"Oh, and this!" The cashier grabbed a cone, dipped the scoop into dark chocolate, and then handed it to Paige. "On the house."

Paige thanked her, then made her way to one of the tables in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Mayson kicked her foot against the brick building and settled in to watch Paige from the darkened alley across the street.

She wondered if Paige knew how gorgeous she was. Wondered if she knew what she was looking for. It wasn't s.e.x. It wasn't teeth-grinding o.r.g.a.s.ms.

But what, exactly, was she searching for?

Happy ever after? Happy for now? Was she looking for her butch in shining armor or just a midnight f.u.c.k? Was it possible that she truly was only seeking the perfect s.e.x like she stated in her blogs?

Mayson watched as Paige let the ribbon fall in a heap on the table and then lift the top off the box. She shoved the white tissue paper aside with a mischievous grin.

Paige looked like she was enjoying her scavenger hunt. What female didn't? It was s.e.xy and romantic. It was mysterious and adventurous. It's what she'd described in her blog. That she wanted someone to reach outside the box, to take her on the ride of her life.

For Mayson, it was seduction. She wanted Paige to crave her. Wanted her desperate and wet.

Paige frowned when she reached the bottom of the box. A cell phone?

She glanced at the cashier, who was now preoccupied with an iPad, then turned back to look out the window, but she only saw her own reflection. She focused her sights across the street. There was no movement from the darkened crevices between the buildings. She was certain her mystery woman was there, watching intently. Paige could feel the heat from her gaze penetrating her skin.

The phone vibrated and she jumped.

She scooped the phone out of the box to find a text. Vinden's name had already been saved in the ID box.

Vinden: Let me watch you lick your ice cream, Fedora.

Heat ribboned down Paige's body as she turned completely in her chair to face the window. The text confirmed she was being watched. She took an extra-slow lick of her cone, rounding her tongue along the sides, and then sucked the tip into her mouth. Making out with the velvety chocolate.

When she could take no more of her own teasing, she punched in her response and was happy to see that Vinden had preprogrammed her blog name.

X: Show yourself.

Vinden: Patience, Fedora. Enjoy the ride for now.

Paige studied the words while heat cradled between her thighs. Enjoy the ride, she would. This game, where the excitement resided in not knowing the ident.i.ty of her mystery woman, made her wet. This was where she found the s.e.xual high. Behind the mask.

Yes. This was the only place. Behind the mystery. Deep inside the game. The mask seemed to be where her natural desires existed. It was crazy, but she was without willpower to change her own mind. Right now, she couldn't gather enough common sense to pretend she wasn't a h.o.r.n.y disaster in need of fast relief.

She wanted another scalding kiss. Wanted to ride this mystery woman until an o.r.g.a.s.m bit down hard. G.o.d, the promises were written all over this night. Over the mystery location, the heavenly ice cream, the phone. How much seduction did this woman think Paige needed? Paige didn't want gifts or ice cream or a f.u.c.king phone. She wanted to come, screaming, on the tip of this woman's tongue.

Couldn't a girl just get laid?

X: You brought me here for a reason?

Vinden: To seduce you.

X: Mission accomplished. Where are you?

Vinden: Watching you.

Paige looked back through the window and concentrated on the widest alley between the buildings. If Vinden was there, Paige couldn't see her. But slick heat swelled between her thighs with the confirmation of being watched. She wanted Vinden to watch her. Wanted her to need just as much as Paige needed right now.

She bit into her cone and held her gaze on the spot she was positive Vinden was hiding. Was she brave enough to inspect? Was she brave enough to walk out of this store, cross the street, and investigate?

Of course she was. But then the game would be over. She wasn't ready for it to come to a close. Not when the fire was scorching her.

Vinden: Time to go.

X: So soon?

As calmly as any h.o.r.n.y girl could manage, Paige gathered the phone, dropped the empty box and the remains of her cone in the trash, then left the store.

On the sidewalk, she responded.

X: Which way?

Vinden: Right.

Paige walked two more blocks before she got another text to turn left. She crossed the street, continuing to glance over her shoulder. No one was there, but Paige was positive she was being followed. From somewhere in the darkness, Vinden was watching her every move.

It gave her a rushed thrill to know she was close by. Why didn't she just come out of hiding, introduce herself, and then use one of these brick buildings to bring Paige to spasms? h.e.l.l, at this point of the heated madness, she'd only need to step out. No introductions were necessary.

Her insides tightened at the thought, and she walked faster.

The final text ordered her to turn right, and she found herself staring at her own neon sign. Visions.

X: Where now?

Vinden: To the beginning.

Paige pondered her comment while she studied the small groups of women in front of the nightclub. The beginning, meaning in her dressing room? Where she'd experienced that torturous kiss?

No. It had started long before Vinden braved that walk into private territory.

Paige pulled the Fedora down over her eyes and moved past the women. She spotted her little bench, as well as the box beneath it.

Excited, Paige dodged for her sanctuary under the trees and pulled the box out from under the bench. The gift was wrapped in the same ribbon.

With her heart sputtering, Paige sat down and s.n.a.t.c.hed at the bows.

This was all so s.e.xy, so mysterious. So romantic.

She'd never been seduced before. Unless her other mystery woman's outstretched hand in New Orleans had been seduction. It sure had felt like pure, raw seduction. Actually, her seduction had begun as soon as they locked eyes on each other, eye f.u.c.king from across the room. The extension of that hand had only sealed the deal. Or had the click of that lock?

Paige had no clue why New Orleans had suddenly invaded her thoughts, only that her crotch was a soaked mess and she needed relief, with or without the contents of this box.

She tugged the ribbon off to find the single word Cartier in gold cursive letters on the lid. She'd never held such an expensive box, let alone opened it to find a gift meant for her inside.

With fingers trembling, she pulled off the lid and found a candy beaded necklace. Like the kind little girls wore along with their plastic princess heels and tiaras.

She glanced around, her hopes high that Vinden would be standing over her, her mask shielding the face she obviously wanted Paige to unveil. She only found a couple embracing, their lips locked, close to the sidewalk. Regardless, Vinden was watching. She could feel her. Feel her gaze. Where the f.u.c.k was she and why wouldn't she show herself?

Paige pulled the necklace from the box and pulled it over her head. This was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. For sure the most romantic.

She sucked a bead into her mouth and glanced across the street, focusing on the darkest spots between the buildings.

Was Vinden there? Was she satisfied with Paige's reaction?

The phone buzzed.

Vinden: Next bite is mine. Good night, Fedora.

Paige shoved open her front door, threw her purse on the couch, and then kicked her shoes several feet away.

With a huff, she slammed the door and waited for any telltale sign of Damien. To her surprise, he wasn't waiting for her in the hallway like the evil predator he was. Nor was he in her bedroom when she flipped the light switch. Not even in her bathroom, where he sometimes curled into her tossed towel after her morning shower.

Relieved, Paige shucked out of her shirt and pants, then trotted naked to the bed. She fell onto the mattress with a sigh. Another night of no s.e.x and no face to put to her mystery woman. Not that she was convinced she really wanted to put a face to the whispers.

But this was not how the night was supposed to end. It was supposed to end with a woman pumping between her thighs, grinding hot flesh against her, and making her come. Just like New Orleans.

Instead, here she was again, home, alone, with this sticky heat nestled between her thighs and the only option for relief in the drawer beside her bed.

Dammit. It was unfair. It was torture. It was a downright disgrace to leave her in this heated predicament. Vinden was teasing her, successfully.

Paige stared at the ceiling for several minutes, thinking about the candy gift, the mysterious adventure, and how she was loving every second of it. What woman wouldn't?

She leaned up on her elbows. "Where is that d.a.m.n cat?"

Curious to where Damien was hiding, knowing she couldn't turn off the lights without discovering his hiding spot first, Paige pushed off the bed and began her search.

She searched under the bed, in the closets, then under the couch and covered end tables in the living room, and finally came to a stop in the kitchen when she ran out of his normal hiding spots.

"Damien! Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Seconds ticked by and there was no sound anywhere from within the house.

Paige grabbed his food from the top of the fridge and shook the box. "Do we have a hungry p.u.s.s.y in the house? For sure we have a wet one thanks to a teasing masked stranger."

She continued her route back through the house, shaking the food along the way, until she was standing beside her bed again.

"Damien, seriously. Where are you?" Paige heard the concern in her own voice. It was an uncharacteristic sound.

Since when did she care if that evil orange fur bag was okay?

"Dammit, Damien. I don't have all night to play hide-and-seek." She rattled the box harder and trekked back down the hall trying to remember if she'd seen him that morning.

She'd made her coffee, filled his bowl, took her shower, opened the window to let out the steam and let in the fresh morning breeze, then ironed her clothes, got dressed, applied makeup, dried her hair, closed the window, and then left. Just like every other morning of her life.

"f.u.c.k! The window!" Paige raced to the bathroom and found the window still open. She dropped the food on the floor and stuck her head out the window. It was too dark to see beyond the opening. "f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k. f.u.c.k!"

She threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, raced to the kitchen, grabbed a flashlight, and then went out the back door. "Damien! Damien! Come here, you evil orange creature."

An hour later, Paige was tired and filled with mixed emotions. She hated that cat. So why was she padding barefoot through the neighborhood in search of him? He'd come back. Right? Didn't animals always find their way back home? Yeah. To a home where their masters adored them and petted them and talked baby language and didn't call them evil orange creatures.

Was there a chance she actually liked that cat? A chance they shared their hate relationship because they actually adored each other? Maybe they were twins in an alternate life. Both b.i.t.c.hes.

Out of options for any further inspection, Paige made her way back to the house. She could look again with the morning light. She walked up the steps, brushed off her feet, and stepped through the back door, and found Damien perched in the middle of the kitchen floor.

"What the...? Where the h.e.l.l were you?"

Damien's ears waved down against his head. He hissed and darted from the room.

"Oh, sure. Be an a.s.s after I just spent an hour looking for you!" Paige locked the door, dropped the flashlight back into the drawer, and made her way to the bedroom.

She pulled the laptop on the bed and opened the link to her blog.

Once again, the words weren't readily available. Once again, she didn't have a clue what to say.

Vinden would be reading. She was waiting for Paige's confession.

Dear Mystery Woman...please come out of hiding and f.u.c.k me. You can even keep your mask on.

Paige growled, erased the words, and started again.

I had a date tonight. Sort of. Didn't see her face. Didn't get to touch her.

But she was there. She gave me ice cream and a candy necklace.

Sweet? Disturbing?

Do I need to run in the opposite direction or wait out the finale?

Paige thumbed her fingers on the keyboard for several seconds, then deleted the entire paragraph. She sounded desperate, even if she was.

I spent the last hour searching for a cat that was home the entire time. Is there a hidden message here? Could I possibly like that evil thing? I don't have a good feeling about this.

Btw...I had a date tonight. With a masked stranger. I never saw her, but she bought me ice cream and a candy necklace and teased me with seductive messages.

Very sweet. And romantic. But I'm not looking for either of those things. I'm looking for the inferno, something off the chain, something completely out of the box.

I previously thought she would be the one. I'm not so sure anymore.

As sweet as the treats were, they can't put out my fire.