“Trust me, it’s at the top of my list.”
Followed by:
Tell Ben I love him.
Make Ben fall in love with me.
Kiss Ben some more.
Have sex with Ben (in the bed, on the couch, on the bar, against the wall, and in the shower).
I’ve never been on the Naughty list. They don’t call me Nice for nothing. But I’d gladly switch to the other side if it means having Ben all the ways I want him.
I fold my hands and squeeze my eyes shut. Dear Santa, define Naughty.
10
Nice
“How’d it go?” Sam looks up from a stack of papers scattered on the floor in front of her.
“What are you doing?”
“Ugh. Trying to get everything finalized before the big auction tomorrow. Back to you. Tell me how it went with Ben. Did you give him the card?”
“No. And it was awful.” Exhausted and hungry, I fall onto a plush chair in Sam’s living room. “It couldn’t have gone worse.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Believe it. After half the town lost power, we turned Sal’s into a shelter. We cooked and ran around and shuffled old people to and from the bathroom. I even helped a guy wipe his butt.” I shudder at the memory.
“Oh, man. You deserve a permanent spot on the Nice List for that.”
“You’re telling me.”
“Nothing happened with Ben?”
“Well, we almost kissed twice, but we were interrupted twice, and to make matters worse, I was stuck in these damn heels all night.” I kick off the offending stilettos and wiggle my toes against the plush carpet.
“Did you come straight here from Sal’s?”
“Why else would I still be wearing this dress? Which is the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever put on my body, by the way.”
Sam shrugs. “I figured maybe you and Ben spent the night together and you stopped by to gush about it.”
“I wish. He took the last person home at one o’clock in the morning, and I laid down on the couch in our office. I must’ve fallen asleep, because I woke up an hour ago to an empty bar and a quilt draped over me.”
It makes my heart hurt remembering how it felt to wake up there alone. I had visions of Ben coming back and us confessing our love to each other. We’d spend the rest of the night kissing and talking about all of the things we wanted to do together, and—stop it, Dani.
Don’t do this to yourself.
“He didn’t even wake you up?”
“Nope. Not when he got back and obviously not when he left this morning. I’m worried, Sam. What if I waited too long to make my move? Maybe he’s just…” I swallow the bile rushing up my throat and push out the words that have been swirling in my head since I walked out of Sal’s. “…not that into me.”
“What?” Samantha scoffs and shakes her head. She takes a moment to seemingly toss that thought around and then shakes her head again. “Impossible. Have you seen you?” Naughty waves a hand in my direction. “You’re a knockout.”
“You’re just saying that because we’re twins.”