your nails would be a great way to spend the rest of your night.”
She burst out laughing.
“Laughing is helping, though,” I said dryly.
“I’m sorry. Why are men so touchy about the quick release thing?”
“Uh…”
“I mean, if it happened every time, I’d be concerned. And yeah, probably turned off. But if it happens a few times, especially early in a relationship when you’re nervous and excited and new to each other, or just sometimes, when it’s too hot to handle… I don’t know. If you’re so worked up that you come that fast, I’m gonna take it as a compliment until you tell me otherwise.”
“It’s a compliment,” I told her.
“See?”
“But maybe if you give me a minute I won’t humiliate myself.”
She rolled her eyes, but smiled. “I mean, fine. If there’s something you’d rather be doing right now than getting a blowjob…”
I groaned. “Let’s just talk for a minute.”
“Because that’ll kill your hard-on?” She laughed again.
“No. Unfortunately for me, everything you do makes me hard.”
“Everything?”
“So far.”
“Just talking?”
“Yup.”
“Eating my chip sandwiches? Cracking my gum?”
“Definitely.”
“Singing April Wine?”
“I almost came in my pants.”
She grinned. “Now you’re making fun of me.”
“Just trying to distract us both.”
Her smile faded. She was still playing with my hair, and I really could’ve laid here like this with her all night.
“Well, while we’re just talking…” she said. “I have another confession.”
“Okay.” I held my breath without even meaning to, tensing up again. I didn’t trust myself or my reactions to anything.
I didn’t want anything to ruin this.
“I once made out with Matt Brohmer.”
I waited, but that was all she said, so I exhaled. “That’s all?”
She laughed nervously. “That’s all? You’re not bothered by it?”
“Uh… I mean, obviously he’s a fucking dick and you’re not allowed to do it again.”
She laughed again. “Okay, that’s a little better. Should I not have told you, though?”
I dug deep for the courage to tell her, “You can tell me anything you want to.”
“I just didn’t want to cause any drama or leave you in the dark. I thought I should tell you in case you’d feel weird about it because you’re now working with him. I mean, he’s a member of the band you’re producing. I didn’t want it to be a source of conflict.”
“It won’t be,” I assured her. Because even if I decided I hated the guy because of it, I wasn’t gonna put that on her. “As long as it’s not an ongoing thing.”
“No. It was one of those crazy things. It shouldn’t have even happened. Wouldn’t have happened, probably. But… there was a lot of spiced rum and mulled wine involved.”
“Sounds festive.”
“It happened at a Christmas party last year.”
“I see.”
“I was kinda drowning myself in rebound. I’d caught my boyfriend with another woman in my bed that day.”
“Oh. Fuck.”
“Yeah. So, I got really drunk at a party at Brody’s place and then some of us went back to Ash and Danica’s after. And Matt and I made out. We were both hammered. From what I remember, I made the first move, which is not like me. I mean, I’m a girl who knows what she wants and usually has no trouble going for it. But sexually… I like a man to make the first move. I don’t know what I was thinking. We just kissed and stuff. And then I kinda threw up and realized how drunk I was and went home. And then Danica basically asked me politely never to do that again.”
“Throw up in her house?”
“Make out with Matt.”
“Why?”
“Um, because there’s kind of a… history of sorts… between Matt and Ash. Which is zero-percent my business and it’s not yours either, so I really hope you can keep your mouth shut.”
“Yeah. I’m kind of a vault over here.”
She grinned. “I like that about you.”
“So… nothing else between you and Matt?”
“Nope. And for the record, I wasn’t overstepping. At least, I thought I wasn’t. Danica told me I could go for him. She actually handed me the mistletoe that I used to make my move. But that was when she was drunk. I guess when she sobered up later, she changed her mind. I dunno. She’s kinda protective of her husband and the whole bisexuality thing. As in, he is.” She looked at me like she was wondering if I knew that about Ashley.
“Right.”
“Anyway, it’s complicated. I think she got nervous about any kind of friction coming up down the road between me and Ash, over Matt, or whatever. You know, like if I kept mistletoeing him. I