A quick thought of Mike, then a more surprising flash of Dylan, hit her. She couldn’t get over Dylan— didn’t want to, really. Mike had called her last night. Asked her out again. This time to his cabin up on the mountain. Maybe they could make love without a million uninvited, biting guests. That would be a step up, Laura thought, as she absent-mindedly scratched her ass over her flannel pajamas. She needed some arnica for the bites and kept forgetting to buy some.
“Quit scratching yourself and come have some coffee!” Josie called.
How did Josie know she was scratching? It’s like the woman was part psychic. Or heard the scrit scrit scrit of fabric as she scratched. Or watched her reflection in the hallway mirror. Ah— that was it. She looked and saw Josie’s cheesy, overstretched grin as she held up a mug and took a sip.
“Ahhhhh. Coffee tastes so much better at your house, Laura.”
“That’s because it’s free.”
Josie sputtered and laughed. “OK, you got me there.”
Laura poured a cup of coffee and sat at her little kitchen table, taking deep breaths. “What am I going to do, Josie? Mike asked me out on a date tonight.”
“What did you say?”
“Yes, of course. I really like him.” She took a sip. “More than I want to.”
“What does that mean?”
Laura said nothing, then started to explain, but thought the better of it. “Nevermind.”
“You are stuck on Dylan, aren’t you?” Josie’s tone was incredulous. “Did you ever figure out who that woman was?”
“Nope.”
“And has he tried to reach you?”
Laura blew air out her nose, laughing softly. “I have 34 messages from him on the dating site.”
“Oh, he’s playing it cool, isn’t he?” Josie laughed. Then she frowned. “But I thought you blocked him?”
“He created a new account.”
Josie made a low whistling sound of disbelief. “Day-um, Laura!”
Laura smiled wistfully. “Yeah. I just can’t go there, Josie. You know how much it hurt when I found out about Ryan...” She had dated Ryan for the better part of a year. They’d shopped for engagement rings. He’d introduced her to his boss, went on double dates, and then one day she got an anonymous message on Facebook. A request to friend.
Someone with Ryan’s last name.
His wife.
Funny how he had forgotten that detail.
Laura had a pretty simple morality: don’t date people who file taxes with other people as a married couple. Her rule was easy to grasp. Too hard for Ryan, though.
And now she applied the same rule to Dylan: no dating people who were involved with other people.
“If I’m going to be part of a threesome, Josie, it won’t be as the invisible third.”
“Mmmmm, a man sandwich with Laura in the middle. And those two men...” Josie licked her lips with great exaggeration.
Laura’s hands reached out to shove Josie before she could think to stop herself. “Cut it out!” Her face burned, though, with the thought. Josie just cackled.
A threesome. Menage. She’d never done it. But she sure had thought about it. As her breath hitched with embarrassment and arousal she shifted in her seat, now painfully aware of the increased heat in her nether regions.
Regions that had seen more activity— and from more men— in three days than in two months.
“Laura and Mike and Dylan, sitting in a tree— oh!” Josie joked, skittering away so Laura couldn’t punch her again. Shaking her head, Laura buried her face in her coffee to hide her expression from her friend, who was about a hair away from figuring out that Laura would welcome the menage.
It was all more than she could even acknowledge to herself, much less admit to her friend. There were lines in friendship. This was one of them. She couldn’t take back the words if she blurted them out, and right now she was just too confused and tired to deal with the fallout from admitting what her heart really desired.
Besides, there was that pesky issue of Dylan’s girlfriend. Funny, how that put a screeching halt to any sandwich fantasies.
At least she had Mike.
“You still have Mike, though,” Josie mused. “Poor Laura. Have to settle for a guy who looks like something out of Asgard. Does he have a tongue like a god, too?”
Laura threw the empty half-n-half container at Josie, who just chuckled as she stood and walked out the door, leaving Laura to get ready for a torturous day at work, the hours before seeing Mike stretching out like years.
As she dressed, though, she remembered her drive home from their last date. For some reason she still didn’t understand, she’d started crying as soon as they’d gotten in their cars. At first, she’d almost jumped out of the seat and run after him, just needing something—more. More words? No. More sex? Ah—no.