Operation One Night Stand (30 page)

“You okay?”
I giggled.
His reaction was priceless.

“No.
Don’t touch me.
Not yet.
I need a minute.”

“You don’t want me to touch you?”
I ran my hand along his thigh.

“Caroline.”
He growled.

“What?”
I put his earlobe between my teeth and pulled gently.
He closed his eyes.

He didn’t move, so I stood up and took off my shirt.
He finally opened his eyes when it hit him in the face.
“Well, if you aren’t interested”—I slipped out of my flats and walked toward his bedroom—“I guess I’ll just have to take care of it myself.”

He shot up, pulled his pants back on, and chased me down the hallway as I screamed and ran toward the bedroom.
He grabbed me right before I entered the room, lifted me up, threw me on the bed, and pressed himself on top of me.

“You’re killing me.”
He moaned.

“I told you I would take care of it myself.”
Laughing, I tried to wiggle out from under him.

“Oh no you don’t!”

“Oh yes I can!”

“I know you
can.
A real woman can do it all by herself, I know that.
But a real man won’t let her.”

His lips met mine and we lost ourselves in each other.

An hour later we lay in the bed, quiet but for the sounds of our breathing.

“We should get back.”
I broke the silence.

“No.”
Brian nuzzled his unshaven face into my neck.

“Everyone is probably waiting for us, wondering where we are.”

“Let them.
The longer we’re up here, the more studly I look.”

“More studly?”
I raised my eyebrows.

“You know what I mean.
More studly.
Studlier.
Whatever.”
He reached down and smacked my ass.

“Ouch!
Come on.”
I rolled over and looked for my pants.

“Fine.
You’re sleeping here tonight?”

“I was planning on it.”

“Good.
You know, Christmas is coming up.”

I turned to him.
His hair was disheveled and his eyes were sleepy and relaxed.

“Christmas?”
I had totally forgotten.

“Yeah.
It’s in like, ten days.”

“Wow.”

He laughed and pulled on his pants while lying down.
“Anyway, I was thinking we could go get a tree tomorrow.”

“I haven’t even started shopping yet.
I can’t believe it slipped my mind.
I mean everything is already decorated.
How did that slip past me?”

“I don’t know.
What do you say?
We can go shopping in the morning, then get a tree before we come back here.”

“I think”—I crawled across the bed and kissed him—“that sounds like a great idea.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Maybe I’ll call out sick on Monday.
We can sleep in and decorate it.”

“Sounds like an even better plan.”

He grabbed my ass and squeezed.
I waited until he put on his shirt before we walked out to the living room.
I pulled my sweater over my head and we went back downstairs hand in hand.

I
approached the table to see Melody with her hair spread out on the table and Sarah texting someone while she sipped a beer.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Sarah replied.

“She returns!”
Melody lifted her head and slurred before dropping it back to the table.

I cocked my head to the side and squinted before I leaned down and whispered to Sarah, “Does she know her shirt is inside out?”

“That’s nothing, there was a used condom stuck to her shoe.”

I crinkled my nose.
“Ew.”

“Yeah.”

I looked around.
“Where’d everyone else go?”

“Danny, Drew, and Ryan are playing darts, and Berk is in the back corner making out with his doctor friend.
It’s a shame.
Two perfectly hot guys completely unavailable to me.”
She shook her head in disbelief.

I dug around in my purse and found my compact and lip gloss.
“Looks like Melody’s cut off.”

I slicked on the gloss and puckered in the mirror before handing it to Sarah.

“Oh yeah.
We’re only staying a little longer, then I’m bringing her back home with me.
I’d rather be able to walk her home than call her a taxi and hope she gets home.”

“Blot?”
I handed her a napkin.

“Thanks.”

“Mel!”
I yelled and kicked the table.

She lifted her head and looked at me.
“What?
Huh?
Yeah?”

“You okay?”

She gave me a loopy smile and a thumbs-up, then dropped her head back down.

“She’s down.”
Sarah laughed.

I nodded back at her and whispered to Sarah, “I’m not supposed to tell you, but she slept with her boss this morning.”

“Which one?”
Sarah’s voice was serious.

“The married one.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

“She can’t be doing that.”

“You tell her that!”
I pointed to Melody’s sleeping head.

Sarah shook her head.
“Always something with her.
Smart as a whip but no common sense.
You’re staying here, right?”

“Yeah.
Get this.
We’re picking out a Christmas tree tomorrow.”

“That’s a big step.
Sure you’re ready?”

“For real.”

Sarah scrunched up her face.
“Wait.
It’s Christmas already?”

“Right?
I thought I was the only one who wasn’t paying attention.
Feels like yesterday we were taking in the sun in Jamaica.”

“God.
I know.
Let’s go back.”

“Can’t.
It’s Christmas and we are required to celebrate in New Jersey.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t realize how close it was.
There is no excuse.
I’m a teacher.
I look forward to this shit.”

I shrugged and said, “Maybe we’re too old for Christmas.”

“Bullshit.
We’re never too old for Christmas.
What do you want anyway?”

“A new pair of nude pumps?
Mine are all scuffed.”

“Consider it done.”

“You?”
I poured a glass of beer for myself and topped hers off.

“A man.”
She took a drink, keeping her eye on Drew.

I nodded toward him.
“What about Drew?”

“Eh, I don’t know.
It’s not serious.”

“It sure as hell looked serious.
I mean you don’t just let anyone handcuff you to the bed.
Maybe you do, I don’t know.
But I draw the line.”

“Yeah.
Not serious.
Fun, yes.
Serious, no.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.
Maybe he’s not into me.”

“Doubt that.”

“I’m happy for you, you know.”

I smiled at her.
“I know.”

“Brian is a good guy.”

“I think so.”
I looked over and caught his eye.
The best feeling in the world is when a girl looks over and her guy is already staring.
He winked and went back to pulling beers.

“I think,” Sarah began, “we should play darts.
I think these guys need to get their asses handed to them.”

I got up and followed her.
“But I don’t know how to play.”

“How hard can it be?
You throw the arrow thingy at the target and try to get a bull’s-eye.”

“I don’t know about you but the last time I tried to go after a target it didn’t work out so well.”

“Oh, it worked out.
Just not the way you thought it would.”

I looked over at Brian again and said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The rest of the night was spent with Melody asleep on the back table and the rest of us laughing, dancing, singing, and shooting darts.
Brian’s breaks were spent in the back with us.
Even Berk pulled away from his man candy long enough to join us.
We were a bunch of people, some who barely knew one another, starting relationships that would last longer than any of us could have anticipated.