Callie paced the bedroom floor, bare feet silent on the carpet as she chewed her lower lip and worked herself into a frenzy of anticipation. 

She'd never even thought about sending a photograph like that to anyone else, had deleted several lame attempts at looking provocative before she plucked up the nerve to hit send. 

When she did, part of her worried Oscar would be shocked. Another wanted him to be, for him to see she was willing to shed her inhibitions and make him regret leaving her when it was obvious they both wanted the same thing. His comment about the things he wanted to do to her left her feeling achy and hyper-sensitive. She wondered if he would tell her what those things were, if he could seduce her with words as easily as he did with his lips and his hands. 

The prospect of his familiar, deep, rumbling voice talking dirty to her, telling her in no uncertain terms what he would do to her when they shared a bed...

Damn, that did it for her.

When her phone rang, she jumped, her hand shaking so hard it took a couple of attempts to move the bar across the screen to answer the call.

"Finally," she said in a husky voice she barely recognized as her own. "I was beginning to think you'd changed your mind."

"Not a chance," he responded firmly.

"Well, for the record, if you took much longer, I was totally starting without you." The words left her lips before she could censor them, but she didn't care how needy it made her sound.

"If you had, I'd have made you wait before you came." The rich timbre to his rough tone sent a shiver up her spine. "But let's save that for a time when I can watch you do it, k?"

Heavens above, just the thought...

"Are you still wearing that incredible underwear?"

"Yes." She blinked at the sound of his breathing. "Why does it sound like you've been running?"

"You told me to hurry. Now strip and get in bed."

She wriggled out of the underwear she'd changed into for the impromptu photo-shoot and tossed it aside, not caring where it landed. Then, pulling back the covers, she jumped into bed, placed them back over her body and fluffed the pillows before leaning back. 

The cool cotton was hedonistic against her heated skin as she looked around the room. Maybe she should have lit some scented candles or had soft, romantic music playing in the background to help set the mood.

"Have you done this before?" she inquired, straining to hear what he was doing.

"No. But I've always wanted to." His voice was muffled for a second. "You?"

"Same." She wished she was there to watch him undress, to discover all the secrets he'd kept hidden under his clothes.

"Then it's the first time for both of us."

Callie liked that.

"You in bed?"

She nodded. "Yes. You?"

"Be with you in a sec."

"I might need you to send me a picture," she teased.

He chuckled. "No."

"Seems a little unfair..."

"There's no way in hell I could compete with what you sent me," he countered. "You still sleep on the right of the bed?"

He remembered that? That was so sweet. It had been a while since he played nursemaid and fed her chicken soup as she recovered from the flu. 

"Yes."

Callie imagined she heard covers moving, a mattress dipping and pillows being plumped. 

"Lights on or off?" she asked a little uncertainly.

"Doesn't matter." A smile came through in his voice. "And you don't have to be nervous, Cal. It's me."

"I know. But I don't..."

"Don't what?" he asked when her voice trailed off. "Want to do this? If you're not ready, we can talk 'til you fall asleep. We don't have to -"

"No. It's not that. I am ready. I swear. Really ready. I just..." She took a deep breath and confessed, "I don't know what to do or say or how far you want me to go."

"I want you to do what feels good. Say whatever you like," he said firmly. "And go all the way."

Callie's mouth went dry. "And you'll do the same?"

"Yes."

She reached out and switched off her bedside lamp so she could focus on the sound of his voice. "Should I start by telling you what I want to do to you?"

There was a somewhat strangled sound from his end of the line. "I'm already close, babe. You do that and I'm not gonna last five minutes."

Callie grinned into the darkness. "Really?"

"Really. Let's get you to the same place."

He thought she wasn't? She sucked in a breath and in the spirit of no holding back, informed him, "I've been wet since you kissed me at the subway station."

"O-kay. Then I should probably tell you, if there wasn't a crowd on the tour, I would have fucked you on that bus."

"Oscar Levinson." Callie gasped. "I'm shocked."

"No, you're not." He chuckled. "You're titillated."

"Good word."

"I've got more."

"Lay some on me."

"Put your hands on your body," he ordered.

"If I use both hands, I'll drop the phone."

"Cal. Do it now."

Ooohhhh, bossy Oscar was sexy. And in the right situation, it turned out she liked being told what to do. 

Wedging the phone between her shoulder and her ear, she slipped her hands under the covers and laid her palms on her stomach, awaiting further instruction.

"Your hands are my hands now," he told her. "Everywhere you touch, I'm touching. Squeeze your breasts." He gave her a moment to reach up and cup them. "Tell me how it feels."

It wasn't difficult to picture her hands as his when they'd so recently been there. Teeth biting down on her lower lip, legs moving restlessly beneath the covers, she remembered how it felt. 

"They're heavy, swollen, my nipples ache."

"Pinch them," he directed. "If I was there with you, I'd be kissing my way down your neck as I do it."

In the darkness, she could feel the touch of ghostly lips and leaned her head to the side to give him open access to her neck.

"I'd work my way down until I replaced one of my hands with my mouth so I could suck on your nipple."

Callie's heart kicked against her sternum, her pulse rate rapid, breathing ragged. "Are you touching yourself?"

"Yes."

"Tell me."

"My fingers are wrapped round my cock. It's really hard, Cal. Harder than it's ever been before."

She closed her eyes and pictured him naked, lying on his back, his fist hand moving slowly up and down. 

"That's not your hand," she said breathlessly. "It's mine."

Tension radiated from his deep voice. "I'm moving my hand down your body, over your stomach. Can you feel it?"

"Yes."

"Spread your legs for me."

She raised her knees and let them fall apart, fingertips brushing her damp curls.

"I'm sliding a finger inside you..."

Callie moaned as she did it.

"Deep inside..."

Her hips lifted off the mattress.

"It's moving in and out. Slowly. Then picking up the pace and getting faster."

The images he created made her body react to each imaginary touch, kiss and caress and the slide of his finger in and out of the moist heat in her pussy. The knot of tension in her abdomen grew tighter, her skin stretching over her bones, every muscle straining towards release.

"I'm close," she gasped. "I just need -"

"I know." His voice rumbled in her ear. "Touch your clit, babe. Let go. Come for me. I want to hear you."

Her fingertip moved up to circle her clit, gathering moisture before she rubbed it with a light movement which caused an instantaneous explosion of pleasure. She cried out as the shock-wave reverberated through her body, heard a reciprocal groan in the distance and for a few seconds, it felt like she was floating.

Best. Orgasm. Ever.

And he hadn't even been in the room.

As she slowly returned to earth, her muscles still jerking with small aftershocks, she opened her eyes and blinked into the darkness. What they shared felt more intimate than any of her previous sexual encounters, most likely because it felt like he'd been inside her head.

"You okay?" his voice rasped.

"I'm way better than okay," she whispered back. "That was..."

"I know. Same here," he confessed. "I need a minute to clean up. Back in a sec."

While she waited, Callie reached up to cradle the phone to her ear and turned onto her side, moving her head on the pillows and getting comfy. She wished he was there with her, that she was snuggling into his side and could fall asleep with him next to her. 

It sounded silly, but she missed him.

"Back."

"You talk dirty," she said with a smile.

"Oh, I can talk dirtier. Wait and see..."

She chuckled. "This is crazy, right?"

"Yes and no. Yes, cos right now I'm wondering why in hell we waited so long to do this. And no, cos it feels –"

"Right," she concluded, her smile widening as a bubble of happiness developed inside her.

"Yes."

"It can't be this simple, can it?"

"I guess we'll find out."

Callie reached out and placed her hand on his side of the bed. "Together."

"Always."

It was a pledge they used to make when they were teenagers ready to take on the world, who thought nothing would change how they felt about each other. But as they began to navigate new territory, it took on a deeper meaning. 

To Callie it was both reassuring and worrying. Losing her best friend would have been heart-breaking and part of her would always have missed him. But eventually, like grief, the pain would dull and she'd learn to live with it. If she knew it would feel that way when he occupied a small corner of her heart, how would it feel if she gave all of it to him and he took it with him when he left? 

That was the thing about loving someone. It meant handing your heart to them for safekeeping. But while she trusted Oscar more than she'd ever trusted anyone, she couldn't shake her fear.

"We should probably get some sleep," he said.

"Probably," she agreed. "You want to meet for breakfast in the morning?"

"Hmmm..." He took a long breath. "Let me think about that for a moment..."

"No pressure. I can always have breakfast with the next guy who calls me for phone sex."

"Do I have to get you a letter jacket or class ring so all the other guys know you're with me now?"

"No. Being with me every spare moment you can find should be enough."

"Good. The Math club wasn't big on letter jackets."

"Or the Science club... or the Chess club... or -"

"Yes," he interrupted. "You're dating a geek."

Callie scrunched up her nose. "Well, you know, he is kinda hot..."

"From cute to hot in twenty-four hours," he commented. "In a couple of weeks, I should have you worshiping at my feet."

"Dream on," she responded. 

Then, despite her best effort to stop it happening, she yawned.

"Get some sleep. I'll call you in the morning and you can tell me where we're having breakfast."

Callie thought about all the times she'd decided where they were going and what they would do. He rarely complained or suggested an alternative and if asked, she would say it was because she was the more out-going one of them, the one who needed a constant supply of adventures to be happy. 

But now she'd met a new version of Oscar, she wondered if he'd let her take the lead because it suited him or if it was still the old Oscar giving her what she wanted because he always put her needs ahead of his own. 

Either way, it made her feel selfish.

"You choose," she mumbled sleepily.

"Katz Deli? You can play out that scene from When Harry Met Sally for me."

"We'll see about that."

When there was silence, he prompted, "This is where you hang up."

"Don't want to."

"Then I'll stay here 'til you start snoring."

"I don't snore."

"Yes, you do."

She smiled. "Night Oscar."

"Sweet dreams, Cal."

As she was lulled to sleep by the lethargy in her body and the comforting sound of his steady breathing, Callie tried to focus on the time they would spend together and how much closer it could bring them instead of agonizing over all the things which could tear them apart. 

Allowing herself to enjoy the good times didn't automatically mean pain and heartache were just around the corner. Oscar was different from the other men in her life. He would never lie to her or hurt her or cheat on her or leave without saying goodbye. 

He was Oscar.