Operation Foreplay (14 page)

“Rita is pregnant? What does this mean?”

“It means I am not leaving her. I can’t leave her.”

I stepped back. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or beat the shit out of him.

“Are you fucking kidding me? After all this? After I run out of your apartment like a bat out of fucking hell this morning, after everything you said, you’re ending this?”

“No, no. Of course not. I still want you. We’re just not going to be able to do this out in the open.”

“You son of a bitch. You never intended to leave her. You strung me along like a fucking puppet. You made promises you never intended to keep—”

“No, no. I still want you!”

“Look, sleeping with a married man is one thing. Sleeping with a married man who is expecting a baby is a line even I won’t cross. I could handle it if you were still divorcing her.” I put up my hands and shook my head. “No. You know what? My friends were right about you. You and I were never going to end well.” I put my hand on the doorknob. “You need to leave, Zac. Go home, sober up, decorate your nursery. I don’t care. Just go.”

He grabbed me and pulled me close. “No, Melody. You and I have something—“

I straightened up, pulled away from him, and erased all emotion from my face. “We had orgasms. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.” I fisted the pendant he gave me and yanked off the necklace. “Take this. I don’t need it anymore.”

“Melody—”

“No. I’ll see you on Monday. And don’t you dare make this any more awkward than it has to be. Or I will take my clients with me when I give notice. Go home. Go back to your wife and leave me alone. I’m done.”

I left him standing in the hall. Slamming the door, I hurried through the living room, knowing the walls were thinner than a private conversation could handle. Taking an opened bottle from the fridge, I went to my room, locked the door, and let the tears fall.

Hours later, I heard the lock to my door being picked, but I didn’t have the strength or care to roll over and see who was coming in. I could smell Jared’s cologne as he walked through my room, covered me with a blanket, and took the empty wine bottle that I was still clutching. I kept my eyes closed as I felt him brush away the hair from my face, kiss me on my forehead, and close the door quietly behind him.

Chapter Ten

I
spent most of Saturday in bed mourning what was left of my dignity and nursing the hangover that still lingered even after I drank two bottles of Gatorade, ate a protein bar, and took the aspirin Jared left on my nightstand. It wasn’t until Sarah and Caroline came in at five that evening that I even thought about getting out of bed.

“Get up. We aren’t doing this again.” Sarah ripped the comforter off my bed. “And you didn’t even put on pajamas. Is it really that comfortable sleeping in skinny jeans?”

“God,” Caroline said, “be careful. You’ll get a yeast infection with those things so tight against your hooha.”

“We aren’t doing what again?” I flipped over and buried my head under my pillow. “And hooha? What are we, twelve?”

“Look, I was in a funk for six weeks when Steven broke up with me. Let’s not revisit that shit again.”

“Zac didn’t break up with me. He got his wife pregnant.” The situation sounded more ridiculous when I said the words out loud. Shouldn’t a baby be cause for celebration? Apparently, not if it’s your boss who you are sleeping with that is having the baby with his wife.

Fuck.

“Exactly. That is why we need you to give Operation Foreplay another try,” Caroline mentioned casually.

“No.” I raised my hand over my head and gave her the finger.

“Look, we’re not saying you need to go out and sleep with the next person you meet.”

“We’re just saying,” Sarah continued, “maybe you could meet someone nice. Take it slow. Abstain from sex for a while. Enjoy the slow simmer.”

“
Abstain
from sex for a while? Who put
that
back on the table? I don’t recall leaving that topic open for discussion.”

“We just thought, after what happened last night, you’d be more open to such a topic.”

I shot up. “Are you fucking joking? There is no fucking way I am going without sex for any amount of time. Jesus. After two or three days, I’m climbing walls looking for my next orgasm.”

“Use this then.” Caroline tossed my vibrator at me.

“And these.” Sarah handed me a bag full of batteries and two porn DVDs.

“And if you get stuck”—Caroline pulled a magazine out of her bag—“use these guys.”

She tossed me a dirty mag filled with large dicks and hard asses.

“Really? Porn, movies, and a battery-operated boyfriend? Thanks, but I’d rather stick with a real cock.” Instead of handing the gifts back, I tucked them away in my nightstand drawer. Who knew when I’d need a good porn flick?

“Listen.” Caroline started riffling through my closet. “We just want what’s best for you.” She tossed a clean pair of jeans at me. “And Zac, sorry to say, babe, is not what is best. You need to get out there. Have fun without the night necessarily ending with the horizontal mambo. Go on vacation. Go visit your mom for a few days. You know?” She tossed a slinky silver tank top at me. “Now get dressed. We love you too much to watch you drown in a sea of spooge.”

“What the hell is wrong with sex?” I asked as I finally crawled out of bed and grabbed my bathrobe. “Sex. I like that shit.”

“Me too!” I looked up and saw Jared standing in the doorway.

“Who asked you?” I grimaced.

“Looks like someone ate their bitch flakes today. Nice to see you up and about. How’s the elbow?”

“Fine.” I turned it over to see the lovely purple bruise had spread wider.

He turned to Sarah. “We still heading out?”

“Yeah,” she answered with a smile on her face.

“Cool. Just let me shower first.”

“Oh no! I’m showering first.”

“Pretty sure I’ll get there before you but you are more than welcome to join me. It would be nice not to have to wash my own balls for once.” The challenge twinkled in his eye. Any other day and I probably would have called him on his bullshit.

“Ew, Jared. I don’t need the visual!” Sarah closed her eyes.

“Whatever. Go take your fucking shower. I need to eat something anyway.”

“Your loss.” He pinched my cheek and headed toward the bathroom.

I yelled toward him, “Don’t use all the fucking hot water or your ass is mine.”

“Promises, promises,” he yelled back.

“So”—Sarah pointed between where Jared stood a moment ago and me while Caroline stifled a laugh—“there
is
a thing between you and my brother.”

“You’re crazy,” I said over my shoulder as I walked to kitchen to make a sandwich.

“Um, I don’t think I am.” Sarah followed me.

“You know who says they aren’t crazy? Crazy people.”

“Maybe Jared can be your foreplay,” Caroline offered.

“Maybe not.” I tilted my head and gave her a shut-the-fuck-up face.

“Just do me a favor.” Sarah put her hand on my shoulder. “When something happens, please don’t tell me about it. The last thing I need is to know the ins and outs of my brother’s sex life.”

“So you don’t want to know if I end up showing him the ins and outs of my vagina?” I giggled.

“Oh, shut up.” Sarah glared at me as she popped a grape in her mouth.

“You know, for what it’s worth, I really am sorry things didn’t work out with Zac.”

I considered my words before I spoke. Caroline was being honest and I appreciated that. I just wasn’t ready to discuss my failed attempt at stealing a married man from his wife. “Thanks. I’m not ready to talk about it.”

Jared walked into the kitchen with a bright blue towel wrapped around his waist.

“The shower is ready for you, my queen.” He bowed. And nearly lost his towel.

“Come on, Jared! No one wants to see that! Get out of here!” Sarah shrieked, shielding her eyes with the dishtowel that had covered his junk just the other day. I kept that little tidbit to myself and stifled a laugh.

“Speak for yourself,” Caroline said quietly as she and I leaned across the counter to watch him walk away. “What the hell! When did he get that body?”

“You know that’s my brother, right?”

“I don’t care if he’s a celibate priest. A body like that should be illegal.”

“For real,” I added with a sigh.

My cell phone blared Justin Timberlake’s latest and pulled me out of my daydream.

“Who’s that?” Sarah asked.

“Blocked number.”

“Do you think it’s Zac?”

“No idea.”

“Aren’t you going to answer it?”

The second round of the chorus began and I hit ignore before tossing the phone into my utensil drawer. “Nope. Leaving it here for tonight. Be back. Shower.”

I never did make that sandwich.

Opening the door to my room, I stopped short. Jared was lounging on my bed wearing nothing but a loose pair of khaki shorts.

“What are you doing in here?”

“I figured you’d be in the shower so I got dressed in here. I figured my sister wouldn’t appreciate me getting dressed out there.” He nodded toward the living room. “That okay?”

“Um, yeah. I guess.” I rummaged through my underwear drawer to find something matchy. “No biggie.”

“You okay? I mean after last night. Him showing up like that was kind of douchey.”

“I’m fine. I don’t really want to talk about it, you know.”

He slid over to the side of the bed and let his feet fall to the floor and tugged at my shirt. “You do know you deserve better than that, right? You don’t deserve all that sneaking around and shit. You’re better than that.”

“Ha!” I slammed the drawer shut. “Thanks, but I got just what I deserved with that whole scene. And if I don’t move past it, I’ll sink.”

“You’re too strong to sink. Besides, I won’t let you.”

“You don’t even know me.” I laughed.

“I know enough.”

“Enough from three whole days of living with me? Two of which I wasn’t even here?”

“Hey, when you know something, you just know it.”

“Look, I’d love to stand here and wax philosophical with you all night but I really need to take a shower and you really need to put on a shirt.”

“You don’t like?” He spread his arms as if to say,
Look at this
.

“Not that I don’t like it. I just don’t need the distraction.” My hand flew to my mouth as soon as I said the
D
word.

“Distraction, huh?” He stood and pulled me in close. He lifted my free hand and held it tight against his chest. His heart was beating fast; it matched the rhythm of mine. I could feel his hot breath against my ear when he said, “Maybe you’re about due for a little
distraction
.”

He walked out of the room and closed the door. “That’s what everyone keeps telling me.”

I showered quickly and settled for towel-drying my hair. I slicked on gloss and mascara. Thankfully I was able to get away without much makeup and still look somewhat presentable. I slipped on the jeans and slinky tank Caroline had chosen and checked myself out in the mirror. It was odd going out and not being all made up. My usual red lips were nowhere to be found. The eyeliner was taking the night off. And, for a change, so were the shoes. I settled for a cute pair of black flip-flops, popped a fedora on my head, and headed to the living room.

“Ready?”

“You’re ready?”

“Already?”

Caroline and Sarah spoke in unison while Jared let out a long whistle.

“What?”

“You just look—”

“I mean—”

“
Wow
is the word I think they are looking for.” Jared handed me my purse and I looked at him, wondering.

“It’s like you’ve never seen me without makeup before.”

“No, it’s just we either see you with or without. Never in between. And the flip-flops? Weren’t you the one who said flip-flops belong at the beach?” Caroline walked around me. “And you didn’t dry your air! It’s going to curl up!”

“So—”

“Something”—Sarah waved her finger at me—“is going on here. Where is Melody and what have you done with her?”

“She’s taking the night off. Can we just go?”

“What the queen wants—” Jared held out his arm and I slipped my hand through.

“Why the fuck do you keep calling her queen?” Sarah called after us as we walked out of the apartment. Jared and I just laughed.

“Where are we going?” I asked once we hit the sidewalk.

“Italian place in the city. Brian has the night off so we’re all meeting there.”

“So that’s why we’re heading out for dinner at”—I reached for my phone but remembered I’d left it at home so I dug into Jared’s pocket and retrieved his—“six thirty.”