Uninhibited (Unlikely Lovers) (5 page)

* * * *

Saturday morning, Alan rolled out of bed at six, having only fallen asleep somewhere between four and five. After guzzling a bottle of water, he hit the streets for his run. What few dreams he’d had were about the woman he’d met the night before. Sensuous, erotic dreams, which triggered the inevitable effect. Alan might be abstaining from sex, but his body certainly wasn’t.

Still, he hadn’t experienced wet dreams in several months. She’d started them again.

She.
Who
was
she? What was her name? The not knowing was almost as bad as not having her. Almost, but not quite.

I am such an idiot.
He should never have spoken to her or touched her, let alone kissed her on the neck. He could still smell her hair, could almost taste her skin. Travis would probably laugh his ass off. He’d always known Alan would fall off the wagon eventually.

Then again, he hadn’t truly fallen
. He’d just slipped a little. Control could be regained.

Yeah, right.  

* * * *

By Monday, Emily’s mood hadn’t improved to any appreciable degree, but since calling in sick hadn’t been an option, she was sitting at her desk when Dillon knocked on the wall of her cubicle.

“Hey, Em, are you busy Friday night?” Tall and skinny with very short blond hair, Dillon looked like a light bulb with an Adam’s apple.

“I’m sure I’ll be
doing something,” she replied. “Breathing, of course, and perhaps eating or drinking. Who knows?” The possibilities were endless....

“
A bunch of us guys are taking Stephen out for his birthday, and we get drinks cheaper if we have a woman with us.”

“And you would be
going where, exactly?”

“
The Mouse’s Tail,” he replied. “You know, the strip club down by the airport?”

“No, I didn’t know
, but I suppose I do now. Oh, and let me guess. I’m your last resort.”

I
f he’d had any idea what she could do to a man’s penis, he’d never have asked her, even if she was the last woman on earth. She tried to imagine a whole strip joint full of impotent men. They might as well have gone bowling.

Fortunately,
Dillon wasn’t privy to her peculiar thoughts. “Not really. Everyone else I’ve asked so far has had other plans, and now I’m asking you.”

She shrugged. “No plans.”
Like every other weekend in recent memory.

“Then you’ll do it?” He seemed quite pleased. “
We get half off on drinks if you’re there, so it makes a big difference.”

“Yeah, you’ll be twice as drunk, won’t you?”

“Sure. It’s a party, so we
should
get drunk.”

Emily
felt like she was half-soused all the time, so, obviously, she wouldn’t need any drinks at all. “I don’t have to get drunk, do I?”

“Not unless you want to, and we’re taking a limo, so nobody has to drive.”

Which meant that unless she drove herself or took a cab, she would be stuck there until God knew when. It sounded like a very dismal evening. Perhaps she could nap in the limo from time to time. “I just have to
be
there, right? Don’t have to get up and dance or anything?”

He took
about a half-second too long to reply. “One of us will dance with you, and you don’t have to strip.”

“Don’t lie to me
, Dillon.”

“No, really,” he insisted. “You don’t have to take
off anything. It’d give us a bigger discount on drinks if you did, but you don’t have to.”

W
ith cheaper drinks as an incentive for a bunch of drunks, Emily was sure one of them would be more than happy to yank off her shirt. “What’s in it for me?”

Apparently
he hadn’t considered this aspect. He chewed on his lip for a few moments. “We’ll pay your expenses.”

Which
wouldn’t be much if she stayed sober. “I will
not
be taking off any clothes. Don’t even ask, because the minute one of you does, I’m outta there, even if I have to walk home.”

Dillon nodded vigorously, intensifying the light bulb effect.
“I’ll make sure everyone understands that, but we
will
be drinking.”

“How could I forget?”

She was probably making a huge mistake. However there was always the chance it might help improve her state of mind. Novel experiences were good for a person—at least, she thought they might be.

“Okay, I’ll do it.”

Dillon was profuse with his thanks. “We’ll have a blast. You’ll see.”

Emily was a little
afraid of what she
would
see. She’d never been to a strip club before—had never felt the slightest desire to do so—and suspected she would regret this decision until the end of her days.

Still, the airport was nowhere near t
he ice cream parlor.

Or Alan.

Chap
ter 4

That evening Emily received another call from Janice. “You’ll never believe this,” she began in ominous tones. “Mom and Dad are going to Jamaica for Christmas.”

“Nice of them to tell us so soon,”
Emily grumbled. “Any thoughts on what the rest of us should do?”

“
We can have Christmas at my house, although I can’t promise much in the way of peace on earth and goodwill toward men—at least not toward Ned. He’s been a real shithead. Honestly, you’d think I was the one who’s been cheating.”

Janice had always been something of a free spirit, and
Emily had never understood how she’d managed to wind up with such a controlling, opinionated asshole—and now he’d been unfaithful. “Maybe he’s pissed because he got caught cheating and can’t get away with it anymore.”

“P
ossibly.” Janice heaved a sigh. “So should we have Christmas here, then?”

“
Sure,” Emily replied. “But it won’t be the same without Mom and Dad. I can see Mom now, running around like a chicken with its head cut off while Dad tells everyone how much better Christmas was when he was a kid. Maybe he’s right about that. I miss having Christmas with Papaw. He really knew how to enjoy himself.”

“Yeah
.” Janice sighed. “Didn’t matter what you gave him, he was always tickled to death with it.”

“Must be because he wasn’t actually related to any of us,”
Emily mused. Papaw had married her grandmother when she and Janice were little. Their brother Todd, being much younger, barely remembered him.

“Now, that’s not fair
,” Janice protested. “We have fun…sometimes.”

“True, but none of us
have his child-like attitude—at least
I
don’t. I must’ve been born old.”

“You just need to get
out more.”

Janice
obviously meant to sound encouraging. However, given that the last two times Emily had been out, she’d met a clinging vine of a man who liked sex and ice cream and she’d cried over a homeless painter, she didn’t think she’d benefitted very much. Going to Stephen’s party probably wouldn’t help, either.

“I get out,” she protested. “
I’m just not a kid anymore—and neither are you.”

“Yes, but look at Mom and Dad
going to Jamaica for Christmas. Talk about
living
.”

“
Go with them,” Emily suggested. “I’m sure they’d love to have you.”

Actually, Emily suspected their parents
might’ve planned the trip to escape from Janice and her moody, bickering family. Unfortunately, without Mom and Dad there to even things out, she and Todd would probably spend the evening off in a corner somewhere, which actually sounded pretty good.

“I can’t do that, and you know it
. Ned would go out with his little slut girlfriend, and Mandy and Jeremy would be left alone.”

“
He wouldn’t leave them alone on Christmas. Ned might be a lot of things, but he
does
care about his kids.”

“Yeah,
you’re right,” Janice admitted. “Just wish I could talk with him about something besides them. We used to talk about lots of interesting things. Now it’s just depressing shit like retirement plans and whether or not we’ll die in the poorhouse after putting the kids through college.”

“Planning for the future is a good thing
. At least he’s thinking about it.”

“Yes, but not
all
the time. I mean, you can only plan so much. You’ve got to live a little bit in the now.”

Perhaps
having a girlfriend was Ned’s way of living in the now. Janice was active in school and community activities. Her husband’s infidelity might only be a symptom of his need for companionship.

Emily certainly hadn’t
been living in the now or she’d have stuck around with Alan. He was so lonely he picked up strange women in parking lots. Shifting in her chair, she recalled the way his warmth had surrounded her. He hadn’t been all
that
crazy. Perhaps she should give him a call or send him an email.

What would it be like to have a man who wanted sex six or seven times a day? How long could he go before he’d had enough? Would
she ever know? Then again, he might not make it through one time with her.

Now,
there’s a lowering thought.
Still, he’d had that boner... What was she thinking to have left him like that?

“
Look, Janice, I’ve got to go now.”

“
Okay. So you’ll be here for Christmas?”

“Sure thing.
Try to keep Ned happy until then—you know, let him screw you a few times. Maybe he’ll forget about the slut.”

“Are you kidding?
Reward him for cheating on me? No way!”

“
I guess you’re screwed either way, then, huh?”

“You’re a big help,” she
muttered.

“
A little sex now and then wouldn’t kill you, Sis. You used to like it—or at least you said you did.”

“Yeah—when
I was young and single. I don’t think about it anymore. I have too much to do.”

“Famous last words,”
Emily quipped. “Look, if you want to stay married to him, you need to show him some affection. I know he can be an asshole, but you knew that when you married him. If it didn’t stop you then, you must really love him.”

“
Maybe. I don’t know.”

Emily laughed. “Don’t sound so
committed. You’ve got nothing to lose by trying to kiss and make up.”

“Pride maybe
?”

“
Look, either you want him, or you don’t. Just do me one little favor?”

She let out a groan. “What?”

“Don’t cheat on him with someone else. If you want to divorce him, do it, but don’t cheat. Let it be his fault, not yours.”

“Divorce?” she exclaimed.
“Who said anything about a divorce? I don’t want to put the kids through that!”

Emily stifled the urge to gloat.
“You really don’t want to get rid of him, do you?”

“
Sometimes I do,” she admitted. “When he’s being an ass.”

“Which is what? Most of the time, some of the time, or rarely?”

“Lately, it’s been most of the time. I don’t talk with him at all unless I have to.”

“Maybe that’s the problem. Talk to him
. Hell,
strip
for him. You never know, he might actually like it.”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” she said with a snort. “No fuckin’ way.”

At thirty-six, Janice was still a hot little number, tending toward their mother’s petite brunette type while Emily favored their sandy-haired, green-eyed father. If Janice went to The Mouse’s Tail with the guys, she’d be the star of the show. Emily couldn’t imagine what it would be like to take off her clothes for a roomful of drooling men, straddling their laps and teasing them into a frenzy. Would it be harder to strip for strangers or people you knew? Emily had no idea, but it wouldn’t surprise her if Janice did. Emily would never have the nerve to find out.

After saying their goodbyes,
Emily flipped open her laptop and went in search of Alan’s email address.

She
couldn’t find it. Knowing it had to be in her purse, she dumped out the contents, searching through the pile of receipts from her Christmas shopping. The closest thing she found to a napkin was a slightly used Kleenex, and there certainly wasn’t a phone number on it.

God was out to get
her for something she’d done—perhaps for deserting Alan in his hour of need. She scowled at her computer. Actually, it had been
her
hour of need more than his. He’d been coping reasonably well. She’d been the one having a meltdown.