“I’m meeting Bryant for drinks.”

Chase’s jaw tightened. He nodded. “Have a good night, Buttercup.”

Chapter 8

Reese

I had sex on the brain.

It just wasn’t Bryant I wanted to have it with.

We’d had two drinks. I told him all about my new job, and he actually listened. Now we were sitting at the bar, and he put his hand on my knee.

“I was thinking…how about we go down to the Jersey Shore this weekend? A weekend on the beach, dinner at a shack that sells cold beer and clams by the bucket? My friend has a place down in Long Beach Island, and he isn’t using it this weekend.”

I loved the beach, and a clam bar and beer was totally my thing. Yet…I was hesitant to commit on the spot for some reason. I needed time to think about it a little more. “Can I get back to you in a day or two? We just started this big project I’m working on, and they may expect me to come in over the weekend. I’m not really sure yet.”

As usual, Bryant was a good sport. “Sure. Of course.”

We called it an early night after that since both of us were early risers. Back at my apartment, Tallulah, that damn ugly cat, scared the crap out of me when I walked in. The sound of my collection of deadbolts unlocking had become her personal Pavlovian call to action. The living room was dark except for two bright green globes staring directly at me. She was perched on the top of the back of the couch waiting for me when I flicked on the lights.

“God, you really are ugly as sin.”

“Meow.”

“I know, I know, you can’t help it.” I scratched my fingernails on her back. It felt so odd without any fur. “How about if I get you one of those little cat sweaters? Maybe something sleek-looking and black? Or maybe something with faux fur on it, huh? Would you like that, ugly girl? You need some fur for this Butterball-looking body.”

“Meow.”

I carried her with me as I did my daily entry ritual—opening all the closets and doors, checking behind the curtains and under the bed. Finding all clear, I took a quick shower, moisturized my body, and climbed into bed. Tallulah hopped up and planted herself on the pillow next to me.

After a fourteen-hour day at a new job, followed by two martinis, I should have been tired. But I wasn’t. I was…horny. My problem could have been easily remedied. I was certain all I had to do was invite Bryant back to my place, and he would have gladly taken care of my needs. Yet I chose to be alone.

Tallulah purred next to me, then hit me in the face with her paw. When I ignored her, she did it again. The second time, I took a paw to the nose. Giving in, I reached over and scratched her fleshy pink belly again. She rolled on her back to give me full access. With her paws drawn and bent at her sides, her arms and legs looked like wings. She really did look like an uncooked turkey. Reaching over to my nightstand, I grabbed my phone and snapped a couple of pictures I intended to email to my mother in the morning, but then I remembered the message Chase had sent me the other night about Tallulah.

I typed out a text, attaching the photo of Tallulah on her back.

Reese: Pretty sure her twin is a Butterball in a grocery freezer somewhere.

It had been less than a minute when my phone buzzed with an incoming text.

Chase: I flipped my phone around a few times before I realized what I was looking at. That is seriously one ugly pussy.

Reese: LOL. Who has taken over half my bed. She’s also very demanding and keeps pawing me in the face if I stop scratching her.

Chase: Just you two sharing that big bed tonight?

He knew I’d been meeting Bryant after I left the office.

Reese: Yup. Just me and my ugly kitty.

Chase: Good to know.

Reese: Well, sweet dreams.

Chase: You can count on it now. Night, Buttercup.

***

My best friend Jules and I met for coffee the next morning before work. It had been the longest I’d gone without seeing her since we both started at Fresh Look on the same day seven years ago.

“The place sucks without you,” she pouted as we sat near the window with our coffees.

“Of course it does. You have no one to gossip with.”

“I had lunch with Ena from media relations the other day and told her about a new vibrator I bought. I’m pretty sure I scared her away for life.”

“Some people are uptight about sharing that type of information.”

She shrugged.

Jules was the most open and non-uptight person I’d ever met. Her parents were actual hippies, and she grew up with the share the love vibe in her house. Once she told me her parents had separate bedrooms for when the other had company. Sharing highlights about your new vibrator purchase seems tame when you grew up with your parents sharing partners.

“Well…not that you need it since you have Bryant now, but Lovehoney just came out with a new triple-whammy Jessica Rabbit, and it’s seriously better than my last two partners. It actually finds your clit.”

“I’ll have to check it out.”

“Don’t tell me Bryant’s a dud?”

I sipped my coffee. “Wouldn’t know. Haven’t slept with him yet. But he’s pretty attentive in general. So that’s a good sign, I suppose.”

“Just not feeling it with him, or is something else going on?”

The fact that my mind immediately went to Chase made it clear it was more about something else than it was about Bryant. Someone else, actually. “He’s great. He really is.”

“But…”

“I don’t know. Something has been holding me back from taking our relationship to the next level.”

“Something or someone?”

Jules knew me too well.

“Remember that guy I told you about who I met at the restaurant on my date with Martin?”

“The hot one who made up all the stories?”

“That’s the one.”

“I sort of ran into him again.”

“Sort of?”

“Well…I’ve run into him a few times.”

“Where?”

I hesitated and then responded with a question, as if I were trying out the response. “In the office?”

Jules put her coffee down on the table between us. “He works at the new office? You’ve got to be kidding me. You know what happened last time you had sex with a co-worker.”