Maybe not a good idea—more like an okay idea.
But now that it’s happening, maybe not an okay idea. More like a really, really bad idea.
What was I thinking? And what should I do when she gets here? Shake her hand? Hug her? Stand here like an idiot?
This was the worst idea ever!
We’re waiting for them to come down the corridor. Their flight was delayed twenty minutes—long enough for me to think of all the ways this can go wrong.
I shouldn’t be, but I’m nervous as hell.
Ash, on the other hand, can hardly wait to see Rhonda. I’ve never seen him like this about a girl. She’s certainly cute enough, with curves for days, but I think it’s the way she treats him, like he’s a misbehaving dog she needs to train. Maybe my brother just needed to find a girl who could match his out-of-control attitude tit for tat. If anything, she seems to have a way of keeping him off balance, and it’s nice to see for a change. It’s always been the other way around when it came to my brother and the women he’s chased. He’s met his match with this one for sure.
Like Ash and Hourglass Girl, Maddie andI have texted every day this past week. When she tells me how her day went and all she still has to do, I feel so bad for her. Even when we text after ten at night, she still has a lot left on her plate, often sewing for a couple more hours. And that’s her routine, day after day. She can’t be getting more than four or five hours of sleep. I don’t know how she does it. And I thought I was tough.
When Rhonda sees Ash, she screams, drops her bags, takes a running leap, and somehow lands with her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck, and her lips planted firmly on his. It’s the kind of move you’d want to watch on replay in slow motion. Impressive.
In a much more subdued way, I walk up to meet Maddie. When I reach her, she lets go of the handle of her luggage, which looks like it’s seen better days, and I extend my hand with, “Glad you could make—”
She pushes my hand aside and throws her arms around me. To my surprise, she buries her face in my chest. Damn, she smells good. Damn, she feels good. I can’t help it—I hug her back. But I wonder why she’s acting like this.
After a minute, she lets go with a soft smile and a look in her eyes I can’t quite decipher. I can tell this is about more than a trip to Vegas. Something happened, but what? “Is this about your mother?”
“Yeah. Remember the tests I was telling you about last week?”
“Yes.”
“Well, Mom had a doctor’s appointment this morning. I was worried I wouldn’t make the flight, but I got to the airport just in time. Anyway, he said things are moving in the right direction for the first time since she was diagnosed.”
Without thinking I pull her to my chest and squeeze her tight with another hug. “That’s great!”
When it comes to cancer, good news israre, so this is a really big deal.
But when I feel her hips pressed against me, something she probably doesn’t even realize she’s doing, my dick can’t take it, so I let her go and take a half-step back with, “Really glad to hear that. Hopefully, things will keep getting better.”
She’s still smiling ear to ear when she says, “I know, right? Hopefully they will.”
She’s happy, which she should be, but from her tone I can tell she’s also being cautious, which is good. I know what it’s like to keep your guard up even when things look promising. That’s what happens when you’ve had the rug pulled out from under you too many times and cancer has a way of doing that.
I pick up her carry-on, but when I look around, I don’t see Ash or Rhonda. “Where did they go?”
She laughs. “They left in a hurry. As horny as Rhonda has been this week, I’m not surprised. The things that girl says, and in public no less!”
As we walk to the parking garage, my curiosity gets the better of me. “What did you mean about Rhonda?”
She huffs with an eye roll. “The other day I caught her telling one of our customers all about her vibrator and, let me tell you, there were details. Then she told the woman, and I quote, ‘If my vibrator were a car, it’d have over a million miles on it.’ The woman was eighty-four!”
“Wow. Was she upset?”
“Are you kidding? She wanted to know where to get one. All week I had to keep reminding Rhonda that we sell sewing machines, not sex machines. Honestly, she could open her own adult toy store. Those old ladies love talking to her about their sexcapadesin the old hay barns. I think they’d keep her store pretty busy.”
“Old ladies? What kind of town do you live in?”
“A horny one, for sure. Must be something in the water.”
It’s a short drive to the resort. Ash wouldn’t settle for anything less than the best, so we’re staying at one of the nicest hotels in Vegas. In the lobby, I hand Maddie her room key. “Ash kind of went a little overboard.”
“I don’t understand?”
