Chapter Eight
AS KURT JOGGED out of the development, Bella, Jenna, and Amy burst into Leanna’s kitchen, each still in their sleepwear and carrying a mug of coffee.
“Details. I want every last detail.” Bella sat at the table in her cotton nightie that stopped two inches below her butt.
“He arrived shirtless and with your bike. I saw him.” Jenna tugged at her T-shirt, which was hung up on her enormous braless breasts above a pair of men’s boxer shorts. She looked down and wiggled her boobs into submission, then gave up with a defeated sigh and leaned against the counter. “And I want to know why he brought these.” She tossed a dog’s leash and a box of baking soda onto the counter; then she put the empty bag she’d taken from the basket on the bike beside the contents.
Amy popped two pieces of bread into the toaster. She wore a T-shirt and plaid pajama shorts and looked like a teenager rather than a twenty-seven-year-old woman. “Morning booty call. Nice. I like that. You get all the action and still get a good night’s sleep. But baking soda?”
Leanna laughed as she fingered the leash. “Yesterday he was at the flea market and I had Pepper tied up with rope because I couldn’t find his leash, and the baking soda?” Because he’s thoughtful. “Pepper went kind of crazy, and a couple jars of jam broke. My skirt got splattered, and I guess he’d Googled how to clean the stain on my shorts that I’d left at his house because when he brought them back, they were perfectly clean.”
“Left your clothes at his house?” Bella puckered her lips and made kissing noises.
“You guys are awful. It wasn’t a booty call. How often have you seen me have any type of booty call? I swear, I’m at the point of needing a chimney sweep to clean out the cobwebs.”
“Oh, that’s just sad.” Bella shook her blond hair in front of her eyes and then gathered it in her hand and drew it all away from her face.
“Seriously. Sex is hardly a priority. But it was really thoughtful of him to bring this stuff, don’t you think?” Although, now that she’d kissed Kurt and felt him, really felt him—all of him—against her, thoughts of climbing between the sheets with him were lingering. Taunting.
“Yes. Very thoughtful. So, nothing happened? The guy washes your clothes and brings you stuff to keep stains away, and nothing happened?” Amy pulled her toast from the toaster, grabbed a jar of jam from the fridge, and read the label. “Apricot-lime? Is it okay if I try it?”
Leanna shrugged and set the leash down. “Sure. It’s a new flavor. Go ahead.”
Amy spread it on the toast and took a bite. She narrowed her eyes, and a second later they widened. “Oh my gosh,” she said with a mouthful of toast. “This is amazing.”
“Really? I wasn’t sure anyone would like it.”
“Mm. It’s like a cool summer drink.”
“Can we cut to the chase here? I’m glad you like her new flavor, but I want to hear about Kurt’s bite.” Jenna leaned forward a little. “Oh, and, Amy, make me one? Pretty please?”
“Sure.” Amy popped more toast in the toaster.
“Me too,” Bella added.
“Already on it,” Amy said with a smile.
Leanna thought about kissing Kurt, and she sighed. “All I can say is that the second our lips met, it was like…like, you know that feeling when you’re going up on a roller coaster? Not down when your stomach falls, but that ride up when everything in the world seems possible, when the wind is at your face and you feel like you could just close your eyes and be carried right up to the clouds?” She sighed again. “Kissing Kurt was like that, only about a million times better.”
Bella shook her head. “Whoa.”
“Imagine how good the sex will be,” Jenna added.
“I want a kiss like that.” Amy set a plate in front of the others with toast and jam on it.
“That’s not all.” Leanna covered her face. “I can’t even believe I’m telling you all of this two seconds after he left.”
Bella kicked Jenna under the table. “Told you. Booty call.”
“No, no. Not like that. When he wrapped me in his arms, it was like everything else fell away.”
“Wait. What?” Amy took a bite of toast and tossed one to Pepper, who ate it quickly and then whined for more. “Fell away?”
“The chaos in my head. You know how my mind goes a mile a minute? Well, for those few minutes it calmed.”
“He really is magical.” Bella took a bite of the toast and jam. “This is amazing. It really is like a summer drink, but better. It reminds me of that night last summer when we had the bonfire on the beach. Why didn’t you give me a jar of this?”
“I was afraid you guys wouldn’t like it.”
Bella pointed at her. “There are two things I like to make up my own mind about. Food and men. Don’t tell me what I want to eat or who I want to sleep with. Got it?”
“I know that about men.” Leanna smiled. “You’re definitely a taste tester.”
Bella ripped off a piece of toast and threw it at her. Pepper caught it midair.
“So, no bing, bang, boom? Why did he leave?” Jenna asked.
“He has to write. He’s so focused. I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone more focused than him.”
“I’m focused,” Jenna said.
They all laughed.
“Really? What’s on your agenda today?” Leanna asked.
Jenna tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up at the ceiling.
“Right.” Leanna rolled her eyes. “You’re organized and efficient, very obsessive, but over the summer, you’re focused on finding rocks and drinking and men, like the rest of us. I think he’s always focused on writing.”
“Always, like too much?” Jenna bit into her toast.
“I don’t know that it’s too much, because I’m not really an expert on focusing, but I can see it in his eyes. When he’s not writing, I can tell he’s thinking about it.” She ran her eyes over her friends’ concerned faces. “And we’re going out tonight.” She watched the concern lift, replaced with delighted smiles.
“Finally. Hope for some action,” Bella cheered.
“But what if he has that look all night? I could tell today. We were making out and he looked at me, and in that split second I knew he was thinking that he had to go write. It was like from his brain to mine, I knew it.”
Amy put her arm around Leanna. “Honey, I think you had your signals crossed. He was probably wondering how he could get you into your bed and out of those sexy little panties.”
Leanna shook her head. “You could be right, I guess, but I don’t think so. When I said he had to write, he agreed. Heaven knows I never get my signals right.” She shrugged. “Other than with you guys, I’m never in sync with anyone.”
“I say just follow your gut. I mean, you’ll know pretty quickly if he’d rather be writing. In fact, you’ll know if he would rather be doing anything else, and then you can decide what to do.” Bella took another piece of toast from the plate. “You look so worried, and there’s nothing to worry about.”
Leanna sank down to the floor, and Pepper rested his head on her thigh. “Yes, there is. I’m totally awkward when things heat up with guys. I can never get my timing right, and I mess everything up.”
Amy sank to the floor beside her and petted Pepper. “You don’t mess up everything. You’re doing great with your Sweet Treats business, and your timing must be okay or he wouldn’t have asked you out.”
“Yeah, but…” He brought Pepper a leash. He didn’t even really like Pepper. Although she had heard him say, Good dog, when she was in the bathroom. Hmm.
Jenna slid off her chair and sat by Leanna’s feet. “You can’t mess up sex, honey. You know that. You’ve had sex.”
Leanna sighed.
Bella threw her hands up in the air. “Are you kidding me? This is what worries you? Leanna, honey.” She sat down with the others. “You could just lie there and the guy will be happy. Seriously, how off can you be in the bedroom? You would have told us by now. We’ve known you for years.”
Leanna swallowed hard.
“No way.” Bella smiled. “This, I have to hear.”
“I can’t.” Leanna covered her face and took a deep, mortified breath before dropping her hands. “Ugh. I’m fine. Really. I’m just not one of those delicate girls who knows how to be all sexy and feminine and…I don’t know. I’m just always a little off with my moves.”
Jenna swatted the air again. “With a body like yours, it wouldn’t matter if you were off, on, or ten paces behind. Girlfriend, you’ve got this. Just relax. Drink some wine beforehand, and you’ll be fine.”
“I guess. It’s not like I’m sleeping with him tonight anyway. He asked me out, not to bed.”
The others exchanged a glance.
“You said you made out with him?” Amy asked.
“Yeah.”
“What are you thinking about right now?” Amy narrowed her eyes.
“Sleeping with him.”
“And what do you think that handsome hunk is thinking about after making out with you dressed in your take-me-now outfit?” Amy touched her shoulder. “You’re doin’ the dirty tonight unless you don’t want to.”
Leanna traced circles on her thigh. Oh yeah, she wanted to. She wanted to so badly that her stomach was tied in knots and she worried that her heart wasn’t far behind.