The Right Bed?. Wendy Etherington

“I should go back to Sam. He’s going to want to talk and I told him I was going to grab some beer from the house.”

      “Emma and I are driving into Chicago tomorrow morning,” Caley said. “She wants to check on the cake and some friends of hers are throwing a wedding shower. So I guess I’ll see you sometime tomorrow night. Enjoy the strip club.”

      “Are you jealous, Caley?”

      “No! I don’t care if you look at naked women. Why would that bother me?”

      “Because it would be nice if you were a little jealous. I’d like to think that you care enough about me to be worried.”

      “Maybe I’ll have to give you a lap dance the next time I see you,” she said in a teasing voice.

      “Thanks for the image,” he murmured. “Now I’m never going to get to sleep.”

      “Good night, Jake.”

      “Good night, Caley.” He waited until she hung up before he switched off his phone. This was a strange, new feeling, Jake mused. They were almost acting like a … a couple. And even more surprising was that Jake didn’t mind it at all. He wanted Caley to feel possessive and jealous and worried. Whether she was willing to admit it, she cared about him, maybe loved him a little bit. And maybe he loved her a little bit, too.

       5

      “I DON’T SEE WHY we had to leave. I was having a good time,” Sam complained, his words slurred by all the beer he’d drunk.

      Jake glanced over at his little brother. He’d never expected Sam to enjoy himself as much as he had. In truth, Jake had thought they’d spend an hour at the club and then head over to Tyler’s to find the girls. Jake had finally convinced Sam to drag himself away from the dazzling charms of Tiffany Diamond and check up on his fiancée.

      Though Caley might be worried about his night with naked women, Jake had much more cause to worry about her. He knew how he felt. She was the one who’d just dumped her boyfriend and tumbled into bed with the first man who tried to seduce her. Although Jake would like to believe Caley only had eyes for him, a few fruity drinks and some male attention could do a lot to a girl’s memory.

      “You know those girls were only being friendly to you because you were buying them champagne. They get a cut of everything you spend on them.”

      “But they were nice,” Sam said. “Especially that Tiffany. She’s going to meet us at Tyler’s.”

      “You invited a stripper to meet us?” Jake shook his head. This was in addition to the Wedding Trasher plan. Stripper and fiancée meet. Jake wasn’t sure any relationship could weather that particular event.

      “Tiffany Diamond. Do you think that’s her real name?”

      He was actually beginning to feel a bit guilty about the evening, but this was ridiculous. If his little brother was this naive about strippers, then he had absolutely no business getting married. There were certain things a guy needed to know and Sam’s education had obviously fallen woefully short. “Have you ever been to a strip club?” Jake asked.

      “Sure,” Sam mumbled, resting his head on the cold window. “But never one where the strippers were so nice. Do you think Emma would mind if I invited Tiffany to the wedding?”

      “No,” Jake said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. And Mom would be thrilled to meet her, too. Maybe she could wear that little outfit that she danced in.”

      “You know, she doesn’t want to be a stripper all her life,” Sam said. “She actually wants to be a professional cheerleader. Or a dancer in Vegas.”

      “Please tell me it’s the liquor talking,” Jake murmured.

      “Yeah, it’s the liquor talking,” Sam said. “But I’m moving my own lips.”

      The next time Jake glanced over at Sam, he was asleep, his face smashed against the frosty window, his breath creating a tiny clear spot. Jake had to wonder about the sense of this plan that he and Caley had set in motion. When booze was mixed into the equation, there was every chance that things could go bad very quickly. Add a stripper to the mix and disaster was guaranteed. Were he and Caley really ready to deal with the fallout from this evening? Jake wondered. And would this be a true test of the commitment between Sam and Emma or just a blatant manipulation?

      When he reached Tyler’s Roadhouse, Jake pulled into a far corner of the parking lot. But instead of waking Sam up, he decided to go inside and find Caley and call this whole thing off. They’d gone far enough and it was time to put this wedding back in Sam and Emma’s hands. He didn’t want to spend the rest of their week together thinking about Sam and Emma. He wanted to focus on Caley.

      Jake quietly slipped out of the truck and locked the door behind him. Though it was cold out, Sam could survive for the five minutes it would take to grab Caley and Emma and convince them to go home.

      Jake paid the cover charge at the door, then pushed through the crowd, squinting in the dark to locate the Lambert sisters. He immediately saw Emma on the dance floor, dressed in a shockingly sexy outfit of skintight jeans, a sheer blouse and some kind of underwear beneath it.

      She was dancing with a scruffy-looking young man in a backward baseball cap, the two of them laughing and waving their arms along with a Bruce Springsteen song. Jake’s gaze continued to skim the crowd and he saw Caley standing near the edge of the dance floor. He cursed softly when he saw Jeff Winslow standing next to her.

      Jake felt his fingers clench into a fist. Why did that guy get on his nerves so much? It was obvious from the way they were standing that there was nothing going on between them. But still, he’d never liked competing for Caley’s attention, even when they were kids. And he liked it a lot less now that they were adults.

      He wove through the patrons until he stepped up beside her. “Caley,” he shouted. She jumped at first at the sound of his voice, but when she turned and saw him, Caley gave him a smile of relief. “Hey, Winslow,” he said, giving the cop a nod.

      Jeff smiled. “You two better take that girl home,”

      he said, pointing at Emma with the neck of his beer bottle. “I think she’s had enough.”

      “Where is Sam?” Caley shouted.

      “In the car. Drunk and asleep.” He took her hand and pulled her along toward the door. When they got there, he glanced back at Jeff Winslow. The guy didn’t look happy, but he hadn’t tried to stop Caley from leaving. Then he looked at Emma. “She looks like she’s having a little too much fun.”

      Caley nodded. “That’s because she’s had a little too much tequila. It won’t seem like fun in the morning. She’s dancing with some guy named Robert. He seems harmless enough.”

      They stepped outside into the chilly night air and walked around the corner of the building. The moment they reached a private spot, Jake grabbed Caley, pressed her back against the wall and kissed her. It wasn’t an expression of lust or even affection. He needed reassurance that nothing had changed in the hours that they’d been apart. When she responded, Jake felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

      “That’s better,” he murmured. His hand slipped beneath her jacket and slowly searched for bare skin. When he found it, he splayed his hand across the small of her back. “You’re so warm.”

      Caley shivered, her teeth chattering. “Not for long. My car is parked over there. Let’s get out of the cold.” She handed Jake the keys and they hurried over to the spot where she’d left the rental. Jake let her in the passenger side and then hopped behind the wheel. He started the engine and turned on the heater. “It’ll take a while to warm up.”

      “I’m starting to think this whole thing was a really bad idea,” Caley said, rubbing her hands together.

      Jake took her fingers between his and blew on them. “Me,