The Men Next Door

Ch 30 - Brooks

"You would wait until there were people around," Cam accused, looking nervously over her shoulder as she hooked one arm through mine.

'People' was an overstatement. There was one woman with her head buried in her phone 30 yards ahead of us, but it seemed like most folks were scared off by the fresh blanket of snow. Central Park might as well have been a small town supermarket on a Sunday morning.

"You were worried about being too cold," I reminded her wryly. In fact, when I first suggested going out, she pointed at the steam billowing out of her coffee mug and told me that was her preferred temperature. Three sugar-sweet pleas and one promise of heated-blanket cuddles later, she'd begrudgingly agreed to venture into the winter wonderland with me. "I'm just helping you stay warm."

Cam rolled her eyes at my cheeky statements. I offered a thoughtful nod and clicked the button in my pocket again. She latched onto my elbow like a vice grip.

"Brooks Jameson Becker..."

"Yes, my love?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"Turn it down."

In case you haven't caught on yet, 'it' was the wearable, remote control vibrator she gifted 'me' for Christmas.

The poor girl had gotten so embarrassed when I started ripping off the wrapping paper, clearly regretting her choice to let me unbox it. Then she tried to play it off as a gag gift — a joking callback to our first impulsive night together. But I knew better. I knew her better.

Her body language gave away just how much she wanted to use it with me. The way her thighs pressed together as soon as my eyes scanned over her in interest. How her pointer finger rested on her bottom lip, like she was afraid of what her mouth might say if she gave it free rein. Those incriminating, rosy cheeks that she tried to hide behind crinkled curtains of hair.

Lucky for both of us, I was always pretty good at hide and seek.

It took a whopping 30 seconds to uncover the truth: that giving someone control of a toy like that was a long-time fantasy of hers. One she'd kept carefully boxed up since she was 19, when some dimwitted guy made her feel like a deviant for wanting a little battery-powered assistance. I, on the other hand, was all too eager to dust off her excitement... and three weeks later, after no shortage of trial runs at home, the toy finally got to see the light of day.

That was the real gift to me.

"Is that what you really want?" I asked, hovering my thumb over the remote. "Lower just means longer until you come."

"Yes," she hissed, nodding toward the man who was approaching a ways down the path. "Before he gets here."

"Hm... okay." I shut the toy all the way off. "Guess I should give you a break anyway. Don't want you going numb."

Cam let out a frustrated huff when she realized what I'd done. "We just got started."

"Oh? Do you want more?"

"I..." she hesitated, scanning her surroundings to see how many other people we might encounter. She must've been satisfied with the numbers, because a few seconds later, she locked onto my eyes and gave me a decisive nod.

"Good timing," I said with a wink, bringing the vibrator buzzing back to life right as the man in question walked by.

Cam drew in a sharp gasp and tightened her grip on my arm again. "I didn't mean right that second!"

"He had headphones on," I assured her, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. "He's none the wiser. Promise."

"What if he saw my reaction?"