“Cupcakes are fine,” Carmen agreed. “And for some people that’s
it.
Their favorite thing. The thing they go crazy for. But not for you.”
“You have to find a fudge brownie,” Abi agreed. “A big one.”
9
Erin Nicholas
“No pun intended,” Carmen giggled.
“Luke’s a fudge brownie?” Danika asked Carmen, attempting to show her how stupid that sounded.
“Oh, no. He’s a great big slice of cheesecake.” Carmen winked at her. “Brownies to me are like cupcakes to you. But cheesecake? That’s what I
want
.” Danika thought about Travis and Rob and Paul. Vanilla cupcakes, for sure. Travis had been a vanilla cupcake with sprinkles at least, but he hadn’t even come close to brownie status.
He was a good guy, a sweet guy, undemanding. Which had made it easy to break up with him. The conversation had gone something like,
“Travis, you’re a sweet guy, but I just don’t feel like this
relationship is going anywhere.” “Oh, that’s too bad. But we’ll still be friends, right?” “Sure.” “Okay,
take care.”
He hadn’t even argued with her. Ever. About anything. Which was why she’d dated him. And ultimately why she’d broken up with him. There was no emotion, no spark, not a smear of fudge frosting in sight. It made Travis, and every other guy she’d dated, safe. But expendable.
She knew it was dysfunctional. But she didn’t care. “I’m fine,” she told her sisters. “I’ll get a new vibrator and a
real
brownie—maybe two—and I’ll be fine.”
“And you’re going to keep dating cupcakes?” Carmen asked.
It was very likely.
“I’m not dating anyone right now.”
“That’s not good either,” Abi said. “I mean, I’m a fan of vibrators, but all the toys are more fun if you have someone to play with.”
“Maybe I should just have a one-night stand,” Danika said, hoping to show her sisters how nuts all of this sounded.
“Maybe you should,” Abi said, obviously considering it.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“You wouldn’t have to worry about finding a reason to break up with him,” Carmen said.
“What do you mean?” But she was afraid she knew.
“You broke up with Rob because he rearranged your living room.”
“Right.” He hadn’t even asked.
“He did it because he bought you a new couch. One that you’d definitely liked and wanted.”
“It was
my
living room.” She didn’t like surprises. Never had, even as a kid. Their mom’s illness had been enough of a surprise and the unpredictable course of the disease had made Danika conscious of the importance of planning and making decisions and having expectations.
“You broke up with Travis because of his work shifts.”
“He worked every night.” Travis was a detective on the police force and was often gone all night, sometimes without a break for days if he was on a case.
10
Just Like That
“You knew that the minute you met him,” Carmen pointed out.
“So?”
“So,” Carmen repeated in the same tone. “I think you make up reasons to break up with the guys you date.”
She shrugged without answering. Carmen wasn’t entirely right. Or wrong. Danika didn’t make the reasons up. The reasons were there and real. What her sisters didn’t know was that she was aware of those reasons, and that she was going to use them to end the relationship, nearly from the beginning.
The thing Abi and Carmen would never understand was that she honestly didn’t want heat and chemistry. It was so much easier without…all of that. Her relationships weren’t exciting, or spontaneous, or wild…or a multitude of other words. Like messy or painful. Or…desperate. She’d never felt desperate about a guy—to kiss him, or be with him, or see him. She’d never
needed
a guy. Very intentionally in fact.
It kept things from being, well, messy and painful.
She rather suspected none of the guys she’d dated needed her either, though.
They’d had some laughs, enjoyed a few good conversations, seen some terrific movies. There had even been a few nice kisses and two sexual encounters that had been good, if not spectacular. Then they’d parted ways without any heartbreak, major emotional upheaval or…desperation.
“You were attracted to him, though?” Carmen clarified.
Danika shrugged again. “I guess.” She’d found him handsome. He was a good dresser.
“Were you hot for him?” Abi asked. “Did you want to tear his clothes off? Could you not wait until you were alone? Did you sit across the table from him at dinner and think about taking the sugar packets and shaking them out all over his body and then licking it off?” Carmen and Danika stared at her. Abi looked from one to the other.
“What?” she asked.
“Luke is a lucky guy,” Carmen finally said.
Danika had to chuckle. “No, I never thought about covering him in anything. Or licking him.” She heard one of the men choking at the next table. She resisted looking in that direction.
“I think you’re doing it backward,” Abi told her.
“I’m doing what backward?” Danika felt the need to clarify, especially with Abi. It was never safe to assume that Abi was talking about anything conventional.
“Finding a relationship.”
“Backward how?” Danika wasn’t sure why she kept asking questions. Not that her sisters needed her participation to keep the conversation going, but they might mistake the questions as encouragement.
“Most people have a physical attraction first, then they get to know each other and put the two together to find out if they’re compatible. You’re doing it backward.”
“Because I’m choosing to date men that I want to talk to versus men I want to lick?” Danika clarified.
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Erin Nicholas
“Yes.” Abi looked very pleased that Danika was understanding.
“Are you kidding?”
“No.”
“So I should just go to bed with the first fudge brownie I see and then hope that he can actually string words together into a sentence?”
“Right.”
“Isn’t that the opposite of the advice a normal, sane person would give to someone?” Danika asked.
“You need an orgasm, not political opinions or the history of the mining of tanzanite.”
“What if the guy can’t even spell tanzanite?”
“If he can help you find your G-spot, who the hell cares?” Abi asked. “Once you figure out what does it for you, then you can teach the guy who stimulates your mind how to stimulate your—”
“Abi!” Danika interrupted.
There was a snort of laughter from the next table. Ignoring it—kind-of—Danika asked, “You want me to pick up a random stranger?”
“You might have to get some new clothes first,” Carmen said.
“What’s wrong with my clothes?”
“You dress like a kindergarten teacher,” Abi inserted.
“I do?”
“And no guy thinks of kindergarten teachers as sexy,” Carmen said.
“Unless you turn it into a fantasy, role-playing, sexy-teacher-naughty-student thing,” Abi piped up.
“Sometimes Luke and I—”
“Stop!” Danika held up a hand. “The last thing I need in my head is the idea of you and Luke in costume having sex.”
The men at the next table laughed out loud at that.
“Learning to have orgasms with you would be like learning to play chopsticks with Beethoven. She couldn’t find a man with more expertise.” Ben Torres was grinning widely at his best friend and brother-in-law.
“Thank you very much.” Sam Bradford raised his beer bottle in salute. He drank, then set the bottle on the table. He should have turned the conversation to his sister’s upcoming surprise birthday party, or sports, or weather, or anything else, but he couldn’t take his attention away from the woman behind him.
“You think I should offer to coach her?” he asked, trying to act cavalier.
“Definitely. A chance to put your gift to good use.”
“The women I date feel like I put my gift to very good use all the time.” 12
Just Like That
Ben took a swig of beer. “Please don’t take my suggestion as an indication that I doubt how satisfied your ladies are.”
Sam was sure all of this would be recounted to the rest of their buddies for Ben’s amusement.
Probably more than once. Messing with Sam was one of his friends’ favorite pastimes.
And vice versa.
“Why don’t
you
help her out? You know about women and orgasms. Supposedly. Why don’t you give her some pointers?”
Ben nodded, unfazed. “Yes, but I happen to be giving out enough orgasms to keep me nice and busy…and tired.”
“You’re talking about my sister,” Sam pointed out.
Ben grinned. “Yep.”
“That should probably bug me.”
“Probably.”
“But she does smile a lot more since you got together.”
“For good reason.”
Sam chuckled. “And since you made her an honest woman by marrying her, I guess I can’t get too upset.”
“Thanks,” Ben said dryly. “I was worried about you defending her honor.” Sam sat back in his chair, crossing an ankle over his opposite knee. The position put him closer to the women’s table. The bar wasn’t too crowded yet. It was early, so it wasn’t hard to hear two of the three. But the one with the orgasm problem was the softer spoken—or the more aware of the strangers surrounding them in this public place.
Right across the street from the St. Anthony’s Emergency Room entrance, the bar was a popular hangout for the hospital staff and Sam knew that it was not a coincidence that Carmen, second-in-command over the ER nursing staff, had chosen this location to have drinks with her sisters. If she wanted to set her sister up with a fling—which seemed more than obvious—what better place to find young, single, willing men that wouldn’t be complete strangers? Carmen knew everyone who came to this bar, and could get references, bank account info and probably birth certificates if she wanted to.
Carmen was a beautiful woman. She was also bright, funny and sexy. She was married so he’d—
obviously—never tried to take her home. But that didn’t stop him from flirting.
Very little stopped Sam from flirting.
So he couldn’t help but be interested in meeting her sister. Her apparently single, sexually frustrated sister.
Sam’s back was to the women’s table and he
really
wanted to take a look. Then again, there was something very intriguing about just overhearing the conversation. He wasn’t particular. Breast size, hair
13
Erin Nicholas
color and shape were all secondary concerns. But she did need to be three things—confident, into him, at least for the time-being, and comfortable with her sexuality.
This woman didn’t sound like she was, or would be, any of those things.
Still, he couldn’t help thinking
Give me an hour, honey, and I’ll take care of your problem
.
He was certainly willing to take his time and vary his techniques to give a woman full pleasure, but he wasn’t into virgins or prudes.
This one was obviously not the first, but he had suspicions about the second. Her own sisters said she dressed like a kindergarten teacher.
His kindergarten teacher had been older than dirt, and hadn’t liked him.
Of course, it had taken him years to know what
recalcitrant
meant, but even as a five-year-old he’d known she hadn’t meant it as a compliment.
But his competitive streak had him thinking that it would be pretty sweet to succeed where others had been failing with this woman. The women he usually spent time with were very sexual, uninhibited and, if he was honest, not much of a challenge when it came to talking them into bed. Yeah, he was good, but it wasn’t like he made a habit of picking women he wasn’t sure of.
“So you’re not going to do it,” Sam said to Ben.
“I love your sister.”
“My life is more fun.”
“My hope for you as my best friend is that someday you’ll understand why I say ‘no way’ to that statement.”
“Spoken like a happily married man.” Sam knew that Ben and Jessica were one of those rare, meant-to-be couples. He also knew that he’d never even come close, so couldn’t argue. Yet, being able to go to this woman and talk to her about orgasms seemed like a very nice alternative to marital bliss.
“Sounds like all she needs is confidence. A lot of the time women are just too self-conscious to be able to relax enough to get into it and enjoy. She probably just needs some sexy underwear.” Ben looked at him for a long moment. “Sexy underwear. That’s the key to all of it?”
“Maybe some toys,” Sam said with a wink.
Ben leaned to the left, withdrew his wallet and handed Ben a one hundred dollar bill. “You talk her into going shopping with you and I’m buying.”
“Is this a dare?” Sam couldn’t help but be interested. He hadn’t had anything exciting happen for a long time, and what red-blooded male passed up the chance to show off his sexual expertise and buy sexy lingerie for an appreciative female?
He tucked the bill into his front pocket, tossed back the rest of his beer and pushed back from the table. Ben watched with an eyebrow up and a grin.
“See you later,” Ben said.
14
Just Like That
“Not if I’m even half as good as I think I am.”
Sam headed for the bar for two more beers. He used it as an excuse to check out the situation at Carmen’s table.
The woman in the middle was the first one his gaze settled on. And he felt like he’d just downed a pot of coffee, two energy drinks and five candy bars. His body literally hummed, and he couldn’t relax his chest enough to even take a deep breath.
Lord, have mercy.
Every cell in his body was tense and felt like it was vibrating. His mind was completely blank except for one word…
sex
.
It was the most bizarre thing to ever happen to him. He
never
reacted like that to women. Sure there was lust, there was heat and want and attraction.