“Are you still topless?” Matt asks. His voice sounds like it’s been dragged down a gravel road and back.

I look down and cross my arms over my naked br**sts. I guess I am. “Yeah,” I say.

He groans again. “Send me a picture.”

“I’m a lawyer. We don’t do stupid shit like that.” Not to mention that I’m a mom. And moms don’t do that. I look down at my chest and unfurl my arms. “My ni**les are hard.”

“Sky!” he hisses, but he’s laughing, too. “Stop it.”

“What’s wrong, Matt?” I tease. I hear him give his address to a cab driver. “Why are you taking a cab?” He usually takes the subway.

“Because I want to get home quickly,” he says.

“Why?” I put one knee on my bed and crawl to the center. I should probably put a shirt on, but I kind of like the naughty feeling of being topless while talking to Matt.

“Because I want to talk you through an orgasm,” he says.

“What?” I ask. My heart skitters.

“You heard me.” He chuckles. “Unless you don’t want me to.” He waits for my answer.

“I want you to,” I whisper.

He hisses in a breath. “Talk to me about something else for a few minutes,” he says over a chuckle. I hear him groan and there’s silence, aside from street noises and a gentle sound when he starts to hum in my ear. I grin. I can’t help it.

After a short ride, I hear him thank the cab driver and slam the car door. Then he’s quiet as he takes the four flights of stairs up to his apartment. He’s breathing a little heavier when he gets to the top, but not much.

“Not now,” I hear him mutter to someone.

“Who was that?” I ask.

“Paul.”

“Do you need to go talk to him?”

“All I need to do right now is make you come. He can wait.” I hear his keys clang as he drops them somewhere. Or maybe it’s change from his pocket. “Go lock your door,” he says.

I scramble across the bed and do what he says. My hand hangs on the doorknob for a second as I think about what I’m about to do. A shiver runs up my spine, but I push the thumb lock. The click shimmers through my hand. I hold onto the doorknob for another second.

“Good girl,” he says. His voice is smooth as silk, and it slides up my body, making my knees weak. “Go lie on the bed again.”

“You’re kind of bossy.”

“I know. You like it.”

I do. “How would you know?”

“Because you’re all wet and slippery and your heart is pounding just like mine is.” He waits a beat. “Isn’t it?”

This is Matt. Of course, he cares about how I feel. “Yes,” I whisper.

He growls. “Take off your bottoms.”

I prop the phone between my shoulder and my ear and hook my thumbs in the hips of my pajama bottoms, then shove them down over my feet. “Okay,” I say.

“Are you naked?”

“As the day I was born,” I say over a nervous giggle.

“God, you’re beautiful.”

“How would you know?”

“Because every time I close my eyes, you’re all I see. You’re in my f**king head, Sky, every minute of every day.”

I was hot a minute ago, but now I’m breathless.

“Did you tell me your ni**les are hard?” His bed squeaks as he talks.

“Are you in bed?” I ask.

“Yeah.” He grunts. “Or rather, on it.”

“Me, too.”

“Good. Now back to your ni**les.”

“What about them?” I grin. I can’t help it.

“I love them. They’re all pink and perfect, and when I kiss off all your lipstick, they’re the same shade as your lips.” He pauses. “Touch them.”

“Touch them how?”

“Not soft. Because they probably hurt, they’re so hard.” He waits. “Am I right?”

“How did you know?”

He chuckles, but it’s a pained sound. “Because I’m hurting, too, Sky.”

“Oh.”

“Pinch them lightly, both at the same time.” His breaths grow heavier.

“Matt,” I whisper. “I’m not sure I can do this.”

“Close your eyes.”

I do it.

“Now touch your ni**les.”

I gasp as I draw a thumb across the turgid peak.

“God, Sky,” he whispers.

Matt was right. The swipe of my thumb is not enough. I cup my br**sts in my hands and pinch my ni**les between my thumb and forefinger. I nearly drop the phone from where it’s crammed against my neck.

“If I was there, I would pinch them and then lick the pain away.”

“Matt.”

“What?” He chuckles.

“What are you doing?”

He laughs again. “What do you think I’m doing?”

“The same thing I’m doing?”

“Well, I don’t have pretty tits to play with, but yeah.”

“How much longer before I can move down south?” I ask. I squeeze my eyes shut, waiting for him to laugh at me.

But he doesn’t laugh. “Now.”

“Thank God,” I breathe.

“Draw your knees up and then let them fall open. Please.”

I do as he says, and I feel all exposed, even though there’s no one in the room with me.