Page 78 of Man Hands
“Oh, wow,” Ash says. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to be yourreboundfuck.”
“He was the antidote to your red flag! Remember, you really shouldn’t trust your instincts for a while,” Sadie offers. She meanswell,but….
“Doesn’t matter,” I say, throwing back that shot of tequila she ordered me. Because tequila shouldn’t go to waste even when your life isn’t reallyending.
Ash hands me the lime and shakes her head. “This won’t end well. True love doesn’t happen, honey.” Her eyes dart to the side. “Except to Sadie,” she amends quickly. Because it’s rude to tell your married friend that her life is afarce.
“Not even to Sadie,” Sadie mumbles. Then she grabs another shot off the bar anddrinksit.
Ash hands a lime to Sadie, who looks like she needs that tequila at least as badly asIdo.
“Well…” Ash puts her hands on her tiny hips. “I suppose it would only be fair to tell you that I put your phone into airplane mode right when I arrived at your place two hours ago. So you wouldn’t be distracted by texts from your mom when you were hoping to hearfromTom.”
For a second I just blink at her. Then I wrench open my purse, toss out the remote control, and grab the phone. I turn off airplane mode and say a quickprayer.
The thing floods with texts. Half are from my mother, wondering how to pronounce the word “gif.” But there are several from Tom!Where are you? I’m outside yourhouse.
I hit the call button. “Tom?” I gasp when he answers. “You’reback!”
“I missed you, baby. Whereareyou?”
“On a rooftop! At this weird party. Braht ishereand—”
The calldrops.
“Damn it!” I scream. “We have to leave. Tom is lookingforme.”
“We can’t,” Ash says. “Your driver needs an hour before her two glasses of bubbly wear off. I didn’t have any tequila or we’d be here untilmidnight.”
Damn her and her zero percentbodyfat.
Okay, there’s always Uber. But where to ask them to take me? Tom’s house? Mine? I need a location. I need a big, romantic reunion. I’m due, damn it. Tom and I running toward each other across a meadow filled with daisies. Or Tom and I leaping over suitcases in the airport to reach eachother.
Or Tom and I buck naked in a boathouse. I’m not picky, as long as he’s there. Andnaked.
“Gotta go, ladies,” I say, dropping a tip onto the bar and winking at the bartender. “I have people to see and sextohave.”
I take off running. Why am I running? Because I know what I want, and I want Tom and that means I want him now! I am clearing the perfectly manicured rooftop patio, bee-lining down the endless lawn towards the brushed metalelevators.
I press the button on the elevator. Nothing lights up.Come on, fucker. I press it a few more times just to show it who’s boss. And then I hear a whir, and a strip of blue light zips around the elevator, maybe signifying takeoff. I don’t know. I need to focus. I’m so stirred up, certain that the only thing that will calm me down is a bowl of chocolate soup, or sex with Tom. Orrrrrr, sex with Tom in a bowl ofchocolatesoup.
Now I really can’tfocus.
I reach into the gap of my dress and adjust my boobs They need it. Plus, it comforts me. So when the elevator door dings and slides open, there I am, standing with my hand firmly wrapped around my breast and holy fuck if it isn’t Tom, grinning rightatme.
The blue lightssparkle.
43Sir Fixit Dick isExcited
Tom
The only thingI register in my sleep-deprived and stressed-out haze is that the elevator doors have slid open with a slight snick and flashing lights, like I’m about to enter the main deck of the Enterprise. When those doors snick open, I have to admit, I’m a little startled. There is this gorgeous, curvy, delicious woman staring at me as she fondles her breast. And then I laugh, because what else canyoudo?
What happens next surprises me, and that’s saying something. Brynn takes one look at me, releases her breast, and says in this voice that seems to come from the bottom of a well, or maybe from her inner wolf, “MIIIIIIINNNNNNEEE.” And then she pounces. It’s déjà vu all over again to theboathouse.
This time, though, I’m readyforher.
She leaps, wraps her legs around me, and my big hands enfold her and go straight to her ass where I heft her up a bit, so I can have a better hold, because right now, and for a very long while, I’m going to hold on to this woman. I hear her growl one more time and then she’s sucking my face. I mean that literally. She’s like that alien pod thing inAlien, only, you know, the version of an alien that is super-hot and totallyfuckable.
