The Right Bed?: Your Bed or Mine?

“This is about you, not Mom and Dad,” Caley said.

“But how am I supposed to know for sure? What am I supposed to feel?”

“Passion, contentment, anticipation. You’re going to spend the rest of your life with this one man. You have to know that when you look at him over the breakfast table in thirty years, that he was and is the only man in the world for you.” Caley sat back in her chair. “If you called it off, Emma, I would stand behind you. I’d help you explain it to Mom and Dad.”

Emma drew a shaky breath and then forced a bright smile. “That’s what you do for a living, right? Take disasters and put a pretty ribbon on them and pretend they never happened?”

“This wouldn’t be a disaster,” Caley insisted. But a divorce in two or three years would be. The families would be forced to take sides and that would destroy the lifelong friendship that they’d all enjoyed.

Emma shook her head. “Don’t be silly. I’m not going to call it off. It’s just prewedding jitters, that’s all.” She grabbed a menu from the center of the table and handed it to Caley. “Here. Why don’t you order something for lunch. I’m going to run up to my room and get the folder from the florist and we’ll discuss the bouquets. The florist needs to know by this afternoon so he can place the order.”

Emma pushed back from the table and hurried out of the dining room. Caley slowly shook her head. The doubts she had before hadn’t been dispelled. If anything, they were now magnified. Emma wasn’t ready to get married, but she also wasn’t strong enough to make the decision on her own. If the wedding were going to be called off, then Jake would have to talk Sam into doing it.

Caley grabbed Emma’s binder and opened it again. It was filled with pictures torn from magazines and neatly scribbled notes. There was a whole section on bridesmaid’s dresses and another on bridal gowns. It was obvious that Emma had been planning for this wedding for much longer than a month and a half. Some of the photos were at least five years old.

Caley groaned inwardly. Did Emma feel the same way about Sam as Caley had felt about Jake? Had she carried a secret crush around all these years? If she had, then trying to convince Emma to wait was going to be a much tougher job than she anticipated.

Motioning to the waitress, Caley stood up. “Can you let my sister know that I had to run an errand? I’ll be back later this afternoon.”

If she and Jake expected to have any effect at all, then they’d better coordinate their efforts. She reached for her cell phone before she realized she wasn’t even sure Jake had a cell phone. How did a person exist in this world without one? Or without wireless computer access and a PDA and a fax machine?

Caley strode to her car, then remembered that Jake had an appointment to try on his tuxedo. The only place in town that rented men’s formal wear was a shop two blocks down and around the corner. Caley glanced over at her car parked in front of the inn and decided it would be faster to walk.

When she arrived, she was out of breath. She walked to the rear of the store and the small section devoted to formal wear. An elderly man with a tape measure around his neck stood in front of a mirror. “Is Jake Burton here?” she asked.

“He’s changing,” the man said, pointing to a nearby fitting room. “He’ll be out in a moment.”

Caley strode over to the fitting room door, opened it and stepped inside. Jake stood in front of the mirror in his boxers and a formal shirt. He saw her reflection and smiled.

“You have a perfectly nice room at the inn and I’m staying out in the boathouse. Why do we keep meeting in fitting rooms?”

“We have to talk,” Caley said. He slowly turned and her breath caught in her throat. His muscular chest was visible, his shirt half unbuttoned, and Caley’s fingers twitched as she imagined the feel of his skin beneath her hands.

Jake reached out and grabbed her wrist, then placed her palm on his chest. “So what is so important that it can’t wait until I’m dressed?” He dragged her hand over his chest to his belly, then left it resting near the waistband of his boxers.

She traced her thumb along the deep cut of muscle that ran along his hip to somewhere beneath the blue-striped fabric. Caley wanted to follow it farther, to explore his body until she knew every plane and angle and curve and indentation. His body was flawless, a perfect specimen of male beauty.

She’d never paid much attention to physical beauty before, but then she’d never been with a truly beautiful man until now. Now, every detail, from the hard muscle of Jake’s abdomen to the soft dusting of hair across his chest, intrigued her.

She ran her hands back over his chest, watching as his growing erection pressed against the front of his boxers. He pulled her toward him and kissed her, cupping her backside in his hands and moving his hips against her. Emboldened, Caley reached down and wrapped her fingers around his shaft, hot and hard through the soft fabric.

Jake’s breath caught and then he moaned. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not sure,” Caley said. And she wasn’t. She was just following her instincts. It didn’t make any sense and in the rational world, she might have been appalled at her daring. But when she and Jake were together, the normal rules didn’t seem to apply.

“How does it fit?” the salesclerk called.

“It fits good,” Jake replied, his eyes closed, his face a mask of pleasure. He wasn’t talking about the clothes. They fit—her hand, his shaft, his hands, her backside. Everything seemed to fit perfectly.

“Can I see?”

“No!” they both said.

Jake looked down at her through passion-glazed eyes and smiled. “Is that why you came here? To torment me?”

“I—I came to talk about Emma,” she admitted, realizing how far off track she’d wandered. She hesitantly drew her hand away.

“Don’t,” he whispered. “Touch me.” Jake brushed his lips across hers. “I’m sorry I acted like such an ass earlier. I was out of line. Do you forgive me?”

“For what?”

“For what I said. For the way I acted. For being a jerk and leaving you out on the road with Winslow.” He sucked in a sharp breath and moaned. “If you keep doing that, there will be consequences. Very messy consequences.”

“Sorry,” Caley said. “Maybe we should continue this later?”

“Maybe that would be best,” he said. “I’m not sure I want our first time to be in a fitting room.” He glanced down. “This is definitely going to affect the fit of my trousers.”

Caley giggled. She sensed that sex with Jake would be amazing, heart-stopping, a powerful experience. But she also knew that it would be fun. And Caley had never really had a lot of fun in the bedroom. Sex had always been fraught with so many expectations, many of them never fulfilled. She was curious now, anxious to learn how it might be with Jake. “Maybe I should leave?”

“No, just give me a few minutes. I just have to focus on something else.”

“Our plan,” she said. “We need a plan. I talked to Emma and she’s having doubts. I don’t think she’s ready, but she won’t be the one to call it off.”

Jake glanced around. “You know, this fitting room thing is pretty hot. It’s like a public place but it’s still private.”

Caley gave him a soft punch on the arm. “We’re talking about Emma and Sam.”

“I don’t want to talk about them. I’d rather talk about us. What are you doing this afternoon? I have something to show you.”

Caley looked down, then rolled her eyes. “All you think about is sex.”

“No. That’s not true. And that’s not what I was planning to show you.” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. “Let me take care of this first.” He opened the fitting room door and pushed her out.

The salesclerk was standing outside, a disapproving scowl on his face. “He’ll be right out. I’m just going to wait up front. You have some very nice leather chairs.” She forced a smile, but the man’s expression didn’t waver.

Ten minutes later, Jake joined her at the front of the store. He took her hand and walked out with her and when they reached the street, Caley turned on him. “You have to stop making me do those things,” she said.

“You used to be such a daredevil,” he said. “What’s happened?”

“I’ve grown up,” Caley said.

“I dare you to kiss me, right here,” Jake said. “In front of everyone.” He looked around at the nearly empty street and then shrugged. “All right, in front of that woman with the poodle.”

“Where are we going? You said you wanted to take me somewhere.”

“I don’t know if I should,” Jake teased. “You’ve lost your nerve. I’m not sure this Caley would be up for what I have in mind.”

She grinned, then threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. Her tongue slipped between his lips and Caley used every ounce of her feminine wiles to arouse him again. “I’m just a little out of practice,” she said. “The only daring thing I do is dodging cabs when crossing Fifth Avenue.”