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In fact, she couldn’t remember much of anything from the night before. Had she gotten black-out drunk somehow? On only a few sips of punch? If the pounding in her head was any indication, it was entirely possible. All she wanted to do was stay in bed until she felt a little less lousy and everything didn’t seem so dismal.
“Leave me alone,” she muttered and started to roll over and dive back under the covers…except the chiming sounded again. And this time it was accompanied by someone knocking on the door and calling her name.
“Damn it!” Melanie muttered. With a moan she finally rolled out of bed and staggered to the front door of her suite.
It whooshed open with the press of a button and she saw that her visitor was none other than Sonja.
“Sonja?” she asked blearily. “What are you doing here this time in the morning?”
“Girl, it’s almost noon and I’ve been trying to get your ass out of bed for the past ten minutes! Let me in,” her friend demanded crossly.
“Okay, sure.” Melanie stepped to the side, one hand still pressed to her throbbing temples.
“Well you look how I feel,” Sonja commented as the door closed behind her. “And what did you do—sleep in your clothes?”
Melanie looked down at the crumpled black wrap dress she had on and frowned.
“I guess so. But this isn’t what I wore to the party last night. I must have come home and changed afterwards.”
She had the feeling she might have gone out again later, but the memories were fuzzy. Maybe something to do with the weird dream she’d been having about Strong and Clear? She reached for the details but they slipped away elusively.
“It’s Christmas Eve. Why are you here instead of canoodling with your fiancé?” she asked Sonja, who had made herself at home by going into the kitchen and starting some coffee.
“Well, possibly because Sahran and I had a huge fight after the party last night.” Sonja grabbed two mugs from the stand on the counter and plunked them down almost hard enough to chip them.
“Oh, no!” Despite her own gray mood, Melanie was still worried about her friend. “What about?”
“Well first off, it was because I was feeling frisky.” Sonja shook her head. “No, I have to be honest—I was horny as hell—and I was all ready to jump Sahran’s bones.”
“Really?” Melanie picked up the mug of coffee her friend had poured her and took a sip. She made a face. “Needs sweetener.”
“Here.” Sonja shoved the little ceramic bowl full of sweetener packets towards her. “Yes, really,” she said. “In fact, I was bound and determined to lose my V-card and get bonded right then and there.”
“Did you?” Melanie looked at her with wide eyes as she added sweetener and took another sip. The coffee was much better and the caffeine made her feel a little sharper.
“No, I didn’t—that’s what Sahran and I fought about. Well, to begin with,” Sonja said, taking a sip of her own coffee. “When we got back to my suite after the party, I was all over him. I mean, I was climbing that man like a tree. And at first, he was into it. We were really going for it.”
“What stopped you from going all the way?” Melanie asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Sahran did.” Sonja shook her head. “He said that he knew I wanted to wait until our wedding night and I would regret it if we went any further.”
“Well that was considerate of him,” Melanie said.
“I guess so. But I didn’t see it that way at all,” Sonja said. “In fact, I got mad and started accusing him of not loving me and not wanting me.”
“Oh, no!” Melanie looked at her with wide eyes. “Then what happened?”
“Well, he told me I wasn’t acting like myself—which I guess was true—but everything I was saying and doing seemed perfectly normal at the time.” Sonja shook her head and took another sip.
Her words brought a niggling feeling of uncertainty to Melanie’s mind. She had a vague memory of doing and saying things that were out of character for her as well. But again, when she reached for the details, they swam out of reach like slippery fish.
“What happened next?” she asked, frowning.
“Well, when I accused him of not making love to me because he didn’t want me and wasn’t attracted to me, he told me I should open the Secret Santa present he got me. He said it would prove how much he wanted to bond me to him. So I opened the present and what do I see?” Sonja dug in her oversized purse for a moment, pulled something out, and slapped it on the counter between them. “This.”
“An oven mitt?” Melanie stared at it blankly. “Why would he get you an oven mitt?”
