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Drinks and Bad Decisions
I takemy sweet time strolling around the lake. Stop to admire a rabbit munching on clover before it notices me and darts off. A horrible chirping sound directs my eyes upward to see a sparrow chasing a hawk. Probably to keep it away from her nest.
When I make it to the other side of the lake, I debate sitting on the bench and resting for a moment while I watch our little duck friend from yesterday evening, but I need to freshen up. And also need a wardrobe change. I can’t have Jake being the only snazzy one tonight.
As I dig through my suitcase, I decide on the sexy black dress I subconsciously packed. It looks more appropriate for a swanky cocktail party because of the open back and side-boob action, but what the hell. I know Jake will like it. For good measure, I make sure and keep the red panties on he likes so much.
It is our last night together for a while…probably for forever, after all.
I have some decent strappy stilettos I brought with me, so I put those on but also shove a pair of flats into my purse in case my feet start killing me by the end of the night.
By the time I’m freshened and dressed, I have about fifteen minutes to kill, so I remember to write a check to Magnolia for my plate today, leave it on the desk in the office across the hall, and then go back to the bedroom and do what I do best when I’m bored—snoop.
Under the bed yields nothing, so I rake through the closet. Linens. Old jackets and clothes. Looks like they were once Ruby’s…a long time ago.
Shoes line the back baseboard and a pair of cowgirl boots catch my eye. They’re a tan color and are barely worn. Just a few scuffs along the toes. I pluck them from the ground and study them with a smile. My friend Shana in high school used to have a pair just like this.
They even look my size.
For kicks, I decide to unbuckle my heels to try them on, and they fit almost perfectly. My calves are thin, so there’s too much of a gap for my liking, but they are cute.
I’ll at least snap a picture of them and send it to Daphne and Stephen. But before I can get my phone fished out of my purse, my stomach sours at the thought of them.
Shit.
I was supposed to be coming home tonight. What am I going to tell them? Especially Stephen. He said if I didn’t, he’d come down here and get me.
I’ll tell Daphne, then. She can tell Stephen. I’ll send her a cute picture of the boots so she knows it’s me and I’m okay, and then I’ll let her know I’m staying one more night. She can break the news to him.
Not that I’ll catch any less crap from him tomorrow over it. In fact, it will likely be worse.
Before I think any harder about it, I snap a quick picture and send a text to Daphne about me staying one more night, and then squirrel away my phone so I don’t have to look at the response. I know she won’t be easy on me, either. In fact, I can see her face now as she opens it with eyes narrowed, then a half-smirk, half-snarl, thinking, she totally slept with him.
She’s totally right.
A knock startles me and I yelp, nearly jumping out of these leather boots.
“Babe?” Jake says through the door.
“Hey,” I say after a beat.
He jiggles the doorknob against the lock.
I jolt forward and unlock it for him.
After he swings it wide, he gets a good look at me in this black dress and his chin nearly falls to the floor. The door lightly bounces off the wall.
I smooth my hand down my right thigh, hide my other hand with the white cotton eyesore behind my back. “Thought I’d change,” I say. “Can’t have you being the only snazzy one.”
His mouth quirks, sans Fu Manchu, his dimple showing, but his eyes don’t leave the dress. “I, uh…” A bigger smile. My heart stops. “I approve.”
I like that you approve.
As we stand here looking at each other, enjoying what we see, the sexual tension between us draws tight again, as if we haven’t already spent a good part of our day in the bed behind me, and my thighs rub together in remembrance. My sex is still in no condition for another round, but damn if I’m not seriously considering it. Even with that tacky shirt he has on.
“Where’s the ‘stache?” I ask to bring us back down to earth.
He pulls it out of his back pocket. “I’ll put it on last minute.”
