Five Dates Only

by R. L. Kenderson

  “The rest is for Neil,” Caleb explained when I gave him a questioning look about the food. “It was his request.”

  I stuck a delicious fry in my mouth, and Caleb grinned.

  I couldn’t help but smile back. And, to think, we could have practically been strangers again at the birth of Mel’s baby if he hadn’t shown up at my house back in December.

  December

  I stared at Caleb and the two halves of paper in his hands, not sure what to think of him showing up on my doorstep months later, demanding I owe him another date.

  Bear knocked me out of the way to get to Caleb, and one foot touched the cold cement outside.

  “Hey, buddy,” Caleb said to my dog, who had no qualms about letting Caleb know he had missed him.

  I sighed. “You might as well come in. It’s cold out, and I don’t feel like freezing.”

  Caleb ushered Bear inside, and I closed the door.

  “You changed everything around,” Caleb said.

  After we’d broken up, I’d needed a change, so I’d rearranged my furniture. It was a nice change, and all it had cost me was some labor.

  “Yeah,” I said, not wanting to tell him why. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why are you really here?”

  He spun around. “I told you, I want our last date.”

  “What’s the point?”

  A flash of hurt crossed Caleb’s face, but it disappeared as fast as it’d appeared. “I want a second chance.”

  I sighed and stepped forward to take the stupid annulment papers out of his hands. If I was honest, I had hoped that filing for an annulment would spur Caleb to take some action. But that had been almost two months ago. Now, I simply felt tired.

  I went to the kitchen with Caleb following me, and I threw the papers in the garbage before turning back around.

  “Caleb, you don’t need a second chance. You didn’t mess up. We got in a fight and broke up.”

  If he knew what some of my exes had done, he’d give himself an award for Best Boyfriend of the Year.

  Although had he ever really been my boyfriend? We’d kind of gone from a weird arrangement to screwing to getting married. No wonder we’d broken up.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Yes, you did what?” I’d been thinking so hard that I’d lost our conversation.

  “I screwed up,” he said.

  I smiled and thought, Fuck it.

  “Screwing up is cheating on someone; screwing up is stealing money from your girlfriend’s purse; screwing up is moving away when your girlfriend is gone for the weekend and not telling her.”

  Caleb’s eyes were wide with shock. “Did all these things happen to you?”

  I lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”

  He shook his head. “Wow. Those guys were real assholes.”

  I snorted. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

  He stepped forward. “Give me another chance. I’m not like those guys.”

  I actually did already know that, which probably made our breakup feel even worse. With all the others, I had been furious and wanted nothing more to do with them. With Caleb, I still thought about him every day.

  He pushed my hair behind my ear and ran his thumb down my cheek. “God, I’ve missed you.”

  I didn’t want to admit that I felt the same about him, so I kissed him instead.

  I had only intended it to be a sweet kiss, but Caleb opened his mouth and licked the seam of my lips. I automatically opened for him, and the taste of him on my tongue had me groaning.

  I hadn’t had sex since Hawaii, and I was horny.

  I briefly wondered if Caleb had slept with anyone since then, but I quickly blocked out that thought. I didn’t want anything to deflate my lady boner.

  Caleb picked me up and set me on the counter. Pulling my ass toward him, he shoved his erection between my legs.

  I reached between our bodies and cupped him. I’d missed his dick almost as much as I’d missed the rest of him.

  I tore my mouth from his and went for the button of his jeans. I was ready to hop off the counter and get on my knees, but Caleb put a hand on mine to stop me.

  “What are you doing?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Are you kidding me? I am willing to have sex with you, no strings attached, and you don’t want to?”

  He chuckled. “I never said I didn’t want to. I haven’t had sex since the last time with you in Hawaii. I’m dying to be inside you.”

  I grinned and tried to go for his button again. “Let’s do this then.”

  He squeezed my wrist. “No.”

  I looked into his face. “You are sending the most awful mixed signals right now.”

  He dropped his head against mine and groaned. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I know I’ll fall into bed with you, and I’ll forget all about getting an answer to my question.”

  “What question?”

  “See? You’ve already forgotten.”

  I shook my head. I still didn’t remember.

  “I want one more date. Will you give me one?”

  I really didn’t want to go through the process of getting back together and calling it quits again, but I wanted to get laid, damn it. “Fine. I’ll give you one last date. Now, take off your pants.”

  He grinned and brought my hands to my chest. He tenderly kissed me and stepped back.

  “New Year’s Eve,” he said.

  “What?”

  “New Year’s Eve. That’s the date I want.”

  “That’s over three weeks away.”

  “I know. But I need time.”

  I threw up my hands. “Fine. New Year’s it is. Now, get back over here.”

  Taking a step back, he shook his head. “No sex until our date.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  He had to be joking.

  He shook his head again. “No. I want to do this right. We have to wait.” He turned around and headed for my door. “Bye, Bear,” he said, patting my dog on the head. He opened my door and turned. “I’ll see you on the thirty-first.”

  “I hate you,” I said.

  He grinned. “No, you don’t.” He stepped outside and shut the door.

  He was right. I didn’t hate him at all. Instead, I was ridiculously in love with him.

  Bear lifted his head and looked at me.

  “Shut up. You didn’t tell him you loved him either.”

  Forty-Three

  Caleb

  New Year’s Eve

  I looked around my house to make sure everything was perfect and patted my pocket to make sure my surprise was there. I kept worrying it was going to fall out.

  My house was crammed with people, yet part of me felt like I was all alone. I knew it was the nerves, but it still made me want to puke.

  Melanie walked up to me. “You ready? Sloan should be here any minute.”

  I took a deep breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  She squeezed my forearm. “You’re going to be fine. Everything will work out.”

  “I hope you’re right. Thanks for all your help.”

  When I had called Melanie to tell her I needed her help with getting Sloan back, she’d jumped at the chance. I’d thought she’d tell me to go screw myself, but she’d told me that she’d secretly been rooting for Sloan and me to be together for a long time.

  She smiled. “No problem. But, if things go to hell for some reason, I had nothing to do with this.”

  I frowned. “You just said everything would work out.”

  “Because that’s what people do when someone is nervous.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  She slapped me on the shoulder. “You’re welcome,” she said as she walked away.

  “That was sarcasm,” I called to her, but Melanie didn’t turn back around.

  She ran into Sloan’s parents and started talking to them.

  My brother came up to me next. “You look like you’re going to hurl.”

 
“Thanks,” I said dryly.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “What is it with everyone not getting my sarcasm tonight?”

  “Oh. Uh … I guess you’re not welcome then.” Neil clearly didn’t know how to make me feel better.

  I shook my head. “I know I probably look bad, but I can’t help it.”

  “Sorry, man. Maybe you’ll get lucky, and she won’t show.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Now, why would you go and say something like that?”

  He shrugged. “Hey. I’m trying to help.”

  “Yeah, well, try harder.”

  Neil opened his mouth just as the doorbell rang.

  The house went from a dozen conversations going on at once to complete silence.

  “Keep talking, everyone,” I said. “I don’t want her to feel like she’s on display.”

  The doorbell rang. I took a deep breath, and I opened the door.

  Sloan stood on the other side, looking beautiful. Under her open coat, she wore a black dress that made her red hair stand out.

  “Hey,” I greeted her.

  “Hi.” She looked around me. “I didn’t know it was going to be a party.”

  I stepped off to the side. “Come in before you freeze to death.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Let me take your coat.”

  She smiled. “Wow. What a gentleman.”

  “I try.” Not really. “At least, tonight, I do,” I amended. “It’s a special occasion.” And I didn’t just mean the holiday.

  After hanging Sloan’s jacket in the front closet, Ted and Mary approached us, and she took a step back toward me.

  I put my hand on her lower back to show her that I supported her.

  Mary smiled first. “Hello, Sloan.”

  “Hi, Mary.”

  “Sloan,” Ted said with a nod. “It’s good to see you again.”

  Sloan looked over her shoulder at me.

  I smiled. “It’s okay. We worked it all out. I told them everything.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Really?” she whispered.

  I laughed. “Really.”

  “Caleb’s right. And I apologize for anything I said,” Ted said.

  “You were upset,” Sloan responded. “I can see why you didn’t want me around.”

  Ted winced. “Caleb told you I’d said that, huh?”

  “I might have been eavesdropping,” she admitted, only looking the slightest bit guilty.

  I laughed.

  “Can we call it even?” Ted asked. “You’re good for Caleb, and I don’t want any hard feelings between us.”

  “Let’s forget it ever happened,” Sloan said.

  Ted pointed a finger at her. “Not too much forgetting now, or you and Caleb wouldn’t be together.”

  Sloan looked at me, and I shrugged.

  “I tried telling him it was only a date tonight, but he’s already convinced that you and I are a thing again.”

  Sloan turned back to Ted. “I guess you’re right about that. It did bring Caleb and me together.”

  I squeezed her waist. I took her comment as a good sign.

  Mary opened her arms. “Give me a hug, dear.”

  Sloan laughed and let Mary engulf her.

  They pulled apart, and Mary said, “I agree with Ted. I’m so happy Caleb found you. He’s going to need your help with the store.”

  Sloan’s head swung around once again to look at me, and I shrugged sheepishly.

  “Ted’s letting me buy half of it.”

  She turned toward me and flung her arms around my neck. “Caleb, that’s the best news.”

  “It is,” I said, holding her tight.

  I didn’t want to let her go; she felt incredible in my arms. But my lower anatomy had started paying attention, and if I didn’t want to walk around with a hard-on in front of everyone, I had better let her go.

  “Come,” I said. “I want to show you who else is here.”

  I brought her over to my friends.

  “Sloan, this is Blake and Lee.”

  She shook their hands. “It’s nice to know Caleb has friends. I was beginning to think he was a loser.”

  Lee and Blake laughed. I tried not to since I was the butt of her joke, but I thought it was a good thing that she was making fun of me.

  “I think that’s enough of the three of you getting to know each other,” I said. “Let’s move on.”

  “I like them,” Sloan said as we walked away. “They laugh at my jokes.”

  “Yeah, you’re a real riot.”

  It was her turn to laugh. “You’re so cute when you get upset.”

  I grinned. She’d called me cute. Another good sign.

  Sloan was surprised to see Melanie, and that was also when she began to wonder if the party was for more than just a party. I evaded her questions the few times she’d asked though because I wasn’t ready to tell her.

  When she saw that her parents were at my house, she gave me several questioning looks.

  “You invited my parents?” she said to me. “How?”

  “Melanie called us, honey,” her mom said.

  “We were more than happy to come,” her father said. “But can you explain to me why I had to hear it from some guy—no offense, Caleb—who I’d never met that you’d gotten married?”

  Sloan’s face turned red to match her hair, and she shot daggers at me.

  I shrugged. “They’re your parents. They needed to know.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Oh? And do your parents know?”

  I pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “They do now. They’re in there.”

  “Oh.” Some of the fire left her. “Well, now, I don’t know what to say because I was expecting a different answer from you.”

  I laughed.

  Sloan’s mom put her hand on Sloan’s arm. “You and I are having lunch next week. I want to hear all about you and Caleb.”

  Sloan nodded as her parents walked away.

  She turned to me. “Okay, Caleb, this is more than some date. What is going on?”

  Forty-Four

  Sloan

  Caleb picked up a glass of champagne from the kitchen, got up on a chair, and clinked a butter knife against the drink. “Can I have your attention, please?”

  Everyone quieted down, and he turned to me.

  “In case you don’t know the full story, I’m going to give you the CliffsNotes version,” he said to the group. “Sloan and I’ve known each other for a while. Her best friend dated my brother. But we didn’t know each other very well at that time.”

  Caleb looked around the room.

  “All that changed when I convinced Sloan to help me out with a little problem I was having at work. See, my boss”—Ted raised his hand and waved—“thought I was a flight risk when I asked him if I could buy his store. So, I might have lied to him and told him I had a girlfriend.”

  Caleb’s audience chuckled.

  “What I hadn’t planned on was the need to find a flesh-and-blood woman to be said girlfriend.” He held his hand out to me. “This is where Sloan came in. I had to convince—and when I say convince, I mean, convince—her to play my girlfriend. She did so—reluctantly.” He tapped his chin. “I believe she told me she was going to call me Loser in her phone, if that gives you any indication of how she felt about me.”

  I blushed as everyone laughed around us.

  “But she did agree, loser or no loser, and our agreement was for five dates.” Caleb’s face turned from joking to sentimental. “Everything was going pretty well for these dates … until my boss invited us to go to Hawaii.”

  Everyone oohed.

  “I know, right? Anyway, Sloan classified Hawaii as our fourth date. But, by this time, ladies and gentlemen, we’d been hanging out quite some time. Well, one thing led to another, and with the help of some alcohol, Sloan and I tied the knot in Hawaii.”

  Murmurs went around the room, and I wanted to hide. He was telling everyone what had
happened between us with only a few details omitted or changed to make the situation sound better. I didn’t want people to know he’d blackmailed me either, so I liked how he’d used the word convince.

  “But, folks, that’s not the end of the story,” Caleb continued. “You see, my boss and my father ran into each other, and the secret came out once we got back home. It wasn’t a good start to a marriage, and Sloan and I went our separate ways.”

  “Ahh,” everyone around us said in disappointment.

  Caleb put his hand to his heart. “I know. I know.” He held up a finger. “But I suddenly remembered that Sloan owed me another date.”

  “Are you still married?” someone yelled from the back of the room.

  “Hold on, I’ll get to that,” Caleb answered. “You see, Sloan thought I didn’t care about her anymore and sent me annulment papers. But I convinced her to come out tonight, using our fifth and last date as leverage. And, now, you’re probably wondering what all of you are doing here.”

  I nodded along with everyone else.

  Caleb smiled at me. “I wanted to come clean with everyone, and I wanted Sloan to know that there is nothing left to hide. There isn’t anything that people don’t know now.” He looked at me and stepped off the chair. “Because, if we’re going to make this marriage work, then we need a fresh start. No secrets. Just you and me, together,” he said.

  Tears sprang to my eyes.

  He handed me his champagne. “Hold this for me, please.”

  I didn’t even question it. I just took it from him. But, when he got down on one knee, I wanted to pound the whole thing. Unfortunately, I was frozen in my spot.

  Caleb pulled out my engagement/wedding ring from his pocket. “Mel snuck it from your house for me.”

  My eyes beelined for my friend. She shrugged and grinned.

  “Sloan?”

  I looked down at Caleb.

  “Will you do me the honor of giving our marriage a chance and being my wife? If it doesn’t work out, I will sign your annulment papers without a fight.”

  The room was so silent; I could hear the ticking of the clock on the wall.

  It was hard to say no to that, except one glaring thing seemed to be missing in this scenario. And, while I didn’t want to embarrass him, I had to ask, “Why?”