“They don’t know when we played with it last. Unlike Gabrielle and Braden.” He laughed and the vibration felt good. No pun intended.
“I hope you threw it away.”
“What do you think?” He put his fingers under my chin, tilted my face up, leaned down, and then he kissed me, making me relax and forget about my humiliation. We tangled tongues for a minute or two, and then after giving my ass a quick squeeze, he pulled back. “Come on. We left them alone with Bruce and Bruno.”
We came back out and settled it the living room with everyone else. Our friends had the kindness and tact to change the subject, and we joked and talked about some of our recent court cases for a while. After about an hour, we were all getting a little loopy and giggly.
“I must tell you, this is much more entertaining than listening to whatever-her-name-was, talk about how some other chick unfriended her on Facebook,” Mark said eventually to Adam.
“Who?” Bruce asked.
“Just somebody I was socializing with earlier,” Mark answered.
“Horizontally socializing,” Adam said with a laugh and Mark glared at him.
“And you don’t know what her name was?” Gabrielle asked shaking her head.
“Don’t judge. She yelled out ‘Mike’ at one point.”
“Gee, Gabrielle, doesn’t being a player sound like fun?” I joked.
“Yeah, right?” She rolled her eyes.
“Hey, I have to get laid somehow or I’ll go nuts. It is what it is.”
“Why don’t you find somebody to date?” Gab asked.
“Because Lily’s already taken,” he joked giving Adam an amused look.
“Will you stop flirting with her already?” It was Adam’s turn to glare now.
“He’s just kidding around,” I soothed. “I think he’ll end up with Beth anyway.” Oh shit. Had I said that out loud? How many margaritas had I had? I hoped that Beth wouldn’t be unfriending me in real life.
“I think so too,” Gab agreed enthusiastically, to my surprise.
“You do?” And Braden’s surprise.
“Beth? I don’t really know her very well.” And Mark’s too, apparently.
“And you won’t ‘know’ her,” Braden said, making little air quotes, “unless you’re looking to date her seriously.”
“Why do you say that, though, just out of curiosity?” Mark asked us, ignoring Braden. Now he sounded more intrigued than surprised.
“It’s just a feeling,” Gab answered. “I think you would make a nice couple.”
“I figured you would get along well,” I said. “She’s hip and artsy and you’re hip and edgy.” I left out the part where she admitted to me that she thought he was hot.
“Once again, let me state for the record, unless you’re looking for a girlfriend, you can think of her primarily as my little sister,” Braden said with a smile.
“I’m sure I’ll remember, Braden,” Mark reassured him. “And also for the record, I am not presently looking for a girlfriend. Despite the fact that you and Adam have not failed to let me know how blissfully content and well-laid you both are.”
“Lily’s not nearly as irritable these days,” Bruce shared. “Here’s to good sex.”
Chapter Nine
Our guests stayed for another hour and then headed home, but not before I saw Mark and Adam having a quiet word together. Later, as I finished washing up, I found Adam sitting in bed with his iPad. I took off my robe, which left me nude. Both Adam and I slept in the buff.
“See something you like, Roth?” I teased, noticing him checking me out.
“Lots of things,” he answered in a sexy voice.
I grabbed my book and slid under the covers beside him. We sat silently reading for a moment and then he spoke up.
“So, did Beth say something about Mark to you?” he asked casually.
“If she did, it would have been in confidence,” I answered just as casually.
“In confidence?” He put his iPad down and turned to me. “Lily I’m going to be your husband. That gives me automatic access to confidential communications.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Spousal privilege.”
“Spousal privilege? Adam, that just means we wouldn’t have to testify against each other court. Besides, we’re not even married yet.”
“Not legal spousal privilege, traditional spousal privilege.”
“I’ve never heard of ‘traditional spousal privilege.’ If you’re talking our ketubah, your sister said that just covers you agreeing to feed me, clothe me, and meet my sexual needs.”
“Wait a minute. What do you agree to?”
“I agree to let you.”
“What? What Biblical schmuck negotiated that contract?”
“Obviously, some Jewish bride a long time ago had a good lawyer.”
“Okay, we’ll talk about that later. Going back to our original discussion, I can’t believe that you would share your body with me six times in 24 hours, and you won’t share a simple piece of information.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I’m curious, okay?”
“That’s not a compelling enough reason to overcome my duty to keep my friend’s confidence.”
“Who are you, the Supreme Court?”
“You just want to tell Mark, but if Beth wanted Mark to know something, she would tell him herself. She doesn’t need us to pass him a note in gym class for her.”
“You’re the one who brought it up to him!” he pointed out, reminding me of what a big mouth I had. That made me cranky.
“That was a mistake. I had traveled a little too far into Margaritaville. He can always ask her out on a date if he wants to know if she’s interested in him.”
“He wouldn’t do that unless he knew she wanted him. The male ego is a fragile thing.”
“What?! First of all, your ego is about as fragile as titanium, and secondly, he’s a player. Every weekend he goes out to clubs and has enough confidence to hit on strange women. I’m sure he could work up the nerve to ask Beth out if he wanted to.”
“That’s not the same. He’s just going to have sex with those women. A date is like dinner and stuff with somebody you’re hoping to know for more than a few hours.”
“Wait, let me get this straight, having sex with someone is no big deal, but eating dinner with them is? What kind of f**ked up logic is that?”