Rock My World

“Thanks.” She grabbed up her duffel and made her way through the darkened furniture displays toward the bathroom. Minus the piped-in music and crowds of shoppers, this part of the store was downright creepy. A display of lamps cast long shadows across the floor and an overstuffed chair loomed like a crouching beast. She hurried to the bathroom and hummed to herself while she washed her face and brushed her teeth, then raced back to the bed, grateful for Adam’s solid presence.

While he took his turn in the bathroom, she snuggled under the covers. The bedside lamps cast pools of golden light across the bed, making it a cozy island in the surrounding darkness. Whereas the silence had seemed unnatural in the rest of the store, their luxurious display seemed peaceful.

She settled back against the pillows and gazed into the darkness, letting the quiet wash over her. How odd to be here, in what was a somewhat impossible situation. And yet, how wonderful it all was too. At that moment, she wouldn’t have traded places with anyone.

Then she heard Adam’s footsteps approaching, the heels of his slippers slapping on the tile showroom floor. He stepped into the pool of light, looking larger than he had before, and smelling of herbal soap. Her stomach gave a nervous shimmy, but she forced a smile and patted the covers beside her. “Come on in. It’s very cozy.”

He avoided looking at her, but turned back the covers and climbed in, reaching over to switch off the lamp on his side. She turned off her lamp also, and lay back in the darkness, aware of the weight of him beside her, the bed creaking and covers shifting as he made himself comfortable.

“I hope you don’t snore,” she said, her tone teasing.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “No one’s ever complained before.”

“Oh. Have there been a lot of someones?” The darkness made her bold.

Silence stretched between them and she was afraid she’d gone too far. She turned toward him, barely making out his silhouette in the darkness. He cleared his throat. “Not that many. You?”

She shook her head, then realized he couldn’t see her. “Not many.” Six actually, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Oh. Um, just so you know, I, um…”

She held her breath, waiting for him to finish the sentence. He sounded so serious, as if he was about to confess something important—maybe his real feelings for her?

“Never mind. It’s not important. Good night.” He rolled over, his back to her.

She stared at him, tempted to grab one of the pillows and whomp him over the head with it. But a pillow wasn’t hard enough to knock any real sense into him. Besides, getting into a fight their first night wasn’t going to make the next two days any easier.

She sighed and turned her back to him. She shut her eyes tight and willed herself to breathe more slowly, faking sleep. She doubted she’d get any rest, but the exhaustion of the day got the better of her. Before she knew it, her body relaxed and she drifted off.

ADAM WAS DREAMING, one of those amazing erotic dreams from which he never wanted to wake. He was with a woman, of course, a warm, soft woman. His hands embraced her firm breasts and her bottom was cradled against his erection. She smelled like sweet flowers and her hair felt like silk against his face. He didn’t know who she was, but he didn’t particularly care. She was a dream woman, a product of his imagination.

The fact that he realized this told him he wasn’t too deeply into the dream. In fact, he could feel morning tugging at him, pulling him from sleep, but he resisted, holding on to the woman. He had to hand it to his subconscious—it had conjured up an amazing fantasy female this time. She made a little moaning sound and snuggled closer, sharpening his arousal. He caught his breath as her nipple hardened and pressed against his palm. He buried his face in her neck, his lips against her hot, smooth skin as he thrust against her. He wished she’d turn over. In a minute, he’d see if he could manage it, but the trouble with dreams was that it wasn’t always easy to move, especially when he was so close to waking.

He shifted his hand to her waist, across the curve of her hip, pressing down. Obligingly she rolled onto her back, flipping onto her side to face him. Her arms slipped around him and for the first time he registered that she was wearing clothes, the soft cotton of her pajamas brushing against him.

Eyes still shut tight, he frowned. Since when did his dream fantasies wear clothes? And pajamas at that. If anything, this woman ought to be wearing some silky negligee. Or better yet, nothing at all.

He tugged at the edge of the pajama top, determined to remedy this matter. Obviously his subconscious wanted to make fulfilling this fantasy more challenging.

She was kissing him now, tracing the line of his jaw with her tongue. He groaned, trying to hold back the wakefulness stealing over him. Just a little longer. At least until he got her undressed and he was inside her…

Noises disrupted his concentration—footsteps, the clang of metal, distant voices drawing nearer. He winced against a sudden flare of light against his closed eyelids and groaned. Not yet. Only a few minutes more…

The dream woman gave a small squeal and shoved away from him, even as he tried to hold her.

“Adam, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The words jerked him awake more effectively than a bucket of ice water. He opened his eyes, squinting against the glare of bright overhead lights, and stared into the frowning face of the station manager, Carl.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Carl asked again.

4

“NOTHING.” Adam rolled away from Erica and sat up. “We weren’t doing anything.” He slid his gaze to his bed partner. She was sitting up, too, the covers tucked up under her breasts.

The breasts that had been pressed again his chest seconds ago, so warm and soft…

He swallowed a groan and looked at Carl again. He couldn’t say the sight made him feel any better. His boss was frowning, his bottom lip jutted out.

“Are you sure it was nothing?” Carl directed the question at Erica. “You two looked pretty cozy just now.”

Erica smiled. Except for the heightened flush of her cheeks, she didn’t give away that anything out of the ordinary had happened. How was it someone who had just awakened could look so dazzling? “Don’t be silly, Carl. We’re both still fully clothed, aren’t we?”

He could think of a lot of not-so-innocent things they could do that wouldn’t require them to get undressed, but now wasn’t the time to mention them. And as long as they worked together, there wouldn’t be a time to mention them.

“See that you stay that way,” Carl grumped.

She turned toward Adam and looked at him through lowered lashes. “Adam’s been a perfect gentleman,” she said.

Right. A perfect gentleman with an incredible hard-on.

Carl looked unconvinced, but he didn’t protest. “I came by to give you some good news.”

“What’s that?” Adam asked. Were they going to end this silly stunt before it got out of hand? Not that it was exactly under control at the moment.

“Mattress Max likes what you’re doing so much that he’s pledged to donate ten thousand dollars to the Salvation Army for their shelter.”

“That’s fantastic.” Erica wrapped her arms around her knees and grinned. “That will almost double the money we’ve raised.”

“The money isn’t ours—or rather the Salvation Army’s—yet,” Carl said. “Max won’t pay it unless you stay here the full seventy-five hours. Until Monday at 9:00 a.m.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” She turned to Adam. “We can do it, can’t we?”

“Yeah, sure.” He tried to inject a little more cheerfulness into his voice. “We’re barely getting started here.”

Carl stepped back, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “All right, then. You can announce the offer on the air during your show. It should pump up the excitement a little. We don’t want things to start getting too dull.”

“I’m certainly not bored,” Erica said.

“Me, neither.” He was horny, frustrated, sleep-deprived and aggravated, but he wasn’t bored.

“I’d better go freshen up before the show starts.”

Both men watched as she climbed out of bed and picked up her duffel. “I’ll be right back,” she said.

When she was gone, Carl’s scowl returned. “Don’t forget this place is full of cameras,” he said.

“I know.”