How to Fail at Flirting(31)

Thirty-three’s not so old, is it?

I watched a group of teenagers giggling as a handsome waiter exited the kitchen carrying a tray of sizzling fajitas. A man in a suit behind them rolled his eyes and looked at his watch, a bit more dramatically than was necessary.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and an unknown number with an out-of-town area code flashed on the screen with a text.

    Unknown: It was nice to see you today.

Unknown: Jill Jameson said she and you were discussing me.

Unknown: Good to know you’re still thinking of me, pretty girl.



I shivered and looked around the diner, but I knew he wasn’t hiding there somewhere. He didn’t have to. With those messages, I felt like he was standing next to me regardless.





Seventeen





Felicia’s kids had fled to the playroom after dinner, and we stretched out in her toy-strewn living room. A shock of hair from a doll’s head precariously dangled out the side hatch of a toy helicopter on the end table next to me. The chaos of their house was always calming.

I’d sat in the restaurant parking lot with my eyes tightly closed and my phone shoved in my bag, as if the darkness of my purse could swallow up the texts. I willed myself to calm down and put it out of my head. Felicia would know something was up in an instant if I didn’t lock away everything I was feeling, and I hated her worrying about me. Put on a happy face.

“Turner, you have no idea how bad I felt that both of us had to bail on you Tuesday.”

After playing with the kids and joking with Felicia, my body had relaxed. Even if my life was in tatters, their house was safe. “It’s okay. I understand. Aaron had to be with his mom, and I didn’t want to catch your stomach flu, that’s for sure.”

She groaned. “I don’t want to think about it. I even had to miss my workout with Wes the sexy trainer, and you know how bad it had to be for that to happen.”

Felicia never exercised when we were kids or through college. She was one of those annoying people who didn’t work out, gorged on whatever she wanted, and maintained a great figure. After the twins, though, she’d struggled to feel good about her body and started working out with a personal trainer. I was a little jealous—she looked great, of course, but she’d tell me about all the new things Wes was getting her to do: kickboxing, weight lifting, and even Pilates. I kind of wanted that, too.

“So, tell me about your date!”

I leaned back further into the comfortable couch and took a sip of coffee. I needed the caffeine after the late nights and the exhausting day. Despite everything else, a smile crossed my lips at the thought of Jake. My mind drifted to how his hips felt pressed to me during the dance lesson and the way his eyes kind of danced when he laughed. “I had a nice night.”

“Did you sleep with him?” She eyed me. “You have no poker face. You slept with him. How was it? What happened?”

“It was . . . nice.”

Her lips quirked up. “Bitch, you know that level of detail is insufficient. I can tell from your dopey expression that you’re underselling.” She pushed her hair off her shoulder and sat up straight.

She listened intently as I described everything from him showing up with my sweater to kisses on the Ferris wheel and the night in his hotel room.

“Wow,” she responded. “That’s intense, Nay. And he’s good with his hands?” Felicia waggled her perfectly shaped eyebrows. “Like, on a scale from Aiden to your wildest, porniest dreams, where would he fall?”

I laughed, remembering clumsy, fumbling Aiden Howard, my date to the senior prom who had finished in his pants without warning after I barely touched his zipper. At least we’d already taken photos. That tux never stood a chance.

“He’s—” I searched for the right word, remembering how Jake’s voice dipped low and got kind of gravelly and how he’d rubbed my back when I got sick in his hotel room that first night. “He’s a class unto himself.”

I paused again, taking a drink of my coffee. “And then last night . . .”

Felicia’s jaw hit the floor when I explained the president’s announcement and finding out Jake owned the consulting company.

“Are you allowed to hook up with him?”

“Probably not.” The anxiety that had been lingering at the base of my neck all morning returned. “He came over after the event. We talked about it.” I glanced at my mug to avoid her scrutiny.

“You talked?” Felicia asked before her eyes opened wide and her face lit up. “You were right and properly serviced last night, weren’t you?”

I nodded, pressing my lips together to pull in my smile, and holding up three fingers. “And then again this morning.”

“Shit, Turner. When you step out of your box, you really step out.”

“I know, but . . .”

She gave me a knowing look. “It was that good, huh?”

“It was so far beyond good.” Flashes of memory danced in my mind. “But it could be so bad for me if anyone found out.”

Felicia sat back in her chair. “It doesn’t sound like you’ll be doing much besides tangling the sheets. You can keep it quiet.”

“I hope so.”

“Girl, this is big. You’ve been so closed off, especially with men. And I get it after what you went through, but . . .”