Page 39 of Lethal Seduction

“Sure thing, Mom.”

“Maybe our next call you can tell me about your new boyfriend and what the wedding plans are going to be.”

Before I can respond, she adds, “Bye. Mom loves you.” She hangs up the phone.

I turn off all the lights and slip under the covers and close my eyes. The last thing I remember is hoping all my dreams will be about Patrick… or at least one of my celebrity crushes.

17

PATRICK

Acouple of days after my date with Michael, I head to work like I normally do, bracing myself for the worst. Tina meets me at the front door with an iced latte. After the first sip, I'm so thankful I could have her babies right here and now.

"How did you have this made? It’s crazy good," I ask, sucking down another few mouthfuls. I'd spent the last two days wondering what it would be like to have sex with Michael, but damn, this coffee could potentially rival all my expectations.

"The usual way, but damn it does taste extra delicious, doesn’t it?"

We walk in silence together down the main hallway of the country club, enjoying our morning drinks. My apprehension about coming to work and facing all the terrible clients has washed away, and I feel a Zen normally reserved for after-glow.

Tina punches in at the time clock, then steps aside so I can do the same thing. There's no way either of us likes being inside this place without getting paid for it. After we officially start our day, we scurry away to find a nice chill place to sit and finish our drinks. The riff raff will be here within the hour, and unless we're both fully caffeinated, the clients are nearly impossible to bear.

We sit on one of the benches outside the employee break room. Tina gets straight to the point. "I want… no, let me rephrase that. Ineedto hear every last detail of your date with the detective. Do not leave out a single thing. I will be the one who deems it important or not."

"Aggressive this morning, are we?"

"Don’t start with me. I expected you to call me either the night of or the next and spill your guts to me, but you didn’t. Not a peep."

I sigh. "Sorry about that. It went really well, and I was worried that if I said anything positive out loud, I would somehow jinx it."

"Honey, I totally get it, and normally I would agree with you, but the detective is so cute, and I really need to live vicariously through you. So, if you truly love me as your bestie… your partner in crime… your wingman… your reason for living, then you’ll tell me every fucking detail."

Wow, that escalated quickly. It’s either spill my guts and risk the wrath of the dating gods for speaking too soon or watch my bestie spiral into the proverbial toilet.

"Okay, fine," I say. "Where should I start?"

"Um, at any point is there nudity?"

I shake my head.

"Well, just start anywhere then, I suppose." She leans back against the wall as if the story isn’t going to end the way she’d hoped.

I spend the next half an hour going through every little detail of the concert and the dinner afterwards. I tell her how he smelled amazing and even though we didn’t kiss, it felt as if we both wanted to. Debating about how detailed I should be, I eventually even tell her how he bought me concert bling and didn’t even expect a hand job in the car ride home.

"It truly was a magical night."

Tina wipes away tears and buries her face in her hands. She's more emotional now than I've ever seen her, except the one time her casting agent accidentally put out a cigarette on her palm. Come to think of it, I hadn’t asked how the scar treatments were going recently.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

She slowly raises her head and blinks away the remaining waterworks. "I’m sorry… so happy for you."

"Why are you crying?"

"You haven’t mentioned Ricky from high school… not once." She reaches over and puts her hand on my knee. "Patrick, this guy’s the one."

A sudden commitment panic rocks me like an earthquake. My heart begins to race, and my palms grow sweaty. I’ve got to chill out. Good god, we went on one date; he didn’t propose.

"Are you okay?" she asks. "You look like you’re going to throw up."

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