NeedMe (9 page)

“Since I’m the greatest boyfriend ever and you can’t keep
your hands off me, why don’t you grab us some lunch and we’ll go down to the
park behind the store and make out?”

“You really expect me to step foot near that place again?
What if the fire-breathing hag is lurking around?”

Tony chuckled. “Diana’s on vacation. Besides, are you really
going to let her cow you?”

“I’m not cowed. I’m just—”

Cowed. She narrowed her eyes. Like hell.

“I’ll be there in half an hour. Save your appetite for me.”
His laughter floated over the line just before she clicked off.

An hour later, their quickie picnic lunch in the park behind
the store had been consumed. “Sure you have to go back to work?” Marcia linked
her arm around Tony’s waist and matched her steps to his as they strolled up
the wide sidewalk in front of the Nook. “I could keep you busy quite nicely
this afternoon,” she added, dropping her hand to the bulge behind his zipper.

She’d already teased that bulge in the park. A whisk of her
fingertips here, a brush of her arm there. Could she help it he made her horny?
One slow, seductive smile from her guy and she wanted to mount up and play ride
’em cowboy, sans saddle.

Or condom, like last night.

Though, truth was, she was too old to take chances without
thinking things through. Especially chances like that.

Having children hadn’t ever been part of her life plan. If
she wanted to change her mind, she needed to get on the stick. Literally in
this case. Time didn’t grow on trees and her ovaries wouldn’t produce forever.

Without a doubt, Tony would be a good dad. In the olden
days, didn’t women pick men based on their protective instincts? Maybe current
days too. She’d been picking them by the size of their instruments and their
prowess in bed for so long she wasn’t sure what typical women did anymore.

“No doubt about that, darlin’.” Tony squeezed her hand and
gazed into her eyes. “But there’s always tonight.”

Tonight seemed like a lifetime away. Her thoughts weighed so
heavy that a night of play like last night almost seemed beyond reach. How
could she have a good time when one concern after another kept whacking at her
psyche?

She’d never been an introspective sort before. Why now?

Because you’re jobless and without any secure footing
whatsoever. You have no savings. Your lease runs out in a couple months and you
won’t be able to afford an increase, unless you ask for help.

She couldn’t ask for help. She wouldn’t. She’d just stop
doing stupid things and work hard and everything would fall into place. No more
impulsively quitting jobs, no matter who her boss was. No more condomless sex,
no matter how good it felt.

No more threesomes after tonight, because she couldn’t risk
losing Tony and the stability he brought to her world—and the love.

“So we’re definitely on for tonight?” she asked in her most
cheerful, carefree voice.

“We’re on.” He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “How do
you feel about that?”

She jerked a shoulder. She’d have fun when she got there.
Hopefully. “I’m good with it. It’s not like we’ll be going when it’s just you
and me.”

He stepped closer and tipped up her chin. “You still want
that? Just you and me?”

“Of course. We’re just having a good time. Right?” A good
time that was already entering two-night territory, which made it dangerous for
all sorts of reasons. But she hadn’t instigated it tonight. That had been all
Cale’s doing. And Tony’s.

“Right.” He threaded his fingers through her hair. All of a
sudden, his eyes seemed too serious. Her heart thudded in her chest. “Marsh, I
l—”

“Marcia!”

Marcia turned at the girlish squeal. The person who’d
exclaimed her name was not who she’d expected. Or it was, in that she’d
recognized the voice but she didn’t match the woman Marcia remembered.

“Leigh?”

“Yes, it’s me.” Leigh enfolded Marcia in a hug she wasn’t
prepared for. As small as Leigh was, she had a heck of a grip on her. Not to
mention Leigh had never been a hugger. Or one to shout out hellos.

Marcia pulled back as Leigh smoothed down the bent cover of
the book she’d been clutching. A book that had “orgasm” in the title.

Marcia’s eyes widened. Whoa. Had Leigh been snatched by the
Borg and replaced by a lookalike? Was that why she wore sultry eye makeup and a
coat of plum lipstick that managed to make her look vampy even in her café
apron and sedate skirt and top?

Leigh didn’t look vampy. Ever. Her makeup matched her
attitude. Cool, aloof. Nice enough but forgettable.

This
girl had arresting green eyes. The rest of her
verged toward the knock-you-out, slay-you-dead side too.

Marcia frowned. Damn, should she really be noticing how sexy
Leigh had become? Had last night’s threesome somehow made her horniness grow to
encompass everyone, including petite female bakery managers?

Nope, it was the sex book.
Had
to be the book. She
was just more aware, that’s all.

“Well, uh, hi. How’ve you been?” Marcia shot a helpless look
at Tony, who appeared amused at the way Leigh stared up at Marcia as if she’d
hung the moon and draped it in tinsel. “You look nice.”

“Thank you. I had a makeover this morning at Bailey’s
department store. They kind of went overboard.” Leigh fussed at her low-hanging
ponytail, trying to bring more of her hair over her face.

“Don’t do that.” Marcia stilled Leigh’s hands. “You want to
show off, not hide.” Without thinking, Marcia pulled off the band around
Leigh’s hair and fluffed the waves around her shoulders, taking a moment to
envy her reddish-gold waves. “You’re a beautiful girl.”

“I, um—”

“Don’t hide,” Marsh said again, tilting her head to the side
to survey her work. “Much better.” Smiling, she stepped back. “So what’s new?
How’re things at the den of dirty Diana?”

With a laugh, Tony hooked his hand around Marcia’s waist and
pressed a kiss to her neck. “Gotta get back to work, babe. Have fun.” He patted
her ass. “Can’t wait ’til tonight.”

She smiled. “Me neither. Have a good afternoon.”

“He’s really in love with you,” Leigh murmured once Tony had
gone into the Nook.

Marcia’s gaze snapped to Leigh. “Why does everyone keep
saying that?”

“He eats you with his eyes.” Leigh’s shiver didn’t speak of
envy as much as distaste.

Uh oh.
Marcia curled her fingers into her hand.
Coupled with Leigh’s look of adoration in her direction, that wasn’t good.

It had been months since Marcia had seen her former
coworker. Last fall, actually. A lot could change in a season.

Maybe Leigh had switched teams.

Marcia tossed the door of the Nook a desperate glance. How
did she get herself into these situations when she was just minding her own
business? She had to get home to write her book.

The book she sucked at. She couldn’t write. Who was she
kidding? She excelled at sex but writing about it was a whole different bowl of
latex.

Shut up, doubt demons! Shut up!

“So, ah, Leigh, how are you?”

“I’m good.” Leigh smiled. “I almost called you actually.”

Why? You’re pretty and all, but I don’t need that
experience for my book. Already did the girl sex thing, thank you.

Now if Leigh happened to wield a paddle, Marcia might have a
use for her. After her discussion with Cale the night before, she’d decided she
could use a little fetish research. But that didn’t appear to be the case here.

“You did?” Marcia asked reluctantly.

Leigh tucked her hair behind her ear. Vamp makeup aside, she
didn’t seem ready to embrace her inner vixen. “Yeah. How’s your brother?”

“Spencer?”

“Who else?”

Hmm. Leigh’s crush on Spencer had been well known around the
Nook. Had she misinterpreted Leigh’s fascination for her or had Spencer’s lack
of interest put her off men altogether? Shit, if any man could turn a woman off
sex with men, Spencer probably could. It took a strong female to put up with
his crap.

That and a prescription of Valium.

“I do have another brother, you know,” Marcia said drily.

“I know.” Leigh squished up her nose. “I met Adam. He’s
annoying.”

Two for two with the Galvin men. Maybe together they’d dealt
the death blow to Leigh’s heterosexuality?

“He’s a man. Men, by and large, are annoying. They also have
their uses.”

“When the batteries run out?”

Marcia stared. Leigh had developed a sense of humor too?
“What happened to you?”

Leigh flipped her book around just long enough for Marcia to
see the full title.
What A Woman Knows About Orgasms That Men Don’t
.
“What do you mean?” she asked.

Huh. Maybe she hadn’t been so misguided in her assessment of
Leigh after all. Not that she cared either way but it would certainly explain
Leigh’s sudden affection toward
her
. It wasn’t as if women were ever
driven to actually become her friend. “You’re, ah, different,” Marcia hedged.

“Oh. That. Yes, I am. Very.” Leigh clutched her orgasm book
against her chest and tipped her chin toward a nearby bench. “Can we sit down
for a minute?”

“Sure.” Writing the great American sex advice book could
wait a few minutes probably.

“So how’s Spencer?”

Marcia frowned. If Leigh had become a lesbian, she obviously
hadn’t abandoned the heterosexual life completely. Her tongue practically
lolled every time she brought up Marcia’s younger brother. “He’s fine. He and
Kelly, his
girlfriend
,” she enunciated carefully, not wanting Leigh to
harbor any illusions, “are still very happy together. They’re going to open
their new bookstore in a few months.”

“That’s great. He hasn’t talked to you about anything, has
he? About me?”

So maybe she
wasn’t
a lesbian. Hard to say for sure.
“No, he hasn’t,” Marcia said gently.

When Leigh’s face brightened, Marcia decided she had no clue
about Leigh’s preferences, sexual or otherwise.

Was it any wonder she avoided chicks? They weren’t easy like
men. Giving them sex and home-cooked food rarely gained good favor and they
never said what they meant. Every comment included subtext that required a
special decoder ring and 3-D glasses to interpret.

“Awesome. So anyway, here’s the thing.” Leigh glanced over
her shoulder, blushing so deeply that her cheeks and hair became the same
shade. “You have an active sex life, right?”

Marcia blinked. God, had rumors about last night’s threesome
already made it around the Nook? Cale had a big mouth. Maybe he’d been
bragging.

She grinned. That really didn’t bother her. At all.

“Yes. I do. Extremely active.”

“Man, rub it in.”

Marcia laughed. She liked this new Leigh. The old version
had been fine—rarely late, a good worker, never any trouble in a store of
miscreants—but this one had some spunk. “Sorry. But yeah, it’s active enough.
Why?”

“How do I get one?”

Marcia narrowed her eyes. “Did you talk to Tony?”

“Tony? No. Why would I?”

“He’s your boss, for one thing.”

“Not anymore. I report directly to Diana.”

“Listen, kid. Rules of discussing sex or anything else with
me? Don’t mention her. Seriously. I just ate salami at lunch and now I’m
queasy.”

“Sorry. I won’t bring her up again.”

“Thank you.” She slanted a look at Leigh’s orgasm book.
Maybe she should check it out. Market research and all. “So what’s with all the
sex questions?”
Is my boyfriend trying to make me feel better by putting you
up to asking me for advice?

Because Tony would do that. He was just that sweet. Though
she couldn’t see him approaching an employee and broaching the subject of sex
advice. That was a tad unprofessional. And odd. But today, when the scuff on
the bottom of her shoes ranked a little higher than she felt, she wouldn’t mind
his interference.

She just needed a good writing hour under her belt.
Something to encourage her to keep going, some kind of sign she hadn’t made the
wrong move to become a provider of naughty assistance.

Not that she’d had a ton of other moves to make currently
but still.

“I’ve just heard stuff, over the years. Nothing bad,” Leigh
added. “All really good. That you’re, like, amazing. In bed.”

“Amazing?” Marcia didn’t bother to rein in the urge to preen.
She needed to preen. Badly. “Well, I wouldn’t say amazing. Capable, maybe.
Skilled, perhaps.”

“Hot guys want you. That’s so obvious. Tony, Cale…Tony,” she
corrected, as if she’d said too much.

“Yeah, but Tony and I are in love.”

“You’re in love?”

Only when Leigh repeated the question did Marcia realize
what she’d said. Holy mother of all that’s holy. She’d said that. She’d told
Leigh she loved Tony when she hadn’t even told him.

Hell, when she hadn’t even told
herself
.

But she
was
in love with him. No arguments, no
excuses. She loved the man, and she needed to tell him. Later. After she slept
with his best friend once more.

Marcia winced. Ouch. Not exactly proof of love under normal
circumstances but Tony got that she was different. And from what she could
tell, Tony had enjoyed last night as well. Enough to seem fine with another
night.

Heck, she might as well get drunk on the threesome punch
before someone took the bowl away.

“Yes, I think we are,” Marcia said softly.

“Is it a new development?” Leigh asked, sounding
surprisingly gentle considering she’d been the one seeking advice. Sooner or
later, the student always became the teacher.

“Very new.” Marcia smiled and tucked her purse against her
hip. “So you’re looking to become more sexually active?”

“Yes. But I want to sort of ease in. I just don’t know where
to meet people.”