my chest as her gaze raked over me, taking in every inch of lace and tulle adorning my curves. Her lips parted, like she was going to say something, but she only drew in another breath. Her expression dripped with unabashed lust.
Finally, her broad shoulders straightened inside her suit coat, and Lisa appeared to recover, although her voice was breathless. "You look fucking amazing."
"Thank you." I smiled. It was powerful when you felt good about how you looked. Almost like a drug, and hearing her confirm that magnified the effect. I couldn't wait to have my hands on her. "What's the other part of—"
It was then that I noticed it. In the low candlelight, I hadn't realized there was a new addition in the room. One of the wooden, armless kitchen chairs had been brought in and placed on the rug in the center of the room. It was only a chair, but in my gut, I knew it was more, and anticipation wound tighter around me.
"Do you like it," she said, "when I tell you what to do?" She took one confident step toward me, then another. "Is it one of your fantasies?"
Oh, lord. My blood sizzled. "Yes," I gasped.
Her pleased expression made my knees go weak. "I figured it was, because it's mine too."
"What's the chair for?"
She didn't take her gaze off me as she made her steady approach. She seemed to gain authority as she closed in. "That's not important right now. Everything fits, right?"
My throat welled shut as she stood over me, her attention trapping me in place. I nodded slowly, transfixed by how dazzling her eyes were. Flecks of caramel mixed with rich mocha.
"Good. Turn around," she commanded. "And hold still."