Now Ben shook his head. “Girls are weird. Straight girls are really weird.” He rubbed at the goatee he’d just started to grow, scratched at it as if not yet used to it. “How about a romper?”
“I don’t have one. But I have a skort!”
“You can’t wear a skort! Are you stuck in the nineties?”
“They’ve come back in fashion. Hold on. You’ll see.”
In two minutes I was back with a black skort with scalloped edges. I slid on my strappy slip-ons and presented myself. “Well?”
“That’s a skort? I was picturing one of those tennis things. Or something denim. But this is good. You can wear that.” He scanned the length of me. “Except I don’t really think you’re committed to the no-sex thing.”
“Fuck you. I totally am.” I stood in front of the full-length mirror in the foyer and applied my lip gloss. “Why do you say that anyway?”
“You shaved your legs.”
“I shave my legs every day. It doesn’t mean a thing.”
He came up behind me so I could see him in the reflection. “Yeah, but did you shave elsewhere?”
I scowled as I threw the gloss in my purse. “I missed my wax appointment. It was time.” My protests were weak. I spun toward him. “It proves nothing.”
He leaned against my doorframe, an apple in hand. “If you say so.” He took a large, loud bite from the fruit.
I smacked his arm. “Go home and eat your own food. And don’t you need to leave for the cruise soon?”
He glanced at his watch. “Oh, shit. I guess I do.” He leaned in to kiss my cheek. “You look beautiful, sis. You are beautiful. If he doesn’t see that, he doesn’t deserve you.”
“Thank you, Ben.”
He opened the door, but before he left, he added, “Just remember that keeping your legs shut doesn’t mean keeping your heart shut too.” He winked at me. “I mean, I still love you when you’re a frigid bitch, but I’m not gonna lie—sometimes it’s hard.”
“Thanks, asshole. Now get out of my apartment.” I laughed to myself for a minute after he’d gone, because for an asshole, he was scarily on point. I did tend to get frigid and bitchy when I felt threatened. So I promised myself I would not shut down.
I grabbed my cell and checked the time. It was six-twenty-nine. I threw it in my purse and turned back to the mirror to give myself a pep talk. “We will not have sex. We will not have sex. We will not have sex.”
Jesus, I was so horny already, and I hadn’t even seen him yet. I’d thought about taking care of myself before JC got there but wasn’t sure if that would make things better or worse. By the time I’d decided it would make it better, Ben was there, and now JC was ringing my buzzer.
“You look incredible,” he said when I opened the door.
I blushed as I gave him a onceover. He was dressed in khakis with a fitted shirt and a lightweight jacket. Lots of buttons, I thought. Which was a good thing, considering how damn good he looked. Had he always been that buff? “You do, too.” My thighs felt hot. Good thing I’d changed out of my pants.
I really should have pulled out my vibrator earlier.
“You brought flowers?” I’d been so taken by him I hadn’t noticed the small bouquet in his hands. Three red roses dressed with some smaller white bell-shaped flowers I couldn’t identify were wrapped in a red ribbon. I hadn’t expected it. “I didn’t know you were the kind of guy who brought girls roses.”
He shrugged with one shoulder. “I’m trying to impress you. I have a feeling this date is a test of some kind, and I want to make sure I pass.”
“Not a test,” I said dismissively. Though, wasn’t that what this was? A test to see if we got along as well outside the bedroom as we did inside? “But thank you. You do impress.”
I shifted my weight to one hip and flitted my glance between JC, still standing on the other side of the threshold, and the flowers in my hand. “I should put these in water.” But I wasn’t sure I was ready to invite him in. Because in meant we’d be closer to my bed. And my couch. And my kitchen counter. All of which were locations that could be tempting.
Really, I just shouldn’t be anywhere alone with him.
Either JC felt the same way I did or he could read my mind. “You can do that later. The plastic containers on the stems should last until we get back. And we should get going.”
“Perfect.” I set them on the console table behind me, relieved and nervous all at once. I took a deep breath, grabbed my purse, and turned back to him. “Let’s go!”