Six Naughty Nights: Love in Reverse, Book 2 (5 page)

Finally, she raised her gaze to meet his, surprised to see his eyes shining. They both looked down at their son.

His brow had furrowed. He blinked a few times as he looked up at Toby. “You’re my daddy?”

“Yep. ’Fraid so.” Toby’s voice was husky.

Charlie returned to the bottle and sucked for a while. He didn’t say anything—he just lay there and studied Toby thoughtfully. But eventually he picked up Bear and offered him to his father.

Toby inhaled, then swallowed as he reached out and accepted the offering. “Thanks.” He looked at Bear, brushed some more dust off his nose and kissed one of his little round ears before handing him back. “You look after him for me, though.”

Charlie pushed Bear back under his arm. His gaze moved to his mother, and she bent and kissed his forehead again, more touched by his reaction than she could say.

Charlie’s eyelids drooped as he pulled the bottle out of his mouth and murmured, “Daddy’s willy is bigger than mine.”

They both laughed. “Yes, it is,” she said, unable to stop a smile stealing onto her lips. She sent Toby an apologetic look. “Sorry. He has a fixation with his penis at the moment.”

“Like father, like son,” Toby grunted, settling down. “Don’t expect that to change any time soon.”

She chuckled and curled around Charlie as his eyes finally closed. She’d lost her home, all her belongings—it had been a terrible day.

And yet as she dozed off, her heart was filled with smiles.

Chapter Five

When Toby awoke, it was still dark. His eyes were blurry with sleep, but he blinked them clear as he realised the bed was empty.

The voices in the room convinced him Esther and Charlie hadn’t left, though. He raised his head and saw them on the floor with his torch, looking at a magazine.

Moving to the end of the bed, he looked down, relieved to find it was only a copy of
GQ
and not a
Playboy
. “Hey, you two. It’s the middle of the night.”

“Sorry,” Esther said. “Charlie doesn’t do quiet.”

“What’s the time?”

“Five thirty. That’s a lie in, for him.”

“Jeez.” Toby sighed. “What are you doing down there?”

“Trying not to wake you.”

“And failing.” He held out a hand. “Come on, get up here, both of you.”

“We’re perfectly fine…” Her voice trailed off as Charlie scampered to his feet and tried to climb onto the bed. Toby switched on the bedside light and helped him up. She mumbled something he couldn’t hear and passed them the magazine.

Toby leaned back on the pillows, and Charlie sat upright next to him, turning the pages and giving him a running commentary. Esther got to her feet and wandered around the room, examining his belongings. Toby let her, wondering what she was looking for, content to watch her move around and gain the occasional glimpse of her pink panties beneath the T-shirt.

“Red car,” Charlie said, pointing to the vehicle in the picture.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s a Ferrari.”

“It’s red.”

“Yes, it’s a red Ferrari.”

“’Rari,” said Charlie. “’Raris are good cars?”

“Ferraris are fantastic cars. They’ll get you a great girlfriend.”

Charlie blew a raspberry. “Girls suck.”

“Only the good ones.”

Esther gave him a glance, half-amused, half-exasperated. He grinned back. “What are you looking for?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. Just seeing what you’ve got here.”

“Not much. I’ve only been here six weeks and I’m going back Saturday.” He thought it best to tell her, get it out of the way. “One of my mates is getting married. I’m best man.”

“Crikey. He wants the church in one piece, does he?” She obviously remembered how clumsy he was. Two left feet and fingers too large to press the buttons on most phones didn’t make for elegant manoeuvring.
 

“Ha ha.” He pointed to the rugby player in the magazine. “Who’s this?”

“Don’t know,” Charlie said.

“Don’t know? Esther, what have you been teaching the boy? Charlie, this is Dan Carter, king of the All Blacks.”

“Dan?”

“Yes. He’s a superhero.”

“Like Superman?”

“Just like Superman.”

“Does he fly?”

“He’s a fly-half, that’s almost as good.”

“Jeez.” Esther didn’t look around. “I can see what effect you’re going to have on his education.”

“Listen, knowing who Dan Carter is will be more of a life skill for him than knowing who Shakespeare is, believe me.”

“You’re probably right.” She sighed.

He rolled onto his back and put his hands behind his head. “Do you still work at the university?”

“Yes. At least I did. I presume it’s still standing. I lecture there three days a week. Charlie goes to daycare.” She looked through the half a dozen books resting on the shelf and picked one up. When she turned, the pleasure on her face made him smile. “
To Kill a Mockingbird
?”

“So it is.”

“I suggested you read that.”

“I know. Hence the book.”

She looked puzzled. “You’re reading it because of me?”

“Yes. I’ve already read it twice. I thought I’d bring it with me, for something to do.”

Her lips twitched. “Along with the
Playboy
s under the bed.”

“Ah…”

She laughed. “It’s all right. I put them in your suitcase, by the way. I’d be the same if I didn’t have Mr. Nosey around asking questions.”

That didn’t surprise him. She’d found a magazine in his suitcase in Fiji and had read one of the sexy stories to him in bed, and then they’d discussed which model they’d have join them for a threesome. It had led to a particularly raunchy lovemaking session, if his memory served him correctly.

He shifted away from Charlie, who seemed content to continue his quiet commentary as he flicked through the magazine. The last thing he wanted was his son remarking on any changes happening to his body under the covers.

Esther rubbed her thumb over the cover of the book, studying the picture. What was she thinking?
 

“Are you considering that maybe Charlie already knows more about classical literature than I do?” he asked her.

“He
could
probably give me more quotes from
Macbeth
than you.”

He smiled. “I am unsurprisingly dense about Chaucer’s work.” It was a joke, and her wry glance told him she’d guessed that.

“You’re not dense. You’re uneducated. There’s a difference. It’s not your fault you went to a crap school.”

“I guess.”

She frowned at him. “You were like this three years ago—I thought you might have moved on since then. Why do you insist you’re stupid?”

He shrugged, unoffended. “It’s difficult to think otherwise when I’m surrounded by clever people.”

“Like…”

“My brothers. We went to the same high school, but they somehow managed to rise above the mediocre teaching we were offered. One’s a doctor and one’s a lawyer. I guess I was at the back of the queue when the smart genes were handed out.”

She turned to face him and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “That’s rubbish. You’re intelligent. You just don’t like to show it. I bet you have no trouble using maths when you’re at work.”

It was true—he found it easy to calculate measurements and quantities that some of the other builders struggled with. That didn’t convince him he was clever, though.
 

He turned a page for Charlie and held the magazine up for him to investigate the advert for aftershave as he continued, “Look, I can talk about wall frames, exterior claddings and timber weatherboards until the cows come home. But it sounds surprisingly unimpressive when one of your best mates is a history teacher and the other is manager of a large computer firm. I’m not complaining. I like my job. And anyway, I have plans. I’m going to university next year.”

Her eyes widened. “To study what?”

“Architecture. Soon I’ll have a degree along with the rest of them.”

He’d thought she’d be impressed by that. Instead, however, she frowned. “Is that really what you want to do?”

He blinked, confused. When he’d told his family and friends, everyone had praised him for his ambition, pleased he’d finally committed himself to a real and impressive career. “Don’t you think it’s a good idea?” he asked, hurt she hadn’t reacted the same way.

“It doesn’t matter what I think.” She turned away and continued brushing her fingers along the bits and pieces he’d left on the shelf. “What’s this?”

He glanced over. She’d picked up a small box from the corner of his suitcase labelled
Naughty Nights
in fancy red script. The picture on the front was a stylised version of a couple engaged in an interesting sexual act. Alarm shot through him and he glanced at Charlie, who luckily was fascinated by an article about different kinds of wristwatches. “Oh Christ, it’s not what you think.” What with this and the magazines she’d found, he wasn’t coming across well.

Chapter Six

“It’s not a sex game?” Esther was teasing him, but Toby looked horrified that she’d found the box.

He winced. “Okay… So it
is
what you think. It’s not mine, is what I meant.”

“One of your girls left it here?” She made her voice innocent, trying not to laugh at his pained expression as she took off the lid and pulled out a handful of the cards.

“One of my… Jeez, Esther, I haven’t had any girls up here. Hence the
Playboy
s.”

That
she found hard to believe. “You haven’t had sex for six weeks?”

“I haven’t had sex for six months, but that’s another story. No, Faith gave it to me. She’s Rusty’s wife.”
 

He’d told her about Rusty and Dan—his best mates—in Fiji. “Your best mate’s wife gave you a sex game?”

“No. I mean yes. Look, she writes for a women’s magazine. She writes this column about sex, about ways to spice up your love life. It’s how she and Rusty became an item—he offered to help her investigate the sins and they ended up staying together.”

Esther stared at him, surprised. “The Seven Sexy Sins?”

“That’s the one.”

“I read that column.” It had been fun, based on the seven deadly sins, with each one relating to a “sexy sin” like stripping or oral sex to encourage couples whose love lives had grown staid. Faith Hillman was a well-known columnist and adviser on women’s matters, and the magazine’s large following had watched with avid interest as she gradually fell in love with the secret partner with whom she’d explored the sins. “Oh, I read she married him in November, wasn’t it? That was
your
Rusty?”

“Yeah. Her brother wasn’t best pleased, but he came around when he saw how right they are for each other.”

It was a lovely romantic story. Esther had read about the sins each week, envious she didn’t have someone to try them out on. She sighed and turned her attention to the cards in her hand. “So… What’s with the Naughty Nights?”

“Faith’s researching for another article on sex games. They’ve been teasing me because I haven’t had a date in ages, so she gave me the game and told me to find someone to try it out on—for research purposes.”

“But you haven’t found anyone?”

“Not yet.” He met her gaze. Something in his expression gave her the feeling he was thinking about Fiji, and she had a vivid image of him lying back, arms behind his head like he was now as she straddled him and welcomed him inside her.

Charlie plopped the magazine onto his chest, making him jump, and she hid a smile as he turned his attention to the “Top 10 Action Movies” list Charlie had found and began to discuss them.

She looked back at the cards. They were small and glossy and came in two sections—one with red lettering and the Venus symbol, one with black and the Mars icon. One lot for men, one for women, presumably. Each card bore a scenario, either a role-play suggestion or something to try in the bedroom.

She read the top one. “Goodness.” Her heart raced. She’d never taken part in role-play. The most exciting time she’d ever had in bed was with Toby, when he’d tied her to the bedpost. That had been a night to remember. The thought of playing out a scenario like the one on the card made her dizzy with lust.

Toby glanced up. “What?”

She swallowed. “Have you read these?”

“Not really. Seemed like pointless torture. Why? What does it say?” His big brown eyes met hers, his expression curious.

Warmth crept into her cheeks, and her lips curved. She glanced at Charlie, but he was busy labelling the various types of dinosaur in the number five action movie, and besides, there weren’t any words in the text as such that he shouldn’t hear.

She cleared her throat. “This is a guy’s one. ‘As Roman emperor, you have the pick of all of the slaves in the Empire. Go to the market, choose yourself a girl and take her back to your villa. She is yours for the night, and must do anything you tell her
.
’” She looked up. “It gives some suggestions.”