“Sounds more like you’re mad she won’t let you play with her toys,” said Riley.
“Oh, she wants me to play with all her toys.” Her desire wasn’t the issue. Hell, even Griff’s desire wasn’t the issue. The obligation of being the first one to play with them, the seriousness of it, the potential emotional ramifications—’cause there was no casual sex with a twenty-seven-year-old virgin; only far-from-casual relationships—those were the tip of the issue iceberg. “The problem is that they’re still in the hermetically sealed packaging.”
“Nobody’s got the time or energy to wrestle with that,” Knox intoned solemnly. “We want a playmate, not a yoke around our neck. Virginity ties you up with a woman—and not in a good way. Expectations multiply. Family dinners are suddenly a requirement. Oh, yeah, the horror stories fly between men about these mythical creatures.”
Bob held up his hand as if tracing the words on a banner. “ ‘Virginity in the Modern Woman: A Feminist Choice or a Curse Against Men?’ Oh, that’ll bring everyone out of the woodwork. You couldn’t come up with a better first topic if you brainstormed for days. Well done!”
Great. His shit storm of a love life would make them huge Internet stars. Griffin could just picture the look on his commander’s face at the news. Or Chloe’s once she found out her private no-sex life was hitting the airwaves. As much as he wanted America to validate his knee-jerk run out her door, maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all…
—
Summer lifted her margarita glass in a toast. “So glad you asked me to dinner. Mondays are always dismally slow at the store. A little salsa and tequila will turn the day around.”
“Make that a lot of tequila.” Chloe licked off a big glob of salt—because if she was going to be bad, she wanted to be really, really bad—and tossed back enough of the icy drink to give her brain freeze. And wasn’t that just another kick in the head by Fate. When would she learn that trying to live on the wild side, even a little, always went badly for her?
“Um, Monday’s not traditionally a toss-back-the-shots day of the week. Hump Day through Saturday are all fair game, but Monday’s more moderate.”
Chloe spoke with her tongue pressed to the roof of her mouth in an attempt to stop the brain freeze. “Not this one.”
“What’s wrong enough to require tequila?” Summer leaned back and crossed her arms, clearly bracing for the worst.
After a quick glance to be sure nobody was seated close enough to overhear, Chloe still leaned forward. “Griffin came over. I was shopping for lingerie. He offered to help.”
It earned her an approving head nod. “That’s all good, so far. Sexy. Sexy in ways I wasn’t sure you had in you.”
“Well, it was sexy. We were headed down the on-ramp to sex at way past the speed limit. I was ready. He was, um, very ready. And then…” She let her voice trail off.
Summer let her arms drop to her sides. Multiple bangles clanked loudly enough that Chloe could hear them over the roving mariachi band. “Oh, no. Did your mom call?”
“No. Although being interrupted by my mother would’ve been the lesser of two evils.” And didn’t that just illustrate even more clearly the utter humiliation that ended her night with Griffin?
“Did he fizzle out?” Summer bent her straw over as a visual aid.
“No. No!” Chloe whispered harshly. “Don’t insult the man.”
“Then what?”
Chloe let her gaze dart from the ceramic tiled fountain to the piñatas hanging from the ceiling. The restaurant was festive. Her drink was festive. She’d even put on a peasant blouse with her denim skirt and chunky silver bracelets, to channel a south-of-the-border style. And none of it improved her mood a single iota.
“Since things were headed toward the bedroom, I, um, told him. That I’m, you know, a virgin. He didn’t take it well.”
Without so much as batting an eye, Summer responded, “Honey, nobody would. Men look at a virgin like finding the Loch Ness Monster—once you’ve got it, what the heck do you do with it?”
Where was the sympathy? The outrage on her best friend’s behalf? The offer to go wrap his car in saran, or something equally petty and satisfying? “You’re pretty blasé.”
Summer lazily dragged her orange wheel garnish through the slush of her drink. “I’ve had literally years to think about how to handle this conversation if it ever came up.”
“If. If?” That was all kinds of not cool. Talk about adding insult to injury. Chloe dated. Occasionally. Okay, not that often, but it did happen. Sex had never been off the table. Just…um…kept in a warming oven until the time was right to serve it up. “You mean you thought there was a chance I’d never have sex?”
“Chloe, for crying out loud, you’re twenty-seven. You’ve almost passed your best hookup years. Yes, I was starting to worry about your mattress never developing a squeak.”
Summer’s choice of words made her flash back to Griff comparing taking her virginity to ripping the tag off the mattress. And she’d given him no time to adjust to the idea. Given Summer’s reaction, her self-righteous anger at Griff was probably way overboard. Especially since, despite her anger, she still wanted him. Desperately. “Well, I want it to. I want it to squeak so loudly the neighbors complain.”
“Good for you.”
“That’s it?” She reached across the table to grab her friend’s hand. “Summer, I need your help. Strategies. Nefarious schemes, if that’s what it takes. I need to figure out how to get Griffin into my bedroom.”
“And you think I’m the person with the vast secret knowledge of how to lure men into things they don’t want to do?”
Letting go and leaning back, Chloe snorted. “Frankly, yes. Have you paid for a single date in, well, ever?”
“Heck no. I’m better than that.”
“And have you ever moved your own furniture? Last year, didn’t you con some guy into waiting in line at the Motor Vehicle Administration for four hours, and have him text you when it was almost your turn?”
“Deon. He was sweet. Or maybe…Dillon? Dino? Something with a D.” On a laugh, Summer clinked her glass against Chloe’s. “You’re right. I am the queen of coercion. I may buy myself a tiara.”
“And you need to use that talent for good. To help me. Because Griffin doesn’t see me as someone he wants to do. He sees me…like I’m covered with bubonic plague.” Chloe dug for the most cheese-covered nacho on the platter. If she couldn’t have sex tonight, she’d darn well overload on salty comfort food. Ooh, and snap a quick photo to text to David to make him jealous. But then she paused. Put the phone down. The last thing she needed was her brother asking if he could meet them and weighing in on the situation.
“Not a problem.”
Summer hooked up whenever she wanted, with whomever she wanted. No single man in D.C. stood a chance against her focused flirting. They took one look at her cascading dark brown waves and deep-set, gypsy eyes and toppled at her feet like dominos. Chloe didn’t have that whole femme fatale vibe. Oh, and evidently her virginity gave off a super-strong run-away-while-you-can vibe.
“It is a huge problem, Summer. Don’t downplay it.”
“Look, all you have to do is convince him that you’re not contagious. That, in fact, you’re covered with honey and chocolate chips.”
It took a couple of seconds for Chloe to get past the idea of Griffin licking honey off of her. That’d be…fun. Amazing. Orgasm-inducing. “How?”
Summer shrugged. “He’s got to see you with another guy.”
That was her big, brilliant solution? Crunching around a second loaded chip, Chloe restated the obvious. “I don’t want another guy. I want Griffin.”
“And you’ll get him. I promise. Once he sees that other men find you just as irresistible as he did.”
“We haven’t been together long enough for him to feel jealous.”
“Not jealous, silly. Competitive. Men are always trying to one-up one another. Show off that they scored a
hotter car, a hotter girl, a better job. Once he sees that you’re a wanted commodity, he’ll totally forget about his virgin hang-up and go for the goods.”
She toyed with the three rings she’d stacked on her index finger to show Summer that she’d made an effort for girl’s night. Chloe had a lot more choices in her jewelry box than in her closet full of yoga pants and hoodies. And it drove boutique-owning Summer absolutely nuts. “I don’t want to play games.”
“Hang on. A minute ago you were all about me crafting some nefarious scheme. Why the backpedal?”
“Schemes are good in theory. They sound like the right thing to clamor for over margaritas. But in reality? It feels like cheating.”
“Not a bit. You’re not going to sleep with this other guy. Frankly, today’s proof that your overaged virginity will guarantee that.”
“Then I’m just using competition-inducing guy. That doesn’t feel right either. It’s dating under false pretenses.”
“This is Washington, D.C. Everyone has an agenda. Some people date for the exposure, the notoriety, to give the illusion of mending fences, to give the illusion of playing nice with the other side, or simply to get an itch scratched.”
Summer’s way of looking at the world of dating made Chloe sad. Made her wonder if her friend was so busy sampling everything and everyone that she’d never bother to keep her eyes open to spot true love. “Cynical much?”
“Just calling it like I see it.
That was a different argument for a different day. They had to stay on topic to get this resolved before the tequila combined with the inevitable food coma rendered them incapable of planning. “Where would I even find this imaginary man? Recent events aside, guys don’t fall in my lap on a regular basis.”
“Hmm. That is the one flaw in an otherwise spectacular scheme. Why don’t you ask your brother? David should be able to talk a friend into doing him a favor. He owes you for the way you cooked for him last week to impress his boss.” Summer looked down at her watch. “Speaking of your family, if you’re going to check in with your mom, you should do it now before they bring our enchiladas.”
“Thanks for the reminder.” She didn’t need it. The habit of calling her mom constantly was as ingrained and automatic as brushing her teeth. Chloe pushed back her rattan chair. “I’m not saying that I’ll go along with this plan. But while I make the call, how about you rack your brain to come up with a suitable man in case David can’t? Someone obviously handsome. Willing to eschew sex. Someone who I can help by being seen with him.”
“How about two out of three?”
Chapter 8
“You know, I left my food truck at the Lincoln Memorial. I already hoofed it all the way down the Mall once to meet you guys,” Josh grumbled. “This sucks.”
Griffin jogged a fast circle around him. “Getting old, Hardwick? Out of shape from tasting everything you sell?”
“Either way, that makes you easy to score on,” said Riley with a smirk.
“I call that a double win.” Knox began juggling their two soccer balls.
“How’s that?”
Knox dropped a ball, but used some fast and fancy footwork to keep it in line. “Easy goals while Josh snoozes. And we get a mark in the good karma column for giving up our usual spot to a Boy Scout troop.”
“I’m just saying it’s a long-ass walk. I stand all day for my job.” Josh stole the ball from Knox with a seamless swipe of his foot. “You two have that cushy office thing going, and as far as I can tell, all Griff’s doing with his suspension is chasing a virgin. None of that can make you as dead-dog tired as sweating over a stove in a metal box on wheels.”
“Being cockblocked by virginity is emotionally exhausting.” Griffin made a big deal of wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. All the guys snickered.
Josh passed the ball to him. “You call her yet?”
Typical Josh—always the first to pick a fight, to ride him hard. Usually the first to leap to his defense, too. Annoyed, Griff kicked the ball to Knox instead of returning it. “It’s only Wednesday.”
“Didn’t you have the big fight Monday night?”
“It wasn’t a fight. It was a…reveal.” He’d learned the word from their bartender friend Annabeth, who swore up and down that reality shows: (1) were absolutely real, and (2) taught you everything necessary to make it in life. She’d get a kick out of hearing he’d used one of her words to describe the one hundred percent not a fight, not even a discussion, because Chloe’s virginity was apparently a fact and therefore pointless to discuss.
Josh had to use all his skill to curve the ball around a herd of tourists walking with their eyes glued to their cameras and not the ground in front of them. “So you’re not talking to her. Does that mean you decided to cut her loose?”
“No!” Griff shouted loud enough to send a handful of geese flapping into the air. Served them right. Damn birds did nothing but leave crap for him to trip over on every patch of grass in the District. More quietly, he added, “I just don’t know.”
“You don’t know if you want her? What the fuck, G-man?”
What was with Josh and the pushing? Was it because he’d lost his bet about Griff, who had gotten a date with Chloe before they hooked up poor Hodges through their blog post?
“That, I know.” Griff wanted her. He wanted her so much all his nerves vibrated just thinking about her. He’d been falling hard for Chloe. Falling-off-a-skyscraper hard. But learning she’d tasked him with taking her virginity had jolted him as if he’d landed headfirst on concrete at seventy miles per hour. Made him worry she was on the marriage track. God knew his mom and her six treks down the aisle had taught him that wasn’t a smart way to go. He wasn’t the man to give her a forever. And Griffin feared that was exactly what Chloe would want.
“Hang on.” Riley stopped them all at the edge of 17th Street with an upraised hand. No jaywalking with Ry around. Guy was so safety conscious he probably looked both ways before aiming at a urinal. “You want her.”
“Yes.” Griff bounced the ball on the top of his foot. Thought about drilling it straight at the junk of whichever friend hassled him about Chloe next. Weren’t they supposed to be on his side?
“You like her.”
“Yes.”
“But you want her and like her as more than a one-night stand, or you wouldn’t be so wound up.”
For fuck’s sake! There were fewer questions when he got his last security clearance upgrade. “Yeah.”
“Then what the hell’s the problem?”
It was easy for Riley to lay out one side of the argument. That was part of his job at the NTSB—to build a case, to layer facts until the answer was obvious. But in the real world, there were two sides to just about everything, and Griffin damn well had a side that was keeping him up at night.
Looked like he’d have to lay it out piece by piece. “She’s a virgin.”
A mother with a double stroller and two kids hanging on to her belt loops shot him a dirty glare. Weird. He knew it was a dirty word for everyone with a Y chromosome, but he didn’t think it offended women and kids, too.
Josh used his hand and his armpit to make one hell of a convincing fart sound. “We covered that already.”
“Besides, it’s something you can rectify in, oh, about a second.” Riley tapped the watch he used to check his heart rate midgame.
“In, out. Hell,” Knox snickered, “you don’t even need the out stroke. In and done. Virginity gone. Problem solved.”
They’d backed him during his righteous freak-out two days ago. Now they all acted like it was as simple as popping the safety seal on a bottle of mustard. When he knew for a fact that not a one of them had ever been in his position. “There’s a fuck ton more to it than that, and you know it. Chloe’s gonna require special handling.”
Riley stared him down. It was the same calm, all-knowing look he used at press conferences when explaining that it would indeed take more than twelve hours to reassemble th
e scattered pieces of a downed plane and determine the cause of the catastrophic failure. “We were shooting off our mouths at SER. Riffing ideas for the podcast. But seriously, if you like her so much, wouldn’t you make it special anyway?”
Still…“You wait this long, it’s impossible for any man to live up to the hype.”
Josh stole the ball back and tucked it under his arm. “Is this all about performance anxiety, Montgomery? You got your wings clipped, and suddenly your dick shrivels?”
Griff appreciated Josh lightening the interrogation with a little humor. Just not the part where it was at his expense. “I’m the man for the job, Hardwick. Don’t doubt that for a minute. I can give Chloe a night she won’t forget. But what if she wants more?”
“Then take a five-minute break, hydrate, and go for round two.” Everyone laughed, Griff included.
“That’s a given.” Knox shook his head. “I’d say taking someone’s virginity earns him at least three rounds in one night, including once in the shower.”
No way was Griff going to stand next to already pissy stroller mom discussing sexual positions. He pulled a water bottle from his pocket and took a deep chug. “Look, the more I’m talking about is a ring. Chloe’s waited this long. What if she thinks that sex equals a proposal?”
Because that sure as hell wouldn’t happen. No, he’d learned from his mother’s six marriages. Not to mention his father walking away from the first one. Learned that wasting time getting the ring and the piece of paper was pointless, since they’d both be moving on before long anyway. Griff was all for a committed relationship. He just didn’t see any proof that commitment equaled forever. And Chloe very much struck him as a forever type of girl.
Josh spread his arms wide, palms up. “Well, when she doesn’t get one, she’ll have learned an important life lesson.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. Jesus H. Christ in a tutu, Griffin. This isn’t fucking 1816.” He hooked his thumb back over his shoulder. “There’s no dad with a shotgun on the other side of the bedroom door. Sounds to me like Chloe looks at her virginity like a mole—something she’s had her whole life and wants to get rid of. If she expects you to get down on one knee afterward, she’s an idiot. Frankly, I don’t think you’d fall for an idiot.”
Risking It All Page 10
