“You really should tell Braden, you know.”
“What? That I made him negotiate an international treaty to take me out to dinner, but I let his cousin take my virginity on a whim? He already knows.”
“I mean that you should tell him that Cam said that he cared about you but that he just couldn’t deal with it. At least Braden will know that he wasn’t just using you as a convenient place to come.”
“You’ve got such a way with words.”
“I know, honey. Now, getting back to the point …”
“He’s already guessed that it was more than just a casual hook up for both of us. He’s still a little jealous about Cam having gone where no man had gone before, so I don’t want to rock the boat when they just made up.” We both sat there quietly for a minute, lost in our own thoughts, while Bruno chewed on a pair of my stockings.
“He really said he was interested in me?” she asked finally.
“Yeah! Last night when we were waiting, and he said he found you really attractive too.” She nodded her head silently. I knew she was thinking about it!
“Does he have nice boy parts?” she asked after another minute of silent contemplation.
“That’s what you want to know?! Does that matter so much?”
“I already know that he’s cute and funny and smart! I even know what kind of food and books and music he likes,” she said defensively. “We had a lot of time to talk while we were staking out Braden’s crazy call girl ex-girlfriend for you.” Okay, she had a point there. He had nothing to be ashamed of anyway in that department.
“He’s a healthy boy,” I replied. “Not quite as healthy as Braden, but Mother Nature was generous to the men of their line. Stamina and the ability to recover quickly also seem to run in their family. Both he and Braden are like Energizer Bunnies.”
“Did you do it more than once?” she asked, sounding surprised.
“Five times,” I answered, blushing a little with the memory of our one wild night together. In some ways I had actually lucked out as far as first-time experiences went. Even at nineteen Cam was good in bed. Must have been something in the genes.
“Five times! Mary, Joseph and a f**king donkey! This was the first time you had sex? Did they carry you out of there on a stretcher?”
“I was a bit sore the next day. I was too busy having an emotional breakdown to really notice much, though.”
“You’ve had very interesting experiences,” she said, shaking her head again. “Come on Mrs. Pierce. We had better get going before your very healthy husband comes looking for you.”
“That sounds so weird! I’ll have to get used to that.”
“Is Braden acting any differently now that you’re engaged?”
“Well, first of all, we’re not officially engaged. He wants to propose to me in a more romantic way.”
“I can’t imagine why,” she said dryly.
“Secondly, it’s been less than twenty-four hours, so it’s kind of early to tell.”
I called Bruno who came scurrying over with a yip, and when I had him leashed again, we headed out. It happened again as soon as we cleared the front door! I looked around in confusion.
“What’s the matter, honey?” she asked.
“I have that weird feeling again, like somebody is watching me.”
“Right now?” she asked, suddenly stopping and looking around frantically in every direction. She gave some folks some suspicious looks that probably made them think that we were stalking them. A little kid ran away from us. We weren’t really good at the whole spy game thing. We would probably have to work on subtlety a bit.
“I don’t see anybody, Gabrielle. It’s probably just nerves because of everything that’s happened. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right, but we should still mention and talk about it as a group this weekend,” I said as we headed back toward Rittenhouse Square.
CHAPTER THREE
I had my own key now and I let us in to Braden’s apartment. Bruno went off to check things out as usual and I heard male voices from inside acknowledge our presence. The gang was all there. I hung up Bruno’s leash and headed toward the TV area behind Jess, who greeted everyone and sat down next to Cam with a smile. She was much cooler around guys she was attracted to than I had ever been.
“Hi, Gabrielle! I understand that I dressed up like an ass for no reason last night!” Mark said in a falsely cheerful voice.
“You looked very cute,” I replied sincerely. It was the truth. Mark always looked cute, in a carefully disheveled way. He knew how to pull it off so that he looked like a sexy hipster rather than a messy derelict. That took skill.
“You’re lucky that you’re sleeping with one of my best friends,” he said, not looking terribly overwhelmed by the compliment.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, and he raised his eyebrows at me. “That I made you dress up like a naughty schoolboy and go to an underground sex party.” He cleared his throat.
“For no reason,” I finished.
“Yeah, whatever. You owe me. I think I see some really annoying trials in your future.”
“Are you mad at me too, Cam?” I turned toward him, with what I hoped was a contrite expression. He gave me his charming Cameron grin. Have I mentioned the charming Cameron grin? Well, if not, trust me, it was very charming. It had charmed the panties off of me once.
“Me? Nah. I’m not mad that I dressed up like a g*y biker for nothing. Now, when my multi-millionaire client caught me digging through garbage cans for you …”
“I already apologized for that!”
“I’ll get over it eventually. I’m getting to be pretty good at criminal defense anyway. Maybe I can do that when my father and the other partners at my firm find out.”
“I’m not mad at you at all.” Adam smiled brightly. “In fact, I think you’re f**king hilarious. If you weren’t dating Braden, I’d go out with you myself just for the entertainment.”
“Well, she is dating Braden, so find your entertainment elsewhere,” Braden said and moved over, patting the loveseat beside him. I went over and sat down and it was as if Bruno just magically knew somehow that Mommy and Daddy were sitting together. (Which meant double team petting.) He came flying around a corner, hurtled himself back into the room like a missile, stopped short, and slid ten yards on his ass to arrive at our feet and beg us to pick him up, which Braden promptly did. Bruno was a very enthusiastic animal and Braden was a doting doggie daddy.