Lick Is A Four-Letter Word (5 page)

“Things
were kind of hectic when everyone came in. Josh and
Troy
ran off.
Just like
every other man does.”
She tossed her napkin down on the table in
disgust. “Who would want to date a cripple, anyway?”

“Oh for God’s sake.
You’re not a
cripple. You can walk, you just have a limp. And they’re assholes for running
out like that. Men suck.” Sue looked ready to chew nails.

Felicity
felt a little bad. She wasn’t really that torn up over it. “They do, and not in
the good way. Eh, whatever. I don’t need a guy. I’m happy enough. I have you
and my work and stuff.” She smiled at her friend, sure she would smile back and
the whole conversation would be over. She thought wrong.

“Look,
Felicity, just because you lost Peter—”

“Oh,
no, I don’t want to talk about that!” Felicity pushed away from the table,
standing up.

Sue
grabbed her hand. “Please, just listen, okay?”

Felicity
looked into Sue’s pretty green eyes and sighed.
“Fine.”
She sat back down grumpily.

“As I
was saying, just because you lost Peter doesn’t mean you have to go through
your whole life thinking it was your only shot. I know we all like to believe
that there’s a one true love for each of us, but I think that’s bullshit. I
think there can be many loves: some little, some huge, and some in-between.
Don’t give up on the rest of it just because you think you lost your huge
love.”

Felicity
didn’t have the heart to tell her friend that Peter hadn’t been her huge love.
The One.
Just thinking about it made her heart ache, so she
prevaricated, “Says the girl who’s dated a zillion guys and concluded that most
of them are dumb.”

Sue
rolled her eyes, letting go of Felicity’s arm. “I’m just working the odds. If
you don’t play the lottery, you never win the jackpot.”

“So
you’re saying I need to buy a lottery ticket?” Felicity deflected again.

“Oh my
God, you drive me insane,” Sue said, pulling at her hair.

Felicity
laughed, but inside she knew Sue was right. Peter had been a good husband and
she missed him, but they’d never had that all-consuming passion she’d heard
about. She’d never had that with anyone, not until
Troy
and Josh had kissed her in that cold
little room. She’d probably never have it again, even if she did start dating,
which she most definitely didn’t want to do. It was just too much work to
bother.

****

“She tasted
like you,” Josh said.

Troy
looked up from his computer, frowning. “What?”

Josh
leaned against his desk, eyes tense. He shoved a hand through his hair, clearly
agitated.
“Felicity.
She tasted like you.”

Troy
sighed internally. Not again. “I thought we weren’t talking about this.”

Josh
dragged
Troy
’s
extra chair over and turned it around, straddling it. He
thunked
his head down on the back. “I know.”

Troy
saved his work. No way
he was
going to be able to
finish the storyboard today,
dammit
. “You’re making
me nuts, Josh.”

“I
know. I’m sorry,” his friend muttered into his sleeve.

Troy
pursed his lips, thinking. Josh worried about shit way too much. “So, what do
you want me to do? You want me to switch to grape lollipops?”

Josh’s
head jerked up. “What?”

Troy
shrugged casually. “You said she tasted like me. I usually eat cherry
lollipops. If I switch to grape…” he trailed off.

Josh
blinked. “Why are you fucking with me like this? I’m a good friend. I don’t
make fun of your stupid hair.” He gestured at
Troy
’s head.

“You
don’t want me to switch to grape, then?”
Troy
grinned, catching the eye of their assistant sitting across the room. The man
lifted an eyebrow at him.
Troy
shook his head. He didn’t need rescuing from his best friend. He wasn’t a girl.

Their
office was basically one big space with desks arranged in rough organization
throughout the open floor plan.
Troy
and Josh’s desks, bigger than the rest because of the extra computer equipment,
took up most of one corner near the windows. No one walking in would ever
believe that they were the co-owners of a very successful gaming company, but
the office was set up to foster collaboration, not to conform to everyone
else’s ideas of what an office should be. Most of the time
Troy
liked it like this, but for the past two
weeks Josh had been driving him insane. They had a deadline to meet. That’s why
they were here on a Sunday, but Josh was still obsessing over that stupid
kissing incident at the bikini-wax place.

Truth,
Troy
.
You’re still obsessing over it, too
, he
thought very quietly to himself. He didn’t like to admit it, but he was. The
worst part was that he wasn’t just fixating on the girl, Felicity, and her
gorgeous pink mouth. No, he was stuck on the view he’d had of Josh kissing her.
He hadn’t felt jealous at all, oh no, because that would be easy. Instead, he’d
found it crazy hot. He wanted to watch Josh kiss her again.
And
again.
He wanted to see Josh’s smooth fingers tease her little nipples
until they were as hard as they’d been in that cold room. Every time he closed
his eyes, he could see it. His own imagination was driving him crazy.
But at
least you’re going insane silently. Josh is blabbing about it every other day
,
he thought resentfully.
Maybe if he kept his mouth shut I could forget about
it.

“No. I
don’t want you to switch to grape,
Troy
,”
Josh said, a hint of frustration in his tone. “I want you to hit me over the
head so that I magically forget about the whole encounter.
Especially
the part where we were dumb enough to not ask for her cell phone number.”

“You
know, hitting you over the head is starting to feel more and more tempting.”
Troy
tapped his stylus on
the desk.
“Even if we had her number, what then?
Which
one of us would call her? In case you forgot, there are two of us and only one
of her.”

There,
he’d said it. The thing he hadn’t brought up all the other times Josh insisted
on talking about this. Which one of them got to ask her out?

Josh
licked his lips thoughtfully.
Troy
stared,
then
jerked his eyes away, face going hot.
Troy,
dude, you have got to stop looking at Josh’s mouth,
he told himself. He was
damn lucky his skin didn’t show it when he blushed because he’d managed to
embarrass himself gazing at Josh’s lips far too many times the past two weeks.
You’re
losing it over nothing. Watching Josh kiss her is just like watching porn, only
live, instead of on the computer.
He ignored the little voice in his head
that told him he found Josh as interesting to watch as Felicity.
Not true.
Not true at all.
Right?

“Why do
we have to choose? We could let her decide,” Josh replied, fidgeting.

Troy
pondered this. It had merits, except for the part where they didn’t have her
number. “We don’t even know her last name, so we can’t look her up, moron,” he
said irritably.

Josh
sighed and
thunked
his head
back down. “We’re so stupid.”

Troy
had nothing to add to this. They sat there, contemplating their idiocy for a
while,
then
Josh sat up again.
Troy
eyed him worriedly. He had that look,
the one that said
I have a crazy idea and I’m dragging you into it with me.

“Whatever
you’re thinking, no,”
Troy
said, trying to head off the insanity before it happened.

“Oh
come on, my ideas usually turn out pretty well.” Josh waved a hand at the
office. Most of the cubicles were empty since it was the weekend, but their
administrative assistant Darren was still watching them, a look of avid
curiosity on his face. “We have a great company, don’t we? And I had to pull
you into it kicking and screaming.”

Troy
winced. Josh was right, though it hadn’t been easy. “Remember the first year?
When we almost starved?”

“Oh
please, our moms fed us. And that was over five years ago.”

Troy
sighed, giving in. “Okay. What?”

“We
could
both
date her.”

Troy
stared at his friend. “You’re joking.”

Josh
pouted.

“Oh no,
don’t do that… that thing with the lips.”
Troy
dropped his stylus on the desk with a rattle. “That’s just wrong, man.”

“We
share everything else just fine. We hardly ever fight. It’s the perfect
solution.” Josh pouted harder.

Troy
felt himself go hot all over. He forced his eyes away. “For fuck’s sake, Josh…”

“No,
hear me out. Why couldn’t we do it? We could take her to dinner, take her to
movies, nothing would even be weird.” Josh’s face was glowing now, like it did
when he came up with one of his crazy schemes.

Troy
had to throw some cold water on this, pronto. “And who gets to kiss her
goodnight at the door?” He glared.

“Taking
turns worked out okay last time,” Josh offered, a little less confidently.

“You’re
insane.”

Josh
grinned.

Shit
,
Troy
thought.
He only smiles like that when he knows I’m going to cave.

“You’re
thinking about it. I can tell.” Josh stretched triumphantly.

“Shut
up,”
Troy
said.
Fuck. He
was
thinking about it.
Specifically, he was thinking about Josh kissing his way down Felicity’s neck,
his floppy hair shiny and soft and—
Shit.
“It doesn’t matter. We have no idea who she is.”

Josh
stopped mid stretch, arms over his head.
Troy
did
not
stare at his friends’ impeccable biceps. He really didn’t.
Because he wasn’t gay.
He was just admiring all the hard
work Josh put into his body. Tae Kwon Do really kept the man toned up.

“True.”
Josh dropped his arms. “Damn.” He looked like someone had kicked his dog.

Troy
breathed a sigh of relief. “So,
we done
here?”

Josh
frowned at him. “What?”

“We
don’t have to have this conversation again, right?”
Troy
hoped to God they didn’t. The stress was
giving him hives.

Josh
stood up and shoved the guest chair back over to the wall.
“Yeah.
I guess so.”

Aw hell
. Now his best
friend was sad. Sometimes trying to juggle Josh’s moods gave him a monster
headache. “Josh, hang on.”
Troy
stood up and slung an arm around his shoulders. “I’m sorry.” Josh smelled good
close up, like aftershave and the outdoors.
Troy
smiled at him as the familiar scent
reminded him that out of all the people in the world, Josh was his favorite.

Josh
shrugged. “It’s okay.”

Troy
squeezed him tighter. “How about this: I promise if we ever run into her again,
we can both date her.
Together.
Okay?”

Josh
eyed him skeptically.
“Promise?”

Troy
scowled. “Hey, I said the word aloud, didn’t I?”
Troy
never, ever made a promise he didn’t
keep. Saying the word aloud was his signal to Josh that he was serious. His
best friend shouldn’t
be doubting
him, not now, after
all their years of friendship.

Abruptly,
Josh smiled, full on happy. “Okay.”

Troy
grinned.
Good
, he thought, relieved.
Josh is happy. I’m happy. And
we’re never going to see Felicity again so I don’t have to worry about watching
Josh kiss her. All is good with the world.

“Okay,”
he said aloud, smiling back.