Lick Is A Four-Letter Word (4 page)

“You sure?”
Josh asked, coming closer.

Felicity
hunched down even more. “Yes. I’m fine.” She was so totally
not
fine it
wasn’t even funny. She couldn’t believe she’d let two strange men kiss her! She
was so embarrassed.

“Okay
then,” Josh said, backing up. He clearly understood her ‘hands-off’ vibe.

Felicity
felt bad. “Thanks,” she said, blushing as she met their eyes.

“What for?”
Troy
asked.

“Um,
the kiss?” she managed.

Josh
snorted. “We should be thanking you.”

“What
he said,”
Troy
added.

Felicity
nodded, wishing they’d just leave so she could get dressed.

“Hey,”
Josh said, moving in again. He tipped her chin up. “Don’t let some stupid guys
make you think you’re not gorgeous. You are.” He kissed her, short and fast.

Felicity
put a hand to her mouth. It tingled.

“What
he said,”
Troy
repeated, leaning in. He kissed her slower,
but
just
as lightly as Josh.

She
licked her lips, chasing the last bit of sweet candy flavor. “You taste like
cherries.”

Josh
laughed. “He’s addicted to those stupid lollipops.”

Felicity
blushed.
Troy
glared at Josh.

“You
are.” Josh smirked at his friend.

Troy
ignored him and headed for the door. “Bye, Felicity.”

“What
he said.” Josh winked and followed his friend out of the room.

Chapter
Three

Two
weeks later, Felicity still couldn’t believe she’d kissed two men she didn’t
know. It wasn’t like her. She had no idea
who
they
were, what they did for a living, or where they lived. She knew she would never
see them again, and she supposed that was probably for the best. She wasn’t
really looking for a relationship, anyway. She sucked on her straw, trying to
convince herself she didn’t feel a pang every time she thought about them.

“No way, Felicity.
I don’t believe
you.” Felicity’s best friend, Sue, waved her fork in the air. A piece of
macaroni slid off and plopped onto the tablecloth.

Felicity
grabbed a napkin and shoved it at Sue. “Here. You’re leaking.”

Sue
looked down, brown curls bouncing over her face.
“Oh,
whatever.”
She dabbed at the pasta, making the mess worse. “You’re
avoiding my point.”

Felicity
rolled her eyes. “You’re not
making
any point.”

“Oh
come on. You can’t expect me to believe that you kissed two guys you didn’t
know? At the bikini-wax place? That doesn’t even make any sense.” Sue speared
another piece of penne with her fork. “You don’t date. You don’t even talk
about men, much to my ongoing dismay.”

Felicity
sighed and shoved her glass away. They were eating in her favorite little
hole-in-the wall diner, close to her house. The food was great and the service
impeccable, but the place lacked any sort of privacy. The small tables were
scattered around the dining room willy-nilly, and she could see two older women
at the next table eyeing her with amused looks on their faces. “Do we have to
talk about this now?”

“You
brought it up, remember?” Sue sipped her cappuccino pointedly.

“I just
wanted to tell my best friend about this funny thing that happened to me. I
didn’t expect you to go all drama-queen on me.” Felicity rolled her napkin in
her lap, knowing she was being a little over-sensitive.

Sue put
her cup down and looked at her for a moment. “I think this is way more than a
funny little thing for you, of all people.” She pointed at Felicity. “Otherwise
you wouldn’t be so sensitive about it.” She dropped her hand and picked up her
drink again. “Though I’m sorry if you thought I was being a bitch.”

Felicity
shook her head tiredly. “No, no. I’m sorry. You’re right. I don’t know what’s
wrong with me.” She rubbed her eyes, wishing she hadn’t had so much trouble
sleeping the night before, but that seemed to be her luck these days. The
kisses in the waxing place had really thrown her off balance for some reason.
She had her job, which she liked, and her friends. She was happy.
Or, I
thought I was.

“Well,
if it’s any consolation, I believe you, now.” Sue took another bite of her
pasta salad and chewed thoughtfully before continuing. “You wouldn’t be so torn
up about it, otherwise.” She leaned in smiling. “Okay, so tell me again. What
did they look like, these hot guys of yours?”

Felicity
flushed,
not at all sure she wanted to talk about it
anymore. Sue would never let it drop now, though, she knew Felicity too well.
She never let Felicity wiggle out of anything. That was partly why they were
such good friends.

“Um,
well, the one guy was really tall.
Six feet, at least.
And really muscular,” she stammered, remembering
Troy
’s lovely, lovely
pecs
.

“Six
feet is not tall,” Sue retorted. “My brother is six feet tall and I can still
take him down when I want to.”

“Yeah,
well, I’m only five-five. Six feet is plenty tall for me.” She ignored Sue’s
hurry-up hand roll. “He had the most gorgeous skin, like your cappuccino
there.” She pointed.

“Girl,
you didn’t tell me he was black!” Sue leaned back, looking even more
flabbergasted.

Felicity
frowned. “What does that matter?”

“Well,
for one thing, you get to cross off a notch on the I-kissed-a-non-white-guy
list.”

Felicity
laughed. “There’s a list for that? That’s stupid.”

Sue
nodded very seriously, though Felicity could tell her friend was teasing by the
amused twinkle in her green eyes. “You bet there’s a list. So far I’ve kissed a
black guy, an Indian, and of course, white men.” She snorted.
“Far too many white men, actually.
They never seem to stick
around, do they?”

Felicity
smiled in commiseration, knowing Sue was thinking about her last loser
boyfriend. The one she’d caught banging the receptionist at their office.
“Well, guys are dumb. They don’t know what an awesome person you are.”

“Too true.”
Sue and Felicity shared a
moment of silence over the duplicity of the male gender,
then
Sue shook her head. “Anyway, you were saying? He was tall, dark, and
delicious?”

Felicity
smirked. “Well, about that list…” She let her voice trail off suggestively.

“What?
Are you holding out on me? What did the other one look like?” Sue asked, leaning
in again.

“
Troy
was black. Josh was
Asian.” Felicity picked up her soda and sipped it nonchalantly, as thought she
went around kissing two men all the time. She waited for the Sue-explosion.

“What!
You lucky girl, you,” Sue said, eyes sparkling. “What did he look like?”

“He had
gorgeous eyes, of course.
Warm brown, exotic.
And his
hair was really shiny. It flopped over his forehead. His name was Josh.”
Felicity sighed remembering it,
then
she chuckled. “
Troy
spent the whole time
licking this cherry lollipop he had. I couldn’t stop staring at his mouth.”

“A lollipop?
I thought you said he
was six feet tall? He wasn’t a kid, was he?” Sue sounded suddenly worried.

Felicity
grinned. “No! No, I wouldn’t let a kid kiss me,
sheesh
.
He was all grown-up, I swear. He had stubble.
And muscles.”
She bit the inside of her cheek as Sue’s face went all dreamy. “And he wore his
hair in these, well, little mini-dreads is all I can think of to call them. His
hair was really curly, but it was a light brown and he’d left it grow enough to
tease into these little points.” She shook her head. “I’m not explaining it
right. It sounds stupid, but he looked handsome. His eyes were hazel.”

“No,
no, I know what you mean. I’ve never touched hair like that, but I totally know
what you’re talking about. And he had light eyes? Wow.” Sue fanned herself. “He
sounds really hot. What about the other guy?”

“He was
really well-built, too.
A little shorter.
But nice.
Intense.”
Felicity didn’t
know how to describe him. “He seemed less easygoing than his friend, but not in
a bad way.”

Sue
tapped her cupped speculatively. “And you kissed them both. I didn’t know you
had it in you.”

“Well,
to be perfectly accurate, they kissed me.” She waited for a beat, knowing the
next little tidbit would really get her friend going.
“After
they massaged my feet.”

“No way!
They gave you a foot
massage?” Sue burst out. “Now I’m not sure I believe you.
Again.
You’re just screwing with me now. Dudes do not give massages.”

“They
did! I swear. We were all stuck there, trying to keep our stupid paper gowns
covering everything they’re supposed to, and the doors won’t open. Of course,
my foot started to hurt because I was standing on the hard floor, and I was
nervous. They noticed I was uncomfortable.”

Sue
hmmm’d
, face curious, so Felicity kept going with her
story. “They had me sit on one of the tables and before I knew what was
happening, they were on their knees in front of me.”

“Are
you serious?” Sue’s voice held incredulity. “Guys just don’t do that.”

“Totally serious.
I told you they
were nice.” She squirmed a little, remembering how embarrassed she’d been. “I
was really freaked out at first. I mean, I was naked. And since when do guys
notice me?” She waved a hand at her hair, pulled back into a ponytail. “Between
the hair and the glasses and stuff… Well.”

“Guys
are dumb,” Sue said. “Just because you don’t dress with your boobs hanging out,
doesn’t mean you’re not pretty. You’ve got amazing blonde hair that you don’t
even have to get highlighted. And really pretty eyes. I wish mine were blue
like yours and not muddy green.”

“Oh
please, guys are always asking you out, Sue.”

Sue
rolled her eyes.

Felicity
shrugged. “I’m still a nerd. No getting around it.” She hurried on with her
story before Sue could say anything else. She didn’t want her friend’s pity.
Guys threw themselves at Sue’s feet because she was tall and gorgeous. Felicity
was average, light-haired, and nerdy. “Anyway, these guys weren’t dumb. They
knew right away that my ankle was screwed up. That’s why they offered the
massage. Apparently
Troy
had hurt his wrist at some point and they knew about how the nerve damage can
cause spasms.”

“Huh.”
Sue picked up her coffee and took a sip. “That’s strangely nice of them.”

“Not
all guys are assholes,” Felicity said.

“Just most
of them,” Sue added.

Felicity
grinned.
“Yeah.”

“So what then?”

“They
took turns kissing me and then the attendant and the locksmith opened the door.
I was mortified! Totally naked, two guys kissing me, and in walks the whole
world.
Gah
.”
Felicity shuddered, remembering the horror of it.

Sue
snorted. “They were probably jealous. And don’t forget, if those guys were
kissing you, they probably had a much harder time hiding their interest in the
proceedings than you did.”

Felicity
sat back, thinking. “Huh. You could be right. I bet that’s why they ran for the
bathroom so fast. I thought they were just embarrassed to be seen with me.”

“Felicity,
you have got to get over this. You’re thirty years old. You’ve been married.
You’re really pretty. You have amazing hair. You don’t even have to color it to
get those incredible honey-blonde highlights. Men are dumb.” Sue pointed her
finger at Felicity emphatically. “You’re an awesome woman. Any guy would be
lucky to date you.”

“My
hair is boring light brown. So is my life.”

Sue
threw up her hands. “I give up. Didn’t you just tell me about this hot
encounter with two naked men? Stop it!”

Felicity
laughed, she couldn’t help it. Her friend Sue in a dither was hilarious. “Your
hair is going all crazy, you know.”

“
Argh
!”
Sue
smoothed down her wild curls with one hand. “We’re not talking about me. We’re
talking about you. What now? Did you call them?”

“I
didn’t get their numbers.” Felicity looked away from the appalled dismay on her
friend’s face.

“What?
You didn’t ask?”