Page 137 of Melted by a Man

“I told you she’s having girls’ night, T.” Leo tried to take the phone from Taylor, who laughed manically before running away from him. Leo cursed in the distance, and Mary’s lips twitched with a smile as she overheard her cousin being bested by someone else.

“C’mon, J,” I had never formally permitted Taylor to call me by the first letter of my name, but I was okay with it. They were probably the only one who could get away with the nickname. “Leo dropped the ball so many times today. Literally. He has the worst butterfingers I have ever seen.”

“I’m sorry,” I held back a giggle from Taylor’s antics, they were such a character, “But, how would I help, exactly?”

Taylor’s eyes widened before they rolled. To my side, Nicole muffled a giggle, “Because he’ll want to show off for his pretty girlfriend and perform better.”

“What if she’s just a distraction?” Nicole asked from my side. I turned the camera towards her so she could be in the frame with me, and Taylor’s eyes changed. I couldn’t tell how they changed; I just noticed that they did.

The shift in their expression lasted half a second, before they recovered and continued, “What if she’s not?”

Nicole studied my phone for a moment, a warm color touching her cheeks before she shrugged and dug back into her food.

“I’ll try to make it to the next game,” I promised Taylor. They grinned at me, before the camera started shaking and the image became pixelated. There was a grunt and a “hey!” from them before Leo’s handsome face filled the screen again.

“Sorry for interrupting your night, love,” Leo licked his lips, and I suddenly wished the girl’s night would wrap up sooner rather than later.

“You’re fine,” I glanced around at my friends again, double checking that they were distracted with their food or other conversations before I pulled the phone closer to my chest to ask, “…But what if afterward, you were waiting for me at my apartment?”

Leo bit his bottom lip before replying, “In your bed?”

Mary started fake-vomiting all over her food, and Nicole barked out a surprised laugh. Nicole hadn’t laughed like this in a while, I realized. She had been reserved and closed off most of the year ever since things ended with her last girlfriend. To see her throw her head back and laugh at Mary being dramatic, I realized that maybe she was starting to come out of her mourning phase.

Nicole’s laugh was contagious, it made me huff some giggles out too, even though Mary was teasing us at our expense.

“Obviously, in my bed,” I rolled my eyes when Mary’s response to that was to pretend to stab her chopsticks into her throat and die. She collapsed against Jamie’s shoulder dramatically, who just patted her head, and continued her conversation with Signe and Violet as if this was normal for them.

“Hurry home, love,” Leo blew the phone a kiss before Taylor jumped on his back and the call ended. I was grinning when I pocketed my phone, a feeling of peace swarming inside my stomach that I wasn’t familiar with quite yet. A sense of contentment. Of love.

“Starry-eyed-and-in-love-Jacqueline is my favorite,” Signe sang from the opposite end of the table. I glanced up to look at her, gnawing on my lip before picking up my chopsticks and digging into my plate of food.

“Me, too.”

Epilogue

LEO

I almost chokedon my beer.

Sitting next to me, looking perfectly casual as she perched on the barstool, sat the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen.

Perhaps I should…?

No, she’s probably used to men hitting on her all the time.

But then she turned to look at me with a nervous lip bite. Her dark eyes widened when they took me in, and she quickly scanned my body in a way that made me want to puff my chest out in pride.

Her cheeks flushed, and I realized that perhaps I had a chance after all.

She licked her lips once, and I was done for.

“Hello.”

* * *

A month passed,and Jacqueline and I were riding home from work together on my bike. A form of transportation she started requesting herself shortly after she finally said those three little words that I never grew tired of hearing from her.

We were still deep in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, and I wasn’t upset about it.

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