“I never thought I’d say it but, Bre, you’re officially the boring one.”

Bre rolled her eyes at Stephanie.

“Look who’s talking…”

“Hey, we all know my situation,” Stephanie said, not missing a beat.

“Sounds like an admission of defeat,” Bre said before taking another drink of her martini.

“She has a point, Steph,” Aimee chimed in.

Stephanie wasn’t going to be deterred that easily. She darted a look at Aimee.

“My point is that I never thought I’d see the day when you had a more interesting sex life than her.”

Aimee recoiled and clutched her drink in front of her.

“I’m not sure if I should be happy about that or just insulted…”

A smirk tugged at the corner of Stephanie’s lip.

“Bre is the one that’s probably feeling insulted.”

“I’ll have you both know that I’ve been having plenty of hot sex.” Bre raised her glass as a mini-toast to herself before taking another drink.

It had been too long since she’d gotten together with the girls. It felt good to finally catch up with them. Bre used it as justification for how she wasn’t becoming one of those girls that totally ditches their friends when they start dating someone. She’d been on the receiving end of that far too many times in her life and she wasn’t about to start doing it herself. It meant absolutely nothing that she waited until Collin was out of town on business to get together with them—that was just good scheduling on her part.

Stephanie continued in her matter-of-fact tone.

“We have to face the facts here… your hot sex isn’t happening while flying on private jets to private islands so you can sip cocktails on private beaches. Aimee has it better than both of us.”

Bre leaned forward.

“Yeah, Aimee, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about all the traveling… You need to tell Logan to arrange travel for me the next time he sends Collin out of the country.”

Aimee scoffed.

“It’s Logan’s business not mine.”

“Make it your business,” Bre said, openly glaring. “I can’t emphasize this enough: I need to get laid and these international trips are literally killing me.”

“Now that’s something I wouldn’t know about,” Stephanie interjected, victoriously.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Bre said, rolling her eyes. “Michael would actually have to get off the couch and do something with himself to travel overseas.”

Stephanie shot her a flat stare.

“I was referring to the sexual frustration that is obviously making you crankier than usual.”

“Oh, zip it,” Bre said, rolling her eyes once again.

“You know, if you keep doing that your eyes are going to get stuck like that.”

“Good. Then I’d be famous as the first person that ever happened to.”

Stephanie went on as though Bre hadn’t said anything.

“And, besides, Michael doesn’t just sit around on the couch all day. He’s working and developing things.” She paused for a moment before allowing herself a little grin. “And he’s always around anytime I need some… attention.”

“Barf,” Bre said, before tilting her glass up and emptying the rest of it into her mouth. “I’m going to need quite a few more drinks if we’re going to spend the night talking about your sexual exploits.”

Stephanie flicked her hand, matter-of-factly.

“I’m just saying, I might be the boring one, but I probably still have more sex than both of you put together.”

Bre cocked an eyebrow and tilted her chin to the side.

“Is that a challenge?”

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders, innocently.

“Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

“Yeah, yeah, save us the happily married propaganda,” Aimee said.

An involuntary shiver ran through Bre.

“Doesn’t all that sex with the same person get boring after a while?”

Stephanie sat up in her seat, her face eager.

“Are you losing interest already?” she asked.

“God, no!” Bre said, horrified by the thought of it.

“How could she be losing interest?” Aimee asked, a knowing grin spreading across her face. “Apparently he has quite a… taste… for her.”

Stephanie’s eyes widened.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about! Do tell…”

Bre felt a rush down into her core and she had to suppress a groan. Her body was in a perpetual state of aching.

“I’m trying not to think about it,” she said.

Stephanie gave her a flat stare.

“You know that’s not how this friendship works. We have an arrangement: you have hot sex and then you tell me all about it.”

“Remind me: what am I getting out of this arrangement?”

“A loving friend who’s always here to remind you about how good you have it. Besides, how else am I going to keep up on all the new things the kids are doing these days?”

“Sounds like a confession to me… Sex with the same guy does get boring!”

Now it was Stephanie’s turn to give a playful roll of her eyes.

“Sex with Michael is never boring. Let’s just say we keep it acrobatic.”

“You and your yoga body,” Aimee said.

“I mean, I don’t want to toot my own horn…”

“Yes you do,” Bre said, cutting in.

Stephanie continued without losing her composure.

“Be that as it may, it doesn’t take much to get Michael in the mood…”

“Congratulations, you married a horny man,” Bre said, letting out a laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but it doesn’t take much to get any guy in the mood.”

She and Aimee shared a knowing look while Stephanie pouted.

“You’re really not going to give me the juicy details?”

Bre made a show of holding out for a little while longer before she finally gave in.

“Let’s just say… his tongue never gets tired,” she said.

Stephanie’s eyes widened.

“Never?”

“Never.”

Her eyes widened so much she looked like one of those anime cartoons. Bre and Aimee both burst into laughter at the same time. Their friend really needed to get out more.

“Well, now that we know how things in the bedroom are going… how’s everything else?”

“Everything’s fine,” Bre said, a bit too quickly.

Her friends both gave her looks that made it obvious they knew she was hiding something. Stephanie was the first to press the issue.

“First you won’t give us details about the hot sex, and now you won’t give us details about anything else either?”

“You’re not getting off that easily,” added Aimee.

Bre let out a groan.

“I said I don’t want to think about the hot sex.”

Aimee looked to Stephanie.

“I know that tone… She’s worried she’s going to leave the bar with another guy tonight.”

Stephanie shook her head.

“She wouldn’t do that. She’s too smitten with the one she’s got.”

Bre shot her a horrified look.

“Gross. I might do it just because you said that.”

Aimee studied her a bit closer before bobbing her head in agreement.

“I think you’re right… she is smitten,” she said to Stephanie.

Bre shot them both accusatory looks.

“What’s up with the Grand Inquisition? We’re supposed to be having a fun ladies night, not ganging up on me.”

Aimee gave her an innocent look.

“What do you mean? We’re just trying to find out what’s going on in our friend’s life…”

“You two are still trying to live vicariously through me and I’ll have no part of it.”

Stephanie said, “Do you say that because you’re afraid to tell us how much you like him and how good it feels?”

Bre crossed her arms in front of her, giving Stephanie her meanest scowl possible in the process.

“It’s my way of saying no comment.”

Stephanie went on as though she hadn’t even said anything.

“Surely there’s more to it than hot sex if you’ve been seeing him this long…”

“Maybe you’re underestimating just how good the sex is?”

Aimee said, “She’s just too embarrassed to admit she’s actually really in to him.”

“True,” Stephanie agreed. “It would mean she’s actually a real-life human being with complex emotions and feelings.”

Bre rolled her eyes.

“Don’t get all yoga zen on me—you’re going to kill my buzz.”

“I’m just saying, the best lies are the ones we tell ourselves.”

Bre let out a sigh and stared at them both for a long moment before responding.

“You’re not going to drop this are you?”

Aimee rubbed Bre’s knee. “Come on, it’s us… how are things going?”

There wasn’t a way out of it. Bre hated having the spotlight on her like this. Sometimes the only way to get out of it was to give the song and dance the audience was looking for. They weren’t going to stop questioning her until she told them what they wanted to hear.

“Fine!” she said. “Things are going good… Really good. Is that what you want to know?”

“You make it sound so terrible,” Stephanie said.

Aimee added, “Seriously! Is something else going on?”

“That’s the whole point!” Bre said, wondering if they had lost their minds. “It is terrible! I’m in way over my head and I kinda hate it.”

Stephanie’s eyes narrowed.

“Did something happen?” she asked.

Bre’s mouth opened to immediately deny it, but she caught herself. What was the point? They were going to see through any lines she fed them, anyways.

She let out a long breath.

“It wasn’t really a big deal,” she began. “It happened after that first date, when I stayed at his place…”

She told them all about the tickets to the car show and the fight they’d had afterward. Then she told them about how they’d made up, afterward—Stephanie was particularly interested in that part.

“Well, there’s one thing I can say for sure,” Stephanie said, after Bre finished. “You weren’t joking about the hot sex…’

“I never joke about hot sex.”

Aimee gave her a puzzled look.

“But that was weeks ago… how have things been since then?”

”They’ve been… good,” Bre said, feeling petulant.

Stephanie started looking just as puzzled as Aimee.

“Details, please…”

Bre rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know… we’ve been doing what couples do, I guess. I told him I needed to take the emotional stuff really slow and he’s been really sweet about it.”

They both stared at her for a long moment as though they didn’t quite understand what she said.

“It sounds like he’s a really good guy,” Aimee said, sounding uncertain.

“Maybe that’s the problem,” added Stephanie.

“What do you mean?” Bre asked, frowning.

Stephanie shrugged. “No offense, but you always seem to push away the guys that might be good for you.”

“That’s not saying much… I push away every guy.”

Stephanie turned her head, giving Bre a sideways look.

“That’s not exactly true…”

“What, you think I only keep the bad ones around?”

Aimee looked between the both of them before saying, “I have to agree with Stephanie on this one. Sure, you like to keep it casual, but you tend to keep the bad boys around a little longer than the others.”

“Remember Evan?” Stephanie asked, giving Aimee a knowing look.

“How could I forget?”

Bre glared at them while they shared a laugh.

“Hey! I’ll have you both know that Evan happened to be quite a bit of fun!”

“Sure, when he actually called you back,” Stephanie teased.

“He was independent. I don’t like it when guys are too needy.”

Aimee gave her a flat stare.

“You bitched to me several times that he was never around when you wanted him. I remember it clearly because it was right when I started dating Bryan and you were trying to tell me how much of a waste of time it was.”

“Well, I was right, wasn’t I?”

“It’s just that,” Stephanie cut in, “Collin sounds like the first respectable guy you’ve actually taken an interest in.”

Bre didn’t have any response for that. Sure, she kept Evan around a bit longer than anyone else, but it’s not like he was as terrible as they were making him out to be. No one is perfect. Not even Collin. Though, she had to admit, he had a lot going for him.

Aimee studied her for a long moment with a concerned look in her eye.

“You know it’s okay to just be happy, right?”

“What kind of thing is that to say? Of course I know that.”

“It’s not always so obvious with you,” she said.

“I just… don’t like letting anyone in.”

Stephanie said, “It sounds like whatever you’re doing is working out pretty well. Just keep doing it.”

“Barely,” Bre corrected. “And I’m still not convinced it’s the best idea.”

“Michael and I tell each other everything. I can’t imagine being with someone that I couldn’t be totally open with.”

“I do just fine with keeping things to myself, thank you very much.”

Stephanie leaned in closer, a conspiratorial glint in her eye.

“Trust me, the deeper that emotional connection is, the hotter the sex gets.”

“Finally you’ve said something that makes sense!” Bre said, eliciting a round of laughter from everyone. The laugh felt good, but she was still feeling pretty raw. She couldn’t take much more of this questioning without having a full breakdown. She needed to talk about anything else. “How about another round of drinks to hot sex? My treat!”

Stephanie and Aimee were quick to accept the offer. They could probably tell that she’d taken just about all of their criticisms that she could handle for one night. She needed to put the entire conversation as far away from her as she possibly could until she had time to sort through it for herself, and the best way she could think to do that was to get completely shit-faced. And maybe spend some quality time with her special toy. It was no substitute for the real thing but, for the next week while Collin was gone, it would have to do.