Strip Search (Tap That)

“Zach, I’m so screwed. I’m just so completely and totally screwed.” Leighton paced back and forth in her hotel room. Her mother was texting her asking about the bachelorette night and if she’d had fun and she couldn’t bring herself to answer.

Fun wasn’t the way to describe it. Knocked on her ass was a better descriptive.

“Okay, calm down. What’s going on?” Zach looked at himself in the mirror. “This lighting sucks. Where are you getting ready tomorrow? Because this room is not going to cut it. I can’t do your makeup in these conditions.”

“I don’t care about the lighting. What I care about is that we have a problem. Or rather, I have a problem.”

“What’s that? If Sandra is currently having sex with the hockey guy, it’s not a big deal. She likes to get her ho on when she’s out of town. She’ll be on time tomorrow, no worries.”

Leighton didn’t care who her friends had sex with. “Don’t call her a ho. That is not nice. A woman is allowed to have fun.”

“Got it. As if I would ever judge anyone for multiple sex partners. Including at the same time.”

He was missing the point. What she cared about was who she was having sex with. Axl. “I’m in love with Axl!” She paused and held her hand to her chest at the very words being spoken out loud. Everything inside her just melted at the thought of him.

To her it seemed the words hung in the air, like she’d grabbed a bullhorn and set it off along with the most outrageous statement ever made.

Zach did not agree. He looked one hundred percent blasé. “Well, duh. We knew that was going to happen.”

For a second, she was stunned.

Then she realized he had a good point. “What am I supposed to do now?” Leighton sighed as she remembered what he’d said to her in that interview outside of Tap That. “He’s just so… everything. He’s romantic and sexy and strong and caring and…”

Zach stood up straight and eyed her. “Am I going to have to slap you? That’s usually what happens at this point. Or throw a drink in your face.”

“Why the hell would you throw a drink in my face?” she asked, peeling her sweater off and throwing it on the dresser. She was burning up for no apparent reason. “I think we can skip that step.”

“To talk sense into you.” Zach reached out for her.

Leighton dodged him, alarmed. “Don’t you dare shake or slap me. I’m not that hysterical.”

“I was going to hug you, I swear.”

Not sure she should trust him, she let him draw her into his arms. It was actually a genuine, reassuring hug. “What do I do?” she asked him again.

“You get fake married tomorrow and have amazing wedding night sex. Then, you lay your heart on the line and see what happens.”

“I can’t do that!” Axl had made it clear he was in this short term, nothing more.

“Then you get fake married, have great wedding sex, fake break up and come home to LA with a happy vagina and move on with your life.”

“I guess I could do that,” she said, even though she felt grumpy about it. “Even though it sucks. But that is my only option, isn’t it?”

“You could skip the wedding and the wedding night sex all together and do the fake breakup first.”

“That sounds even less like what I want.” She definitely wanted the sex. “I want one last night with Axl.”

“Lies. You don’t want one last night with him. You want indefinite nights with him.”

“I do.” She sighed.

Then she realized she was supposed to say those words the next day to his face and she looked at Zach. “Feel free to slap me now. I think I need it.”

“I’m not going to slap you. I’m going to put you to bed so you can get some quality sleep. Then I’m going to do your hair and makeup in the morning and you’re going to be so fucking hot that man will wish he could marry you for real.”

It wasn’t much of a plan but it was the

only one she had. “And then what?”