Heartthrob (The Bennett Brothers 3)

Lora is beautiful, but she’s an understated beauty. Quiet, somewhat shy, super sweet. Her strawberry blond hair is naturally curly and always done meticulously in a bun, braid, or twist. She’s put together, never complains, and the kids love her. The woman Clint is flirting with is a man-eater. She’s openly carried on relationships within the hospital, not hiding her sexual prowess.

Lora just shared with me that she slept with Clint yesterday, repeatedly. The way she told the story, they spent almost all day going at it, him completely into her. Tonight, he hasn’t looked her way.

Fucking dick.

“Lora, let’s head upstairs,” I say softly, taking her uneaten salad and covering it with the lid.

“Yes,” she answers bleakly.

Thankfully, she doesn’t look his way when we pass and doesn’t shudder until we’re waiting for the elevator.

“I’m such an idiot,” she says on a shaky breath.

“Men are assholes, honey. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I’m mortified.”

I get this, more than she can ever understand. Feelings from my graduation resurface, and I picture when I broke down about Mathis.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about. He’s a dick. Write it off to a day of great sex and move on.”

She shoots me a small grin that doesn’t convince me she’s okay.

“I don’t sleep around,” she admits when we get into the elevator alone.

“That’s respectable.”

“It’s prudish. I’m a twenty-seven years old woman who doesn’t have regular sex. It’s pathetic.”

“Hey,” I turn to her, making her look at me, “there is nothing wrong with that.”

“You don’t understand. When I say I don’t sleep around, I mean it’s been years. Then Clint pays me the slightest bit of attention and I’m like a dog in heat.”

I debate in my mind whether to get ultra-personal with Lora, but I know from experience she’s trustworthy and likely won’t betray me. “Lora, I fell in love with Mathis Bennett at twenty-one years old. He broke my heart at twenty-two. We were apart for years, and a lot happened during that time, but I never slept with another man. You are not a prude. You made an adult decision and slept with a man you were attracted to. There is nothing wrong with that.”

Her eyes bulge at my confession, and then the sadness creeps back in. “He didn’t even look my way.”

“He’s a dick-douche to the nth degree. They’re everywhere. The best thing for you to do is hold your head high, ignore his ass, and pretend like yesterday was a memory you’d like to forget.”

A new surge of empowerment comes over her, and she squares her shoulders, nodding. “You’re right. Dick-douche, nitwit, asshole, tool… I’m not going to let him get to me. I made a poor decision.”

“Think of it this way, a poor decision that led to multiple orgasms. There are a lot worse things.”

The elevator opens, and our conversation comes to a halt. She reaches over, takes her salad, and gives me a grateful nod. “Thanks, Claire. You’re a sweet friend.”

We go our different ways, her to the break room and me to the desk. I spend the next hours working on auto-pilot, not able to concentrate. The look of Lora’s devastation when she saw Clint walk into the cafeteria last night keeps tumbling through my head.

What a dick. He’s not only a dick; he’s a supreme dick of epic proportions. I’m not going to fault him for having sex; that’s not the problem. But a real man with any decency would take one glimpse at Lora and know she’s not the type of woman who does one-night-stands.

I know this because I am also a woman who learned she can’t do one-night stands. My situation is entirely different with Mathis because our history has played out, but I didn’t know that the morning he left my apartment. I had no idea we’d continue our tryst during his visits. In my head, we’d shared one incredible night, and I fell in love. I was ruined for any more mindless hook-ups.

I told Lora the truth in the elevator; I didn’t have sex with anyone else during those years Mathis and I were apart. One time I tried. The guy was great. Nice, ambitious, handsome. He was totally into me, and after a few dates, I decided to give it a try. The kisses were hot, the foreplay was awesome, and he was excellent with his mouth. But the instant I came, my blood ran cold. I knew there was no deeper connection, and I couldn’t go through with sex. He was understanding, a complete gentleman, but any relationship we had fizzled out when he dropped me off at home.

The whole exchange felt cheap, distant, slutty. It was awful.

I saw those same emotions set in Lora’s expression. She is not made for one-night stands.

I’m not stupid. I know it happens all the time. Men are men. Hell, Shaw is the perfect example. He had a one-night stand weeks before he fell in love with Bizzy, and Brayden is the result. It was hard to do, but some things are forgivable. What Clint did is not. Flaunting his new conquest in front of Lora less than twenty-four hours after he crawled out of her bed is despicable. I am proud of her though, because every time I saw her tonight, she was acting like her old self and not hinting at anything wrong.