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Julia
“Oh, Julia…”Naomi sighed when I walked into the kitchen after getting dressed for my date.
If I could even call it a date.
I wasn’t sure what to call it, considering the sole purpose was to end up in bed.
Then again, it wasn’t that different from a date.
Except this wasn’t about two people getting to know each other. See if there was enough of a connection to form the foundation of what could become an amazing relationship. Like I’d told Chris… No matter what happened, I’d walk away in the end.
“Do I look okay?” I smoothed a hand down the red dress she’d encouraged me to buy during our afternoon shopping excursion to Luxury Row in Waikiki.
Mere seconds after Chris had left, Naomi called, digging for details about what transpired. Once I’d informed her of the agreement, which resulted in her squealing with the excitement of a pre-pubescent schoolgirl, she insisted we spend the afternoon shopping and at the spa. I’d tried to tell her it wasn’t necessary, but she wouldn’t hear it. Said it wasn’t every day her best friend had sex with a twenty-seven-year-old on her fortieth birthday, and she wanted to live vicariously through me.
“Okay?” She walked over and placed her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to walk toward the full-length mirror on the far wall of the living room. “This, my dear friend, isn’t merely okay. Look at you. You are fucking smoking.”
“You don’t think it’s too much?”
“It’s on your list, remember? To go out as a mutton dressed like a lamb.”
She gestured down my body. The one-shoulder, red dress fit to my waist before falling to right above my knees, a long slit running to my upper thigh. Then there were the shoes — a pair of strappy, black, Christian Louboutins, the red sole the same shade as my dress.
“This most certainly fits that definition. And so what if you’re forty? You look better in it than any twenty-something-year-old, since you’ve got the boobs to fill it out.”
“And the baby weight.” I wrapped a hand around my stomach. I no longer had the slender body I did the last time I went on a date.
“Stop it.” She swatted my arm away. “You’re gorgeous. Who cares if you have parts that jiggle a little more than they did in your twenties? You’re still a sexy, confident woman. And that’s what this dress shouts at everyone. That you may be forty, but you are most assuredly not dead yet. And neither is your sex drive.”
I laughed anxiously. “No. It just hasn’t been started in a few years. Pretty sure the engine will simply sputter when the time comes.”
“Trust me.” She turned me to face her. “After witnessing a few minutes of your chemistry, I have no doubt that boy will make your engine purr again. Hell, I have no doubt he’ll push it into overdrive, if you know what I mean.” She winked.
I studied her for a beat, then burst out laughing. I had to. Otherwise my nerves would consume me. I’d already struggled to suppress the butterflies in my stomach that had grown more frantic as I got ready. It was ridiculous to be nervous, yet I was, long-held feelings of inadequacy returning. Feelings Naomi had done everything to remind me were invalid, as any good friend would.
“You’ve got this, Jules. No expectations.” She held my gaze, repeating the same phrase I had every time I was on the brink of backing out.
I nodded, sucking in a shaky breath. “No expectations.”
“Good.” She glanced at the clock in the living room, noting it was about fifteen minutes to eight.
Fifteen minutes until Chris would be here.
Holy hell.
“I’m going to get out of here.”
My eyes bulged. “What? Why?”
She turned and walked back into the kitchen, grabbing her purse off the island and slinging it over her shoulder. “To give you some privacy. In case he takes one look at you and wants to drag you straight into the bedroom.” She waggled her brows. “If I were a guy, that’s exactly what I’d do.”
“Thanks… I think.”
She pulled me in for one last hug, squeezing me tightly. “Enjoy the fantasy. If anyone deserves it, it’s you.” Her gaze locked with mine, allowing her words to sink in.
“Thank you, Naomi.”
“You bet. I expect a full report tomorrow,” she sang as she walked out of the house.
