“YOU DID WHAT?”
The phone drops from my ear when Lexi screams at me. Thankfully, the screen didn't crack when it hit the tile floor. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to repeat what I said, but I do anyway.
“I had sex with Jeremy.”
“Well, you little tramp. If I still lived above you, I would run down the stairs and high five you.”
Lexi has been my best friend for years. Even though I have four best friends, I've known her the longest, and I trust her the most with this tidbit of information. Not necessarily trust to keep a secret, but to understand. Before she got together with Hunter, hooking up with a guy wasn't uncommon for her. All my friends have settled down, and it seems it's my time to have some fun.
Speaking of which, Hunter is in the background. “About fucking time he got laid. He's been a pain in the ass to work with.”
“Am I on speaker?” I ask Lexi.
“Oops. Everyone's going to find out soon enough when they see you two together.”
“We aren't together.”
“You dog,” Hunter chides.
“My God. Take me off speaker. And Hunter, please don't say anything.” Hunter is like a brother to me. All my friends’ significant others are. Plus, he is the guy equivalent of best friends with Jeremy, and I don't feel like being the hot topic of their conversation.
“My lips are sealed, but I may have to fuck with him a little. If he walks in wearing a smile today at the construction site, I'll know why.”
I should have kept my mouth shut. This should have stayed between Jeremy and me. But I need advice, and Lexi is the one who will have answers for me.
“I’ll call you back when you can talk in private,” I tell her.
“I’m going,” Hunter says to me. I hear them say bye, which takes a while.
“Okay, talk. How did this happen?” Lexi says once her attention turns back to me. The one who needs her.
I didn’t tell her everything. Just that we were at the same place at the same time and had a little too much to drink. I told her about the hotel room we shared, and that things just happened. We were both lonely.
“Have you seen him since?”
“No, but I will tomorrow. Tell me it won’t be awkward,” I beg.
“It most definitely will be awkward. You just have to lay it out there, though, and once you discuss it, you’ll feel better. Do you want it to be more?”
I think about that, and my answer is still no. It was hot, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not ready to put my heart on the line. “No. It was just a one-time thing.”
Then I finally break down and tell her about me doing the whole internet dating game, which, of course, she is against. She believes going out and mingling is much better than meeting some creep online. Her words, not mine.
“Was he worth a repeat?”
“Jeez, Lexi. Do I have to answer you?”
“Yes, you totally have to. You’ve heard all about my and the girls’ sex life. It’s only fair.” She’s referring to our best friends Kat, Aly, and Dani. On one of our weekend girls’ only retreats, everyone got a little personal.
“Yes. But it can’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
“It’s Jeremy, and we are just friends.”
“Who’s to say it has to be more than that? Sex is what it is—sex. There’s a difference when you find the one. When I found Hunter, I knew no man could compare to him. Unless it was like that for you.”
I think about it, but I clear my head of those thoughts quickly. If I put too much thought into it, I’m afraid of what my answer would be. “I’m going to say it was just really good sex.”
“Okay then it doesn’t have to be awkward. Unless …” She stops talking midsentence, and I freak out.
“Will you stop doing that pause thing. You’re killing me,” I yell at her. I’m five minutes away from a breakdown—not the crying kind, but the kind that will have me go back to the gallon of ice cream and wine.
“Sorry. Unless it meant more to him.”
The next morning with Jeremy, things felt fine. We got up, dressed, and even had breakfast together downstairs. That was it. “You are supposed to be helping me, not make me feel worse.”
“Right. Well, we know he just got out of a relationship, so I doubt he wants anything serious right now.”
“Better.”
“My advice is not to think about it. Let him approach you. Just act casual about the whole thing.”
“Got it. Casual. And how do I do that?”
“Or you could do the opposite?”
“What are you talking about?”
I mull over her next suggestion with a pint of chocolate chip mint ice cream.
I’VE GOT THIS. It happens all the time. It was just great sex—sex I wouldn’t mind having again, over and over again, if I’m quite honest.
These thoughts run through my head as I near the construction site the next morning. Ready to face this head-on, I get out of my car. Today, they are putting the first nail in the new structure, and I’m not to miss it. Or so I was told.
“Hey, Fox,” one of the guys, Blake, from the construction company yells to me.
I wave hello to everyone. They’ve all made it their job to play big brother to me. It didn’t take long for them to feel comfortable with me being here and snapping pictures of them all day as they tried to act for the camera. I told them I wasn’t looking for them to pose, and the whole idea is to get natural shots of them. They still like to pose, but at least now when I walk around with my camera, they actually work.
“Foxy.” I turn to look over my shoulder as I was about to take some pictures of the construction crew setting up, and Jeremy is waving me into his office. It’s not an office per se; there really isn’t an office here yet. He’s getting a mobile one this week, but for now, the hood of his truck is perfect for holding his plans.
“Confident” by Demi Lovato is playing in my head as my new anthem. Yep, I totally got this.
“Yeah, boss.” That sounded casual.
“I picked this up for you. Now that you are going to be on the property, you need to wear it at all times.” Jeremy places a pink hard hat on my head.
“Morning. And, wow, I don’t have to go stand in the circle of spray paint once you start working.”
“It was for your own good.”
“It was to prove a point.”
“I don’t have anything to prove.”
“Only to make sure I would listen,” I joke.
“Damn straight,” he says, standing with his legs wide and hands on his hips.
“Thanks for the gift, Superman.” Which is exactly who he looks like standing like that.
“I have one more thing.” He walks away to open his truck door. I thought it would be one of those awkward, let's avoid each other moments, but it’s not. When he comes back, he’s carrying two coffee cups. “Morning. Vanilla latte with almond milk, right?”
I take a sip, and it’s made exactly how I like it. “You are officially my hero.”
“I graduated from savior to hero? Ready to erect a building?”
I almost spit my coffee out of both my mouth and my nose.
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Foxy.”
“You said it, not me. But I’m erection ready, boss.” I even give a little salute and pretend I didn’t say that, but Jeremy is shaking his head, laughing at me. There was no maybe we should talk, and I even made it the entire day without thinking about that night. Until later, at least.
Taking pictures kept me busy and my mind off what I plan to do later. I even manage some great shots, and my day here is done. Until I need to talk to Jeremy.
“Are you free to talk?” I ask him.
He’s putting the last of his tools in the back of his truck. I don’t always stay this late, but my boss insisted I take a bunch of pictures too. In a matter of a few hours, a shell of a brand-new concrete building stands where there once was rubble. I can see why after today, I will only be here for key moments. Like tomorrow, they have to wait for an inspection, so I’m not needed. Plus, they realized people would get bored watching cement dry, literally. That and you can only take so many pictures of men hammering.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Maybe we could go for coffee?”
Jeremy looks at his watch. “At seven in the evening? I’m okay, but you aren’t a night coffee person.”
“Okay, not coffee for me. I do like herbal tea, though, and the coffee shop has that. Do you like herbal tea?”
“What?” He laughs.
“Let’s go.” He takes pity on me because I don’t think he goes home at night and thinks, I’d like an herbal tea. Instead, he opens his truck door, gesturing for me to get in.
“I’ll take my car.” That’s much safer. Yes, friends. It also gives me time to blast some woman power music for the ten-minute drive to the coffee house.
Jeremy parks beside me and opens my car door to help me out. Once inside, he heads to the counter to get our order while I pick a quiet table in the corner. There’s no need for anyone to hear that I’m a wanton hussy. How am I even going to broach this subject with him? He’s going to think I’m a crazy person, and since I just said that all out loud and not in my head like I intended, everyone is looking at me like I’m nuts.
Jeremy sits down and immediately starts talking. “Is this about the other night?”
“Kind of.”
He runs his hands through his hair. “Shit. I’m sorry, Jade. This is all my fault. I should have put a stop to it. We were drunk, and I took advantage of that.”
People are looking at us. It’s making me think that maybe a popular coffee house is not the place for this conversation.
“Get your coffee and let’s go,” I tell him. He looks at me and stands.
I head right for his truck and wait for him to unlock the door. “Drive.”
“Where to?”
“Anywhere. Somewhere we won’t be heard. I don’t need people listening to my private conversations.” My woman power music gave me the strength to do this. It worked.
“Yes, ma’am.” He salutes me.
The gesture makes me smile. When he turns on the road, the tension leaves my body. A few minutes later, we pull up to Naples Pier. It’s a work day and not a car is in sight. We sit on one of the benches for a moment, saying nothing; I just sip my tea while he drinks his coffee.
“Do you regret what happened, Jade? Do you think I’m an ass or too rough?”
“Jeremy, I told you I wouldn’t regret it. I still don’t.”
I see his shoulders relax some. “Good. For the record, I don’t regret it either.”
“It was pretty amazing. Am I right or completely wrong?” I ask him.
He smiles. “Yeah, amazing.”
The first part is over. This is the part he might think I’m crazy for asking. “Are you interested in keeping this going?”
And there’s the look. The one that tells me I may have freaked him out a bit.
“Like dating?” he questions.
I think I said it wrong. I’ve never propositioned a man before, and that’s basically what I’m doing. “No, not dating.”
“Jade, I think I know what you are trying to say, but you’ll need to spell it out for me. Because if I’m thinking wrong, I could look like a worse ass.”
Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes and blurt it out. “Friends with a touch of benefits.”
With one eye open, I look at him. He’s not saying yes or no. There is no laughing, and I think that’s good. The way he is sitting is giving me nothing, and I may have botched this. Why did Lexi have to mention this option? She said, “You could keep it up.” This is so not me, but I don’t want to sleep with some random guy I go on a date with. Jeremy made me feel comfortable in bed. He also brought out a different person in me; one I want to explore more.
“Are you okay?” I ask him.
He looks at me. “Give me a minute. I’m thinking.”
I do. Looking at my watch, I actually time him. Sixty seconds later, I’m still waiting.
“Jeremy. It was a bad idea just forget it.”
“What are the terms?”
I look at him shocked. “Terms?”
“If I say yes, we should have rules,” he says.
Oh, my gosh, he’s considering it.
“And I want to know why you want to do this. Unless I’ve read you all wrong, I don’t think this is a normal thing for you,” he says.
I know I’m going to botch this. Honesty is the best in every situation, so I go with that. “Let me lay it all out first then you can decide.”
“My lips are sealed.” He motions like he’s zipping his lips.
“You know I’ve been doing the whole online dating. Well, not so much dating as looking. I want to date, but I don’t know my type yet. I thought I had a type, but it turns out they were boring as heck. Then the other night, it just felt good with you. No pressure. You know?”
He goes to answer me, but I stop him. “Don’t answer that. It was rhetorical. Anyway, my sex life has been long gone, like dead and buried six feet under. Before that, and by that, I mean not including the night with you, sex with the guy I was with was anticlimactic. It was almost to the point of ‘hurry it up, I have to make a six o’clock meeting’ boring.”
Then he gives me a look—that sorry puppy dog look. “Don’t you pity me. It was what it was. He’s gone, and it’s over. We’ve both moved on. The hotel room brought out something in me. Something I want to explore, but I don’t want us to get involved, at least not in that way. I keep up my search, and you keep doing whatever it is you do. Wait, are you dating? Or have you connected with someone from the site?”
He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Jeremy, you can talk now,” I said after I finished my speech. Somehow, I managed to say what I had to without turning bright red.
“I’ve gone out with the intention of picking up a woman and bringing her home for the night. Once I got there, it didn’t appeal to me. I’m not twenty-one anymore. The adult in me said it was a bad idea. Do I want to start dating again? Hell, yes. You helped me with that, and I felt alive again.”
I know exactly what he means. “Yes, alive is the word I was missing in my rant.”
“The thing is, ‘hooking up’ with women isn’t something I want to do anymore. And this could work, but it could also ultimately blow up in our faces.”
“Hence, the terms,” I say as if a lightbulb went on.
“Hence, the terms,” he repeats with a nod.
We ended the conversation there, deciding to give it the rest of the night to let the idea simmer. On Friday, we are meeting to discuss Operation: Screw Drive Her. I came up with the name fun buddies, but Jeremy said it was too boring and that’s what I’m trying to change in my life. His reasoning behind the name is people will think it has to do with his work. I think we need to work on a new name and rules, almost a do and don’t list. This is hands down the oddest conversation I’ve ever had in my life.