I accept the latte she hands me, wrapping both hands around the warm cup. The vanilla smell hits me and I take a sip. “So, Miami was incredible.”
“Yes, yes, I figured that much by the cryptic texting.” She waves her hand impatiently, leaning forward. “But come on now, don’t hold back! Details. All of them. What happened?”
I take another sip of coffee, my face already heating up. “Jack and I slept together.”
Maren squeals so loud I’m pretty sure my upstairs neighbor heard, her hand flying to her mouth. “Iknewit! After that hallway kiss, I knew there was no way you two weren’t going to end up together. The tension was going to combust!”
“You were right,” I admit, laughing. “We couldn’t even wait for the heart-shaped bed. I mean, we did eventually use the heart-shaped bed, but first we had sex in a storage closet at this club.”
“Wait, WHAT?” Maren’s eyes go huge. “Back up. Storage closet? Lark, whoareyou?”
“I know!” I’m laughing now, half embarrassed and half still kind of amazed I did it. “I don’t know what came over me. We were atLa Casa de la Música, this club in Little Havana, which was incredible by the way, but more on that later, and so we were dancing. But not just like casual dancing. It was intense.”
Maren is grinning, completely invested. “Like how intense are we talking?”
“LikeDirty Dancingintense,” I tell her, feeling my face get even hotter. “You know that scene where Baby first dances with Johnny and it’s all this tension and heat and you can just feel it building between them? Or later when they’re practicing and you know they’re about to kiss?”
“Yes! Sexy lift scene energy!” Maren looks delighted.
“Exactly that energy,” I confirm. “So we were dancing and it was so hot, Mare. And he can dance.”
She lights up, eyes going wide with excitement. “Really? Ilovewhen a guy can actually dance!” She’s practically bouncing now. “When Calvin and I danced at the wedding I think I literally swooned.”
“Yes, exactly! So rare for a man to be a good dancer,” I say, grinning. “And I would have never danced but he couldmove.”
“My god!” She says, taking a sip of her coffee. “So come on, how did it happen? Give me the play-by-play.”
“It just was building up all day, hell for weeks really. And then the club was so incredible, so much ambiance. And the dancing turned from like fun and free to slow and sultry. And then suddenly we’re kissing and I can’t think straight and the next thing I know we’re in this storage room with mops and cleaning supplies and no lock on the door.”
“And people were right outside?” Maren asks, her voice rising with excitement.
“Literally right outside,” I say. “Dancing and drinking and having no idea what we were doing in there. And I’ve never done anything like that in my entire life. Never even thought about it. But with Jack it was like if I didn’t have him right that second I was going to lose my mind.”
“This is the best story I’ve ever heard,” Maren says, practically bouncing now. “Okay so storage room sex, which is already wild. Then what happened?”
“Then we went back to the hotel,” I continue, my grin widening. “And we basically didn’t leave the room until we had to pack for the airport. We ordered room service and stayed in bed and just… kept going.”
“How many times are we talking?” Maren asks, leaning in conspiratorially.
“Six orgasms in one night,” I tell her, and watch her jaw drop.
“Six? In one night?”
“Yep. Six.” I confirm, making a little popping sound on the ‘p’ for emphasis. “I mean I know you’re used to crazy good sex now, but I’m pretty sure my vagina had cobwebs before last night. Like actual cobwebs.”
She laughs, blushing and nearly choking on her coffee.
“And you know my entire sexual history before this was just depressingly bad,” I continue. “Brandon of course was criminally selfish in bed. Like should-be-investigated-by-authorities levels of selfish.”
Maren snorts into her coffee. “He really was the worst in every possible way.”
“Agreed. And even the guys before him.” I shake my head. “They couldn’t have found my clit if I’d given them a map, a flashlight, and written instructions. Remember those few dates I went on after the divorce? Those men didn’t even know what foreplay was. One guy literally went from ‘hey, we should do this again sometime’ to trying to get my pants off with zero buildup.”
“I remember that.” Maren looks appropriately horrified. “Bob something.”
“Bob something,” I agree. “Total loser behavior. So I decided I was done with terrible sex. If a man didn’t know what he was doing, he wasn’t getting anywhere near me. I’m not going to train someone. But with Jack it was just… effortless. Revolutionary.”
“That’s how it should be,” Maren says, smiling.
