Inappropriate Thoughts (Victoria Wilde #1) (21 page)

"F.W.P.B.," she chimed in.

"Yes, that
is
the abbreviation we
came up with for it. And there were several rules that went along
with it."

"I remember all the rules." Fighting back a
grin, she stared out at the pool.

He frowned. "Rules are important in life,
but these rules, although they seemed really inspired and brilliant
last night, now just seem..."

She glanced at him. "Stupid? Ridiculous?
Almost embarrassing, perhaps."

"All of that. So where does that leave us,
exactly?"

"Humiliated, ashamed, and wanting to crawl
in a hole and die, with memories in our brains we’d love to
forget."

As Jillian listed the items, he nodded along
with each. "Why don’t we just forget everything about
yesterday?"

"Like it never happened."

"Problem solved." He picked up his tea. They
both swung their legs onto the lounge chairs and returned to
looking at the pool.

"We probably shouldn’t... ever play...
tennis again." Jillian stared at him with her eyes widened.

"Definitely not," he agreed.

"Although, we really are pretty well-matched
out there."

"We are McEnroe and Borg... If McEnroe were
a young, crazy, horny idiot and if Borg were a woman... a slightly
older, wiser, amazing..." She smiled as he continued the seemingly
endless list of compliments. "…unfairly sexy and gorgeous woman.
Because let’s face it, Borg was definitely the better looking of
the two tennis champions."

She nodded in agreement just as Rob walked
out onto the patio and looked at the two of them. "Beautiful day.
Perfect tennis weather. You guys should play."

After glancing at each other in shock,
Jillian and Brian turned their attention to Rob. Rob didn’t wait
for a reply; instead, he walked away as they stared at him,
speechless. As he headed into the house, Rob reached back and
inappropriately relieved what must have been a serious itch in a
part of his ass, which was a clear violation of F.W.P.B. Rule
Number One.

As Rob had said, he and Brian had to walk
through the gay beach to get to their topless destination and were
shocked by the groups of guys hanging out together in their tiny,
tight bathing suits. They saw a good percentage of those guys
fooling with their equipment—evidently striving to make and
maintain the best impression.

They saw about two dozen topless women at
the beach that day. No supermodel was there, as far as they could
tell. A few of the women were attractive, and Rob enjoyed himself a
whole lot more than Brian.

Brian spent the day wishing he were back
with Jillian, playing tennis or sitting by the pool or even having
that awkward conversation and tea with her. Although Brian felt
that he connected with her better than he had with any woman he had
ever met, he felt like it was probably for the best that they ended
things when they did. They both seemed to walk away with good
memories before either of them did anything to hurt the other… or
Rob. Even though they never had any real physical closeness, Brian
considered it his most successful relationship to date.

After enjoying the beach, Rob and Brian went
out to dinner and then home to shower. Running late, they saw
Jillian for only a moment and told her they were going to a party
being thrown by Laura’s younger sister at Laura’s parents’
house.

When Rob and Brian arrived at around 10:30,
Laura was already there and on her second drink. She hugged Rob
when he arrived, indicating that the trouble between them was
either forgotten or dulled by the alcohol in her system. Rob began
drinking, while Brian decided, again, to be the designated driver.
Laura introduced Brian to a friend of hers named Maggie. Finding
her attractive and interesting, Brian thought that she was the type
of girl he could see himself dating. They spoke about school, but
not about tennis, and she seemed to enjoy his company.

Just after midnight, Rob,
Laura, Brian, and Maggie were chatting and drinking in the family
room when Brian saw a girl who looked just like Natalie walk past
the doorway and then out of sight. He looked at Rob to see if he’d
noticed anything, but he didn’t. Brian blew it off until moments
later, when he saw her again. It
was
Natalie, and she was heading
their way. She didn’t appear to be looking at him at all.
Completely focused on Rob, she didn’t look happy.

She walked right up to him and said,
"Hello."

Rob looked at her and then froze for a
moment. "Natalie... I want you to meet Laura—my girlfriend,
Laura."

Laura eyed her suspiciously, and Natalie
shot her a look before returning to Rob. Rob stammered, "Natalie’s
here to... see Brian. Yeah, they’re, uh, dating."

Brian stared at Natalie, waiting. Turning to
him, she flinched as if, until that moment, she didn't truly
realize he was in the room. She quickly recovered and flashed him a
nearly-genuine smile. "Brian, I've been looking for you
everywhere."

Brian looked at Natalie, still shocked.
"What the hell are you doing in Miami?"

Natalie opened her mouth to speak, but Rob
interrupted, "She wanted to surprise you, so she called me. I told
her where we were and... Surprise!"

After pausing a moment, Natalie repeated
less-than-enthusiastically, "Surprise."

Laura appeared somewhat satisfied by the
story. Rob offered to get everyone a drink, and Maggie offered to
help. While Rob was away, Laura, Natalie, and Brian stood in
silence until Brian said to Natalie, "You just show up places,
don’t you?"

She gave him a confused look, and he
elaborated, "Like my tennis match..." She smiled a little, and he
joked, "You aren’t going to disappear on me like you did then, are
you?"

While giving him a semi-fake laugh, Natalie
scanned the room. "Where’s the bathroom?"

Laura pointed the way, and Natalie took off.
After ten minutes, when neither Rob nor Natalie had returned, Laura
and Brian headed off to look for them. First they searched the
downstairs without any luck, but when Laura and Brian walked into
the master bedroom, they found the two of them kissing. Turning in
shock to see Laura, Rob stepped away from Natalie. "It’s not what
it looks like."

Laura scoffed. "It looks like you were
kissing."

"I mean, she kissed me, but I didn’t...
Nothing happened. I mean, I ended things before—" Rob stopped when
he realized he'd said too much.

"So there was something to end?" Laura
demanded.

"Just a little something. It meant nothing.
I ended it before Spring Break. I got scared, but now I know that I
love only you. I didn’t know she was coming down here."

Walking quickly to Rob, Laura swung to slap
him and missed, losing her balance and falling to the floor in the
process. Rob just stood, frozen as Brian rushed to help her to her
feet.

Laura narrowed her eyes. "When the hell did
this start?"

After closing his eyes, Rob exhaled. "It,
uh, started back in February. I was lonely, and she came over,
looking for Brian." He motioned to Brian. "You were at the library,
and it just—"

Laura took a step toward her boyfriend,
swung, and missed again when he pulled back.

Brian gently grabbed Laura to steady her.
"Want some help?"

"Please."

Getting right in Rob's face, Brian glared at
him. Laura took a step back, and Natalie watched in awe.

Rob put on an uncomfortable smile. "Look, I
know you want to hit me, but you won’t, so let’s just talk—"

Brian punched Rob hard in the face, and he
collapsed to the floor, as Natalie looked on, mesmerized. Brian
stood over him and said, "You’re such a dick." Turning his
attention to Natalie, he sneered. "And you’re a monster. I’m such a
moron. You had me waiting for you. Waiting, while you were fucking
him." He shook his head at her, and Natalie returned a look like
she was absolutely turned on by what had just happened.

Grimacing, Rob held his face as he said to
Laura, "Sorry."

Laura couldn't even look at him as she
growled, "Screw you."

After shooting Rob a pitiful look, Natalie
turned to Brian with her lips parted. Their eyes met, and he waited
for her to say something, anything, but she didn’t utter a word.
She simply stared at him, impressed. After a moment, he sighed,
turned, and headed from the room. Laura shook her head at them both
and then followed after him.

As Brian drove Laura to her dorm, he looked
over to find her staring out the window in what appeared to be a
daze. Turning to smile at him, she nearly broke into a chuckle.
"You really nailed him good."

He gripped the steering wheel. "I’ve never
hit anyone before. It felt, uh, kind of amazing."

Her smile faded. "I can’t believe he’s been
screwing that bleach-headed skank for months now. He admitted
it."

"And I didn’t see it either. I’m such a
fucking moron."

"So, she can do this thing with her leg
where she puts it over her head. She’s soooo flexible," Laura said
in a mocking tone and then added, "You can’t base a relationship on
flexibility."

"You really shouldn’t," Brian agreed
self-consciously.

"I’m flexible, too," Laura said
defensively.

After giving her a supportive nod, Brian let
the silence drag until Laura fell asleep as they neared campus.
When he parked the car, Brian touched her arm to wake her. "We’re
here."

Laura fought her way to consciousness, and
he helped her to her dorm. Outside her door, he gazed wearily at
her. "Can I take a bus back to Rob’s from here, or..."

"Just come in for a few minutes. I’ll have a
couple Cokes and drive you back in, like, an hour or
something."

After pondering his options, Brian
reluctantly agreed. Once inside her room, Laura flopped on the bed.
She rolled over, and he could hear her crying. He stood nearby, the
awkwardness of the situation beginning to weigh on him.

After mumbling a nearly-silent expletive, he
gave her a sympathetic look. "It’s really going to be okay. I think
he’s serious about how much he loves you. You guys were together
for a long time. I know he’s an ass and made a mistake, but he was
telling me the other day how crazy he is about you. It almost
sounded like he was getting ready to ask you to marry him,
even."

"I would never marry him. He’s been lying to
me for months."

She looked up at him with sad eyes. "Will
you just lie next to me for a few minutes? I promise, I’ll drive
you back soon."

Moving her body over to the wall, she looked
at him, waiting. After a few awkward seconds, he exhaled, and then
climbed in bed next to her.

"Do you think he loves her?"

"No way. She has this power over men. I
think he already sees that."

"I’ve never been with anyone else, you know.
And now who knows how many girls he’s been out there having sex
with?"

He painted on a cheery, supportive smile.
"I’m sure it was just the one. I would know if he was—"

She glared at him. "You didn’t know about
this one." Brian conceded the point with his eyes. After taking a
deep, calming breath, her mood seemed to turn on a dime as she gave
him a gentle smile. "Sorry. I shouldn’t take this out you."

He waved her away like he understood.

She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks
for staying with me. I really didn’t want to be alone." Pulling her
hand from him, she closed her eyes and quickly passed out. Brian
watched her for a few minutes before falling asleep himself.

About thirty minutes later, Brian awoke in
the middle of a vivid dream. It was a dream of Jillian giving him
an amazing blowjob on the tennis court. When he reached
semi-consciousness, he looked over and didn’t see Laura next to him
on the pillow. Instead, he felt something lower, and when he looked
down, he saw Laura holding his penis.

"Hey!" He shook his head groggily.

She looked up at him. "You really have one
gorgeous cock." Pulling her eyes from his face, she moved her mouth
toward it. Quickly, he turned and fell off the bed, landed on his
ass, and jumped up to stand as he covered his junk.

She repeated the penis compliment, and Brian
said, "I know. I know." He struggled to open his pants and shove it
back in. "I keep hearing that. Sure, maybe it’s nice and all, but
it’s just a dick, for God’s sake. I—"

"What’s wrong?"

"You can't start doing that without…"

"What?" she said sexily. "I told you I’ve
never been with anyone else. How do I know what I’ve been missing
all these years?"

Sitting up in bed, she removed her shirt and
bra, as Brian tried to avoid looking at her. "Aren’t you attracted
to me?"

Brian sat on her roommate’s bed across the
room and uncomfortably glanced up at her. "Sure, I am." He did
certainly find her attractive, and she looked pretty hot sitting up
in bed with no shirt. "But I’m in a really weird place right now. I
have, uh—"

"I know how we could both get back at Rob,"
Laura said in an evil-yet-sexy tone. "I haven’t done everything
with him, but we could do... everything."

"What?" He looked at her, shockingly aware
of what she might be referring to.

She paused, gazing at him with a somewhat
steamy—but mostly drunk—look. "Rob’s always been wanting to do
that, and I’ve been holding back, you know, to save something for
when we got married, but now there won’t be any marriage with him,
so..."

Looking away nervously, he stammered, "I,
uh, feel a little... and I really shouldn’t. You’re great, and all.
I mean, your ass is top-shelf, and I’d love to, uh… But even though
he’s a douche, he’s still kind of my best friend, or was, or… I
don’t know..."