Page 57 of Naughty Nelle

I swallowed and felt the chilled liquid course through my bloodstream. “Lib, have you ever done any focus groups for SIN-TV?”

With a smirk, my bestie shook her head. “Not one. Like I told you at lunch, Blake Burns doesn’t believe in research. He believes in programming from his gut.”

Dick is more like it.I took another sip of the wine. “Well, I think it’s time for an attitude change. I’m going to convince him to do some focus groups with women. I have a theory, and I’m going to prove it.”

Libby let out a snarky little laugh. “I’m at your service if you get him to agree. Good luck with the arro­gant, self-cent­ered, know-it-all ego­maniac.”

I burst into laughter. Wine that didn’t make it down my throat came flying out of my mouth, spraying Libby.

My roomie snorted with laughter too. I don’t know if it was the wine or I just needed a release, but I kept laughing until tears poured from my eyes. With my other hand, I swiped them away.

Libby’s watering eyes grew wide; she caught her breath. “What the fuck? Is that what I think it is?” Her gaze zeroed in on my ring finger.

“Yeah. Bradley finally gave me a ring.”

“Let me see it.”

I stretched out my arm so the ring was almost in her face. She examined it. The brutally honest research analyst could not mask her dislike. “It’s not round like you wanted or—”

I cut her off before she made another negative comment. “I know. Bradley’s a little strapped right now. He’s putting his practice first.”

“Personally, I think he should be putting you first,” she quipped. “Have you set a date?”

“Not yet.”

“Don’t rush.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. My bestie couldn’t hide her feelings. She had never cared for Bradley, and the feeling was mutual. Free-spirited Libby was the antithesis of my uptight fiancé. They pushed each other’s buttons. Moreover, she knew sex with him was as she bluntly put it: “boring.”

The truth: I wasn’t eager to lock a date. What was wrong with me? I wondered. Bradley was a mother’s dream. A good-looking dentist from a good family with a good future ahead of him. We’d been friends before we were lovers, but lately I felt like we were two strangers. Instead of spending more time together, we were spending less and less. I longed to tell Libby how I felt, but I feared she would try to convince me to leave him. I couldn’t do that. We’d been together over five years, and he’d helped me get through the aftershock of the attack I’d endured as a sophomore. He cared about me and I cared about him. So I thought.

Libby took a big gulp of her wine and twisted one of her long red curls. “So, now it’s officially official. You and Bradley are getting married.”

I nodded. “Yeah.” My voice wavered. “You’ll be my maid of honor, right?”

“Of course.” Her voice oozed with warmth, and a smile played on her freckled face.

No matter what she thought about Bradley, Libby was always there for me. And always would be. I twitched a small smile back and thanked her.

Setting her almost empty wine glass on the coffee table, she rose to her feet. “I’m going to call it a night. Maybe try to Skype with Everett.”

Everett Pierce was her long-distance boyfriend. They’d met at USC, but now he was doing post-graduate work in linguistics at Oxford. Even with texting and Skyping, the eight-hour time difference made communication challenging. Libby missed “Ev,” especially frequent sex, but she threw herself into her work to compensate for it. They were thankfully going to see each other over Christmas on the East Coast where Everett’s family lived. Libby needed to get laid.

She gave me a hug. “See you in the morning. Congrats on everything.”

I mumbled a throwaway “thanks” and returned to the SIN-TV ratings. I had found a hole in the ratings. A big one.

And I had also found one in my heart.

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