by Piper Rayne
“It’s a surprise, but believe me, people are going to love it,” Reed says.
She fakes sincerity with a giggle and then her gaze lands back on me. “Vicki, I am the president of the PTA. I need to approve everything.”
“It’s Vic—”
I cut off Reed by placing my hand on his forearm. “First, it’s Victoria. Second, Principal Weddle already approved it. He knows our plans and thought the fact that there will be a surprise at the event would increase attendance.”
Let’s just say, the principal was not easily convinced but eventually I argued enough valid points against his arguments and assured him all would cleaned up and that there’d be no trace of anything after we were done.
“Do you want to be the president, Vicki?” She spits out my name like it’s poison on her tongue.
Now, I’m not totally opposed to being called Vicki. My dad used to call me by that name. But from this woman who doesn’t know me? Absolutely not. The fact that she does it on purpose to annoy me makes me really want to put her in her place.
“No, I don’t.”
“Then—”
“I know where you’re gonna go with this, Darcie, so let me just take care of it for you. No, I can’t be president because I work. Yes, my husband and I are divorced. Yes, I moved here only recently and yes, I live with my mother. But all of that isn’t really any of your concern. You assigned me a task—without asking, I might add—and I agreed to take it on. Now you want to place stipulations on it, but that’s not really any of your business either.” I pause long enough to take a breath and watch as her eyes grow even wider. “So, Darcie, why don’t you drop your kid off and go do something productive rather than stand around here all morning judging the other parents like you have a doctorate in raising children.”
She scoffs which I silently love because it means I’ve upset her, but I keep my cool, my expression blank. She’s doing a terrible job in that department. Her cheeks are bright pink, and she clenches the cup in her hand so tight that it makes a sound of protest.
“Fine, do it your way. I only wanted to make sure you didn’t have some sad booth that no one went to.” She turns to Reed. “Nice of you to back me up, seeing as I gave you her phone number. It’s called pay it forward, Reed, do you not understand the concept?” She doesn’t wait for him to answer but instead stomps away. “Georgia!” she says and her sidekick who is way too old to be bullied follows obediently.
My heartbeat slows and the sweat under my arms feels cold as it starts to dry. I circle around to face Reed.
“Shit, just when I didn’t think it was possible to want you more.”
He shakes his head, then links our hands together, leading us to the car. When we reach the sedan, he opens the door.
I slide in to the vanilla scented car. “Good morning, Abe.”
“Good morning, Victoria, or should I say Miss Bad Ass.” His amused eyes find me in the rearview mirror.
“You saw that, huh?”
“Made my morning,” he says with a chuckle.
“So, you witnessed the takedown, Abe?” Reed asks sliding in next to me.
I pick up my coffee from the beverage holder and sip the goodness I’ve been craving since my alarm went off.
“This definitely puts you in Prince Charming territory.” I point to the cup.
“Hey now, I’m the one who stopped there,” Abe jokes.
“Thanks, Abe.” I wink at him in the mirror.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, no taking credit. You tacked on another five dollars.” Reed reaches for his own cup out of the holder and tentatively takes a sip.
Abe pulls away from the curb and we start our trek downtown.
“I was thinking maybe I’ll go ahead and take Henry every day,” Reed says.
“I never see who drops Henry off on the other days. A car pulls up to the curb, Henry jumps out and they pull away.”
He nods. “An old silver Chrysler, right?”
“Yeah.”
“His grandpa. He’s not big on socializing. I think they’re getting older and didn’t really sign up for all this, you know?”
Pete always feigned caring about other people. He’d say all the right words, but it came off empty. With Reed, you see in his face how much he cares for Henry and how much he feels for what the family has had to endure.
“I can’t imagine.”
“Me either.” He frowns for a moment, deep in thought.
We sit for a few seconds, trying to time our sips with the stop and go Chicago traffic. Abe has the same morning radio show on as last time, but so far, the Second Date Update hasn’t come on.
“No chance of seeing you until Friday, huh?” Reed asks.
Abe glances up to the mirror and then back to the road.
“I have school,” I say, sticking my bottom lip out in a pout.
“Every night?”
“Tonight, Wednesday and Thursday.”
“None of them are online?”
I shrug. “Some of the classes are, but I’m in my final year, graduating next December.” I raise my crossed fingers. “Hopefully.”
“I don’t think I ever asked you for what?” He shifts so he’s facing me more than straight ahead now.
“Business. General. Not even sure what I’m going to do.”
His arms stretch out to reach for my hand, his fingers playing with mine between us. “You’ll figure out what you love.”
The warmth of his hand in mine feels good. The way his thumb and fingers glide along my skin. Not smooth but not callused, a mix.
“It’s time,” Abe turns up the volume of the radio.
“Second Date Update,” Reed says, grinning like he’s been waiting all week for another episode.
The rest of the ride in, we listen to a man who doesn’t understand why he never got a call back, only to find out he had texted her asking for a hand job while they were watching a movie at the theater.
Reed looks over at me, waggling those thick but perfect eyebrows at me.
“No,” I mouth with a smile and he threads his fingers through mine, giving them a squeeze.
By the time we pull up to the curb, I no longer want to climb out of the car, content to stay here in close proximity to Reed for a while longer.
“What’s your views on PDA?” Reed asks, not opening the door.
“I’m a hard no.”
“Even with me?”
“Especially with you.” I give him a pointed look.
“Sorry, but it’s Abe or the morning rush?” He points outside where people are walking past with rapid steps, trying to get to work on time.
“I have a text to return.” Abe grabs his cell phone from the console and stares at it in his lap.
“How about a rain check on that kiss?” I say, trying not to laugh.
“Abe shut your eyes,” Reed instructs, not taking his gaze off me.
“Um…”
“Just one,” he says in a low voice that makes it hard to resist.
Then he slides forward, his strong thigh presses to mine, his hand moves to my neck and his lips land on mine. The kiss is brief but heart-stopping and by the time I’m opening the door to get out of the car, Abe’s cheeks are as flushed as mine.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“No worries, I’ve heard worse.” He salutes me as a goodbye and I exit the vehicle.
Reed and I both laugh as he walks me to the door of the office tower. I bet Abe has some stories that are better than the Second Date Update ones.
“Don’t you have a job to get to?” I ask when he steps into the small foyer of the office building.
“I’m not sure I’m going to survive waiting until Friday.” He wraps his arm around my waist and hugs me to his body.
“Well, you’ll have to.” I kiss his chin, the stubble from his neatly trimmed beard pricking my skin.
“Keep doing that and I will stalk you.” He squeezes me tighter to his body.
I pull back. “Something tell
s me you know way more than you should about me.”
I know he has connections to a database that probably shows my underage drinking ticket from high school.
He says nothing which I take to mean he has looked me up. I don’t really mind though because in all honesty, I’d have done the same.
“Have a good day, counselor.” I let my hand drift down his back and take a quick squeeze of his firm ass.
“You’re playing dirty,” he whispers in my ear, my earlobe finding its way into his mouth.
“Two can play that game.” I kiss his lips, short and chaste. “Bye, Reed.”
“Payback is a bitch,” he says as he takes a step away, walking backward. “I’m going to open my door naked on Friday.”
A woman who looks to be in her mid-fifties is approaching the elevator at that exact moment and glances over to him in disgust.
“Sorry, Ma’am.”
She presses the elevator button as Reed and I stare at one another. I wave, and he steps back until the door is in his hand and he’s gone with only a smile.
The woman and I step into the elevator, each pressing the buttons for our floors.
“If I was your age, I’d be showing up in a trench coat with nothing but my birthday suit on under it on Friday.”
The elevator doors open on her floor and I’m too slack-jawed to respond.
I know that things with Reed will probably escalate into his bedroom, or more likely his kitchen table on Friday night and that has me mentally taking inventory of my body. My post-baby body. The one where nothing really went back to where it started.
I cup my breasts, lifting them then letting go, and watch as they fall back down like two sad sacks of flour.
I don’t even turn on my computer after I walk through the office doors.
“CHELSEA!” I scream. “Divorcee dating meeting—stat!”
Chapter Twenty-One
Chelsea walks out of the break room with a coffee in one hand and a donut shoved in her mouth, powdered sugar sprinkled down the front of her blouse.
“What are you doing?” I ask, tossing my bag on the chair in front of my desk. “Those need to leave this office immediately.”
I stomp past her and she follows me in.
“They’re sooo good though. A gift from the new bakery around the corner.” There’s a whine in her voice as she watches me throw them in the trash.
“I need your help and I can’t have donuts around at a time like this.”
She sits down at the table, licking the sugar off her fingers. “What’s up?”
“What’s up is I’m going to be naked this weekend and this body has been consuming refined sugar and complex carbs for the past two years. The only way I’ve worked up a sweat is by eating spicy food or cleaning the bathroom.”
“Naked?” Her eyes light up with mischief. “The steak?”
“Yes.”
“So, the date went well?”
“The date did and now he’s asked me over to his house on Friday.”
“And the plot thickens.” She leans back in the chair and crosses her legs in front of her with a smirk.
“This isn’t some mystery. He’s a man. I’m a woman. We’re both old enough that we’re not holding our V cards, so sex is absolutely on the table for Friday and—”
“Let’s hope it’s on the table. Table sex is all kinds of fun.” She bites her lower lip and I’m sure she’s remembering some escapade she’s had in the past, but I do not want details.
“Can you focus for a second?” I can hear the panic creeping into my voice.
She gives her head a little shake and looks back in my direction. “Vic, when he unwraps you, he’s going to be drooling over what he finds.”
“No, he won’t. I’m pretty sure he’s never slept with a woman who has had a child before. I have five days to lose fifteen pounds.”
Chelsea eyes my coffee and I follow her line of sight. “Shit.” With one last sip to remember it by, I throw it in the trash.
“Only black coffee from this point forward.” She sits up straight in her chair and leans forward, game face on.
I nod.
“We’re going to cleanse.” She stands and heads to her office.
I follow her. “But I shower every day?”
She stops walking and spins around to face me. “Not that kind of cleanse, woman. And you’re heading to the gym with me after work. Tonight, is boot camp.” She resumes walking to her office.
“But last time I went with you—”
She stands behind her desk, her fingers pressed to the hard surface, her gaze on me. “Okay, yes overdid it and had spaghetti legs for a few days, but—”
“Besides, I have class later.”
“Ladies?” Hannah’s voice rings through the office.
“In here,” I say, peeking my head out of Chelsea’s office.
“What’s the scuttlebutt this morning? Chelsea’s date?” She tosses her bag next to mine and takes off her designer coat, hanging it up on the coat hook.
“No date this weekend. It was my cousin’s bridal shower.”
“Oh, that must’ve been fun,” I say.
She raises her eyebrows. “Have you ever been to a fun bridal shower?”
“Mine was fun.” I shrug.
“Because you got all the gifts. Not to mention, my cousin insists on having a super-short engagement and so it was all just thrown together. And she let the guys crash it, so one of these things is not like the others.” She points to herself.
My lips turn down.
“Add on the fact that my family already thinks there’s something wrong with me since my marriage lasted all of two-point-two seconds and I get to re-live that whenever we’re at something remotely wedding related.” Her body shivers. “Hence my weakness to sugar donuts this morning. I’m an emotional eater.”
Hannah glances my way, a huge smile on her face. “Donuts?”
“Don’t waste your time, Vic threw them out.”
Hannah pouts. “No donuts?”
“Nope, and we’re going on a cleanse,” Chelsea says.
“Oh, I want to join.” Hannah sounds like we just said we’re going to Vegas for a girl’s weekend, not beginning a liquid funk. “I have just the person to help us. Wait, why are we doing this?”
Chelsea and I laugh at her train of thought.
“Victoria’s getting naked this weekend.”
Hannah’s neck twists my way. “So, he’s that good?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Did you kiss?”
“Yes.”
“And?” she asks and both their eyes zero in on me.
“It was phenomenal.”
“Then he’s gotta be good in bed. I’ve never had a bad kisser be good in bed or vice versa.” She leaves the office. “Okay, I’m calling my guy. Clear our schedules for this afternoon.”
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I love working for Hannah Crowley.
Later that afternoon, Chelsea and I follow Hannah into a storefront that looks nothing like a gym. And when I see that the guy who approaches us is wearing a unicorn hat on his head and purple leotard leggings, I’m wondering exactly what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.
“Um,” Chelsea winds her arm through mine. “This is odd. Even for me.”
“Tad.” Hannah approaches him, and they kiss on the cheek and hug. Tad’s gaze lands on us over Hannah’s shoulder.
“These are them?” he asks, eyeing us top to bottom.
Hannah turns nodding at us with a big smile. “These are my girls. Victoria and Chelsea.” She points to each of us as she says our names.
“Pleasure,” he approaches and does the double air kiss on each side of our cheeks, where you never actually make contact with the person. “Excuse the get-up, we’re not your typical sweat center. I like things to be fun.”
“Fun is good,” Chelsea says.
“So…which of you is the desperate one?” He looks between us both.
<
br /> “This one.” Chelsea thumbs my way.
He winds his arm through mine. “Let’s get started. That ass isn’t gonna lift itself with us just standing here, sweetie.”
I give Hannah my best wide-eyed help me look as I pass her, but she just chuckles under her breath. Traitor.
“So, who’s the guy?” Tad asks, his other hand patting my forearm.
“Um…”
“He was the best man at her wedding,” Chelsea calls out, walking with Hannah behind us.
“Oh!” He turns his head and his gaze finds Hannah for a second. “The body always wants what it shouldn’t. Right, Han?” His eyebrows waggle.
“Quiet, Tad.”
Chelsea moves her finger sideways between the two of them. “What are we missing?”
“Nothing.” Hannah shoots Tad a look of warning. “We’re here for Victoria.”
“Right.” He stops when we reach a long reception counter, takes my hands and pulls them out, taking in my body again. “First. You’re gorgeous, honey and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“Thank you.” I smile at him in appreciation.
“But anyone can use some cleansing and a detox. All that bloating will disappear, and your skin will look ten years younger, fifteen in candlelight.” He lets my arms drop and heads to a cabinet, taking out several bottles and placing them on the counter.
“Three, right Hannah Banana?” he asks, never turning around.
Chelsea and I laugh at his nickname for her, but she glances our way quickly and we rein ourselves in.
“Yes, we’re doing this together,” she says.
He looks over his shoulder. “I love the girl power thing, ladies. Which reminds me, did you secure that venue for the gala? I can’t wait. Zak wanted to head to New York that weekend, but I said, nope, my girl is coming out in style and I need to be there to support her.”
“Tell Zak I’ll make it up to him,” Hannah says, and the warmth and appreciation in her voice can’t be missed.
“Come on now. I love when I get to make things up to my man.” He winks at us while he positions all the pill bottles he’s removed from the cabinet in three different piles in front of him. “’Kay, so here’s the deal. We’ll do a cleanse and you girls come here every night or at lunchtime, whichever you want. Shake and a probiotic for breakfast, sensible lunch and a shake for dinner. Actually, I’ll bring you girls lunch to make it easier, so I know you’re staying on track.”