Summer Love by Piper Rayne

Chapter Two

“He said what?” Jessie, one of my best friends, leaned forward on her elbows across the table. Her mouth fell open as I recounted the story of what I’d done, and what Phillip had suggested, to my girlfriends. We were at Jessie’s aptly named Jessie’s Diner on the edge of town that she’d opened and operated alone as a single mom for the last ten years. We tried our best to meet up once a week to catch up on our lives, offer moral support, and more often than not these days, reminisce about the old days, when we were in our twenties. Young. Fun. With no responsibilities.

Damn. In our forties we were still way too young to feel so damn old.

It was a thought I’d been having more and more of lately. Also, one of the reasons I hadn’t dismissed Phillip’s offer right away. Not that I’d told my girlfriends that particular detail yet.

“I say, do it.” Brittany Donahue was arguably the most successful out of our group, as a CEO of some sort of tech company that none of us really understood. “I mean, why not? Phillip’s hot and you’ve always kind of had a thing for him, right?”

“I don’t know if you’d call it a thing.” I picked up my glass, and looked into the clear liquid of the martini I’d made earlier. It was strong. Very strong. It had to be.

I hoped Britt would let it go. Yes, I had a thing for Phillip Conrad. But he’d let me go. He didn’t fight for me. And no woman wanted a man like that. Right?

“I don’t know,” Sandy Clark said. The mother of two girls, and a widow for the last four years, she was definitely the most conservative of our group of friends. I knew she’d be horrified at Phillip’s proposal. Sandy sipped at her drink, a coffee with Bailey’s, and shook her head. “It sounds kind of—”

“Dirty!” Darla Diamond chimed in. I knew she’d be on board with Phillip’s plan. Single and happily so, Darla had never settled down. She’d spent the last twenty or so years since high school jumping from job to job, and from man to man. And she liked it that way. Frankly, it was exhausting to watch, but Darla seemed to enjoy it.

Darla put her whiskey down and stared into my eyes. “Do it. Why not?”

“I can think of a few reasons.”

I actually could only think of one. Well, one that really mattered anyway. Sure, it was a party at the club where all of my old friends would be watching me, judging me and no doubt gossiping about me. But that didn’t really bother me. Those people had never been my real friends. I didn’t really care what they thought of me. Not anymore.

And then, of course there was the whole I’m not for sale thing. But…I knew Phillip well enough to know he wasn’t that kind of guy. So he wouldn’t have meant anything derogatory with his offer.

And that was the whole problem, and the only real reason I could think of not to do it.

It was Phillip.

And Britt was right—I did have a thing for him. And I was pretty sure he had one for me. Always had. There were feelings there, and even if I were entertaining that possibility—and I couldn’t possibly—I’d just stolen from him. Which made me…ugh. A terrible person.

And would I really be able to pretend there was nothing between us? Even for one night?

I wasn’t sure.

Jessie sat across from me, spinning the stem of her white wine glass between her fingers. “But do you really have a choice?” Her voice was soft, full of concern. “You’ll lose your job if you don’t, right?”

I nodded.

Phillip was a fair man, and I had stolen from him. But I didn’t really think he’d take it so far that I’d lose my job. Not really. I couldn’t shake the idea that there was more to this offer than that. Much more.

“Why would you take the money?” Britt’s voice was sharp from across the table. There was nothing but water in her glass, she saved alcohol for very rare occasions, and then it was a vodka and soda. Although I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her drink one. “You know I would have given you—”

“No. I will not take money from you.” I looked around the table at my friends. Even though Britt was the only one with means to help me out financially, they’d all offered their help when Daniel was arrested. “I could never ask that of you.”

Britt shook her head.

“Well, I say go for it,” Darla said. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? You have a little fun? Maybe some hot sex?”

I flushed, but didn’t bother denying that the idea of hot sex, especially with Phillip, did sound appealing.

“I never did have sex with Phillip.” The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them.

“What?” I thought Jessie’s eyes might fall out of her head. “I totally thought...you dated him for…”

I shrugged. “We just never…we were waiting.”

“Well, that settles it,” Darla said. “This is your chance. What you’ve both been waiting for. Go have some crazy hot sex and get it out of your system. Get him out of your system.”

“Her system?” Sandy looked horrified. “I don’t think that—”

“I think all of us could use a little bit more fun in our lives!” All eyes turned to Darla, who laughed. “I mean, except me, obviously. I already have lots of fun. But you guys? When was the last time you had a one-night stand with a man whose name you didn’t even know, Sandy?”

Sandy turned bright red and ducked her head. They all knew the answer—never.

“And what about you, Jessie? Can you remember the last time you climaxed so hard you couldn’t even remember your own name?”

“Darla!”

“I’ll take that as a no.” She laughed and turned to Britt. “I’m not even going to ask you the last time you had something between your legs that wasn’t battery operated.”

Brittany narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t deny it was true.

“Come on, ladies. We’re in our forties—we’re not dead! Remember when we were young, and we promised that we wouldn’t let one another get old and boring? Well…”

It was true. I stared into my glass. I’d been so busy being a socialite wife, throwing the right parties, going to all the right events, wearing the right thing, that it had been years since I’d done anything right for me at all. And Darla had a point. We weren’t dead yet. Besides…Phillip. Maybe it was time I got him out of my system once and for all.

I picked up my glass and downed the rest of my martini. “I’m going to say yes,” I declared. “And I think I just might have a little fun doing it.”