Stripped Down (Tap That)

Yet one glimpse at the man on stage everyone now called Rick and she wanted sex. A lot of sex. Sex all night. Birthday sex.

The intensity of her sudden desire shocked the hell out of her.

Have another mojito, Sloane.

Apparently, she was ready to move on herself. At least with the sex part, not actual dating. She sipped her drink as the guys followed a very simple choreographed routine that involved a lot of hip thrusting and show-boating.

Without warning, she missed her sister-in-law. Sullivan could be a stuffed shirt, but Kendra was always cheerful, always up for a good time, and she would have been thrilled Sloane had moved back home. That had always been something she’d bugged Sloane about when they would chat on the phone. If she were here, she would have made this birthday extra special and would have been there for her to talk about Tom and her fear that she would have no clue how to date after all these years married. Hell, Kendra would have been setting her up with men, left, right, and center. Emily and Becca had been great since she’d been back in town, but she hadn’t been that close to them in recent years.

Thinking about Kendra and her brother and her nephew growing up without his mom had her tearing up.

Damn it.

It was her birthday. Tomorrow there would be plenty of time for continuing to mourn Kendra and worrying about Sullivan and Finn. Pondering what to do with the rest of her life.

She was starting her new job at the dog grooming salon. That would keep her busy for now and so would playing with her nephew. She needed to enjoy the moment. YOLO, bitches. Maybe she needed that on a T-shirt.

The man formerly known as Little Dickie seemed to be enjoying himself and she needed to take a cue from him. Life was to be celebrated.

Rick was owning the dance. He had an easy sense of rhythm and he moved with confidence. There was nothing of his teenage awkwardness present. The zipper on that jumpsuit had been yanked down to his navel. When he peeled off his sleeves and revealed a toned, muscular chest and biceps like etched granite, Sloane heard herself murmur out loud, “Oh, my God.” She didn’t mean to, but the words slipped out before she could stop them.

Turning to Emily, who was clapping and cheering, she asked her, “So what does Rick do these days? Besides share the wealth?”

Emily gave her an amused look. “Curious, huh? Hey, if you’re going to jump back on the horse after your divorce this isn’t a bad place to start. He owns a auto body repair shop in town.”

That felt ironic. Her body could use some legit work. “I’m glad to hear he’s doing well,” she said, and she meant it. She may have been dismissive of Rick as a bit of a nuisance back in school, but she hadn’t disliked him. Quite the contrary. He’d been like a goofy little brother. One she liked to pick on.

Then that kiss… she had mostly blocked it from her memory banks but now she couldn’t shake it. In the dark, before she’d known it was him, she had been into it. Dickie had been a good kisser, which was a complete mystery. Had he been born with a gene for pleasing women?

This was all very interesting.

“Uh-huh.”

“Wait. Is my apartment over his shop?” The place she had rented and just moved in to two days earlier was over an auto body shop, though she hadn’t particularly paid attention to the name of it. Her focus had been that the rent was affordable and that after six p.m. no one would be making noise downstairs, presumably.

The music faded out a little and Lilly took the stage in front of them. “Okay, let’s have these hot guys introduce themselves.”

Jesse, unfortunately, went first and he looked about as comfortable as he had dancing. “I’m Jesse and I’m a professional hockey player.”

“Don’t quit your day job,” Sullivan said, razzing him.

Jesse flipped him off.

“So, tell the ladies what inspires you to be romantic,” Lilly asked, like it was The Dating Game.

“The promise of sex,” Jesse said, with such naïve honesty the room exploded with laughter.

“At least he’s truthful,” Emily said, shrugging. She was a petite brunette, the flyer in their cheer squad because of her small size. Sloane had always envied her compact stature. She herself had been a giraffe in cheerleading terms and incapable of the serious gymnastics.

“I’m just glad I’m in a relationship,” Becca said. “Because if these idiots are representative of what is out there on the market, you all are in trouble.”

“They’re good-looking,” Emily protested.

“And they clearly know it,” Sloane said. Rick had strutted his way to the mic. The man was obviously as in love with his adult body as Becca said the women in town were. She wrinkled her nose as he introduced himself.

“Rick, specializing in body work.” He gave a sly, sexy smile.

What was super annoying was how her own stupid body reacted. She should be rolling her eyes at his cheesiness and instead she was shifting on her chair trying to remember where she had put her, ahem, personal massager in her new apartment. Buried in a box somewhere. She had yet to unpack eighty percent of her stuff, so most likely no happy ending for her tonight. Damn it.