I sigh again and receive another pinprick, this time to the back of my arm. Denise drops her hands in frustration.
“Girl, what is up with you?” she groans, clearly irritated.
“My bad. It’s just…” I lift my arms, then drop them uselessly by my sides and pout like a six-year-old. “I’m so horny!” I wail.
Denise breaks out laughing, and once I realize how ridiculous I’m being, I begrudgingly join her.
“So,” she starts, still giggling, “you mean to tell me it’s excessive horniness that has you squirming and sighing like a kid waiting for recess?”
I giggle at her analogy because that’s almost exactly how I feel.
“Yes, girl,” I whine. “Between the cheating, the divorce, the busy season, and now working on your line, it’s been damn near a year since I shook the sheets with anyone. Your girl is feeling antsy.”
“Shook the sheets?” I hear a deep male voice call from the door and hide my face in my hands.
“Oh my God!” I whimper. “Kill me now.”
Denise walks over and gives her boyfriend a kiss on the lips, then takes one of his bags to help him unload groceries.
“Cory, darling,” she says with a saccharine smile. “I thought I told you we needed until three o’clock.”
He drops the bags on the counter with a thud and makes a show of looking at his watch.
“Uh, yeah. It’sfour.”
Denise’s eyes widen in shock.
“Oh, shit. I must’ve been in the zone; I didn’t even notice.”
“Or,” I offer, “it took you longer than expected because I wouldn’t stop fidgeting.”
Denise’s smile is warm.
“I was trying to give you some grace. It’s not like designing and working on prototypes all day is a chore.”
“Should I go check out Barnes & Noble while you ladies wrap up, or…” Cory trails off, looking hesitant. I wave my arms, swatting away his worry like gnats.
“No, no. You’re fine. If Denise still needs me, I can keep going; I just didn’t want to take up your whole Saturday.”
Denise looks at her man with a pleading expression, and he folds immediately. He loves her somethingfierce!
“No problem. I’ll leave you—“
“Stay!” she insists, giving him another peck on the cheek. “I’ll be done in ten minutes.” She looks at me meaningfully. “Assumingsomeonecan stay still.”
Ilift my hands in surrender and turn back into her personal mannequin. Cory settles onto the couch with a kombucha.
“In that case,” he says with a mischievous smile, “what was that I heard about needing a littleshebang-a-bang?“ He waggles his eyebrows for emphasis, and my cheeks flame.How embarrassing!At least he doesn’t know who I was thinking about when I said that.
“I’ve just had a lot going on,” I mumble, avoiding eye contact. “It’s tough to get back out there.”
And that’s before taking into account my little issue. I just hope I’m horny enough by the time I finally get laid that it’s not a problem.
“What happened with Damon? Didn’t y’all hook up after the Bailey Maxwell show?”
“No,” I sulk. “He said he had to get home early because he had a bunch of apartment tours the next day. He didn’t even take my number.”
And that was…four months ago, now? Has it really been that long? I count the months in my head. Yes, it has. Sure, he’s always around, lurking, but I haven’t actually spoken to him since February. He stopped trying to hide after the wink incident, but he still hasn’t made a move. God, am I being dumb? There’s shy, and then there’s…whatever this is.
