Page 13 of Friends With Benefits

“Mitch?”

“What?”

“You’re not doing this on purpose, are you?”

“Huh?”

“You know…setting me up with guys you know won’t work out, just so you can be proven right. ’Cause that would be bad karma, Mitch.”

Again, heavy silence. “Is that what you think?”

“You do like to always be right.”

“Iamalways right. I don’t need to play games to be proven right. Especially in this case.”

“Okay.” She was sorry she’d asked that. She trusted Mitch with her life. He was arrogant as hell sometimes, but he didn’t play games. “Sorry.”

“Are you going to Miguel and Hailey’s place tonight?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Yeah. Want me to pick you up?”

“Okay.”

“We can talk more then. When I’m awake.”

***

“So, are you still going to help me?” Kerri asked Mitch later that evening, standing in Hailey and Miguel’s crowded living room. She leaned against a wall near the dining room, Mitch standing beside her. Kanye West thumped from Miguel’s expensive sound system and a burst of laughter erupted from the kitchen where the party had overflowed.

Her stomach had been knotted up ever since their conversation earlier. She knew Mitch didn’t want to help, and she was getting worried that this whole plan might damage their friendship. She didn’t want that.

He sighed heavily and put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her in for a hug. “Yeah, yeah. I don’t need any of that bad karma shit. I just don’t know who else to set you up with. Is there anybody here you don’t know?”

“Just that girl.” Kerri nodded at a pretty little redhead sitting on the couch. “Who is she?”

Mitch smirked. “You’re interested in her? Well, no wonder we’re not having any luck…”

She cuffed his shoulder.

Mitch laughed, eyed the girl and shrugged. “I’ll find out who she is.” He grinned, released Kerri, and moved across the room. Kerri watched him approach the girl with his gorgeous smile, and frowned. Hey, he was supposed to be helping her find a man, not trolling for girls for himself. She stood alone for a few moments, watching the pretty redhead succumb to the charm of Mitch’s tousled golden-brown hair, his square jaw, his amber-colored eyes and sexy smile, until Hailey came up to her and started talking about wedding plans.

Miguel and Hailey’s wedding in five weeks was the main focus of their lives. In fact, as one of the bridesmaids, it consumed a lot of Kerri’s life, too, what with bridal showers, dress fittings, visits to the florist and shopping for decorations.

Much as Kerri loved Hailey, her friend’s approaching nuptials just made her feel depressed. She wanted that for herself! Well, she amended, she didn’t just want a wedding. The wedding was fun, but it was just a party, after all. She was always amazed how people got all wrapped up in the wedding plans and forgot that they were entering into a marriage. She, on the other hand, would be perfectly happy to elope. She just wanted a marriage. Someone to love, to spend the rest of her life with, to have a family with. And…as a married woman, and some day even a mother, people would have to take her seriously.

She listened politely to Hailey’s lengthy wedding talk, keeping an eye on Mitch as he flirted shamelessly with the little redhead. Of course, the redhead seemed just as interested in him, and she watched the girl touch Mitch’s arm as she talked, leaning in to hear him over the noise of the music and people talking.

“So what’s new at the White Lotus, Kerri?”

Kerri eyed Mitch and his new friend.

“Kerri?”

Mitch laughed about something and Kerri frowned.

“I’m flying to the moon tomorrow,” Hailey said.

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