The Right Bed?: Your Bed or Mine?

“Thanks,” Sam said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. Maybe, someday, when you get married, I can return the favor.”

Jake slipped into his shirt, then pulled on his socks and boots. “I’ll be back,” he said as he headed for the door. “Just relax.”

He jogged down the stairs, then walked across the lawn toward his parents’ house. Jake pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Caley’s number. She didn’t answer, her voice message picking up at four rings.

“Hey, there, it’s me. Listen, I’m not going to be able to make it tonight. Sam stopped by the boathouse after you left and he needs some company. Man problems. So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” He paused, holding back the next words he wanted to say. “Sleep tight,” Jake finished.

The sentiment had almost come out without a second thought. Love you. That’s what he’d wanted to say, what he’d meant to say. But at the last moment, Jake had censored himself, wondering if it was too much too soon. The words didn’t always have to have such a serious meaning, did they? He did love Caley, but those feelings had changed and the words had now taken on a much deeper significance.

Being with Caley again had brought back a piece of his life that had been missing. She made him believe it was possible to find a best friend and a lover in one person. And it wasn’t a stretch to add wife to that list.

Jake shook his head. He’d never thought much about marriage. Maybe he always knew in some secret corner of his mind that there was only one woman for him. He stopped, then cursed softly. Was it supposed to be this easy? He’d always assumed that it would take forever to fall in love and even longer to figure out whether that love could survive marriage. But suddenly, it all seemed so simple.

Jake’s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket and squinted at the caller ID. He smiled when he recognized Caley’s number.

“Hey,” he said. “Did you get my message?”

“Yes. What’s going on? What are man problems?”

“A couple days ago, I told Sam if he wanted to have sex before he and Emma were married, he should just tell Emma and they should do it. I guess it didn’t go so well.”

“How did it not go well? Did Emma refuse?”

“No. She jumped at the chance. She agreed and then they tried and Sam couldn’t perform.”

“Oh,” Caley said. “That’s got to be a little scary. I mean, she was holding out, hoping it would be the most wonderful thing in the world and then …” She drew a deep breath. “Thank God this didn’t happen on their wedding night. Can you imagine what a disappointment that would have been?”

“So I guess this plays into our plan,” Jake said. “They’re obviously both having doubts right about now.”

A long silence came from the other end of the line and for a moment, Jake thought the call had been dropped. “So we should continue?” she finally asked.

“I guess so,” Jake said. “What do we know about their relationship? Hell, we can’t even figure out what’s going on between us.”

“Sex,” Caley said. “Lust. Curiosity.”

“And that’s all?”

“What else would there be?” she replied.

He cursed the fact that they were discussing this over the phone instead of face-to-face. He couldn’t read her expression, couldn’t look into her eyes for the truth of her words. “You tell me.”

“I don’t know. What do you want me to say? I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do. When the week is over, I guess we’ll have to figure it all out.”

“Right,” Jake said. He glanced over his shoulder. “I should go back to Sam. He’s going to want to talk and I told him I was going to grab some beer from the house.”

“Emma and I are driving into Chicago tomorrow morning,” Caley said. “She wants to check on the cake and some friends of hers are throwing a wedding shower. So I guess I’ll see you sometime tomorrow night. Enjoy the strip club.”

“Are you jealous, Caley?”

“No! I don’t care if you look at naked women. Why would that bother me?”

“Because it would be nice if you were a little jealous. I’d like to think that you care enough about me to be worried.”

“Maybe I’ll have to give you a lap dance the next time I see you,” she said in a teasing voice.

“Thanks for the image,” he murmured. “Now I’m never going to get to sleep.”

“Good night, Jake.”

“Good night, Caley.” He waited until she hung up before he switched off his phone. This was a strange, new feeling, Jake mused. They were almost acting like a … a couple. And even more surprising was that Jake didn’t mind it at all. He wanted Caley to feel possessive and jealous and worried. Whether she was willing to admit it, she cared about him, maybe loved him a little bit. And maybe he loved her a little bit, too.

5

“I DON’T SEE WHY we had to leave. I was having a good time,” Sam complained, his words slurred by all the beer he’d drunk.

Jake glanced over at his little brother. He’d never expected Sam to enjoy himself as much as he had. In truth, Jake had thought they’d spend an hour at the club and then head over to Tyler’s to find the girls. Jake had finally convinced Sam to drag himself away from the dazzling charms of Tiffany Diamond and check up on his fiancée.

Though Caley might be worried about his night with naked women, Jake had much more cause to worry about her. He knew how he felt. She was the one who’d just dumped her boyfriend and tumbled into bed with the first man who tried to seduce her. Although Jake would like to believe Caley only had eyes for him, a few fruity drinks and some male attention could do a lot to a girl’s memory.

“You know those girls were only being friendly to you because you were buying them champagne. They get a cut of everything you spend on them.”

“But they were nice,” Sam said. “Especially that Tiffany. She’s going to meet us at Tyler’s.”

“You invited a stripper to meet us?” Jake shook his head. This was in addition to the Wedding Trasher plan. Stripper and fiancée meet. Jake wasn’t sure any relationship could weather that particular event.

“Tiffany Diamond. Do you think that’s her real name?”

He was actually beginning to feel a bit guilty about the evening, but this was ridiculous. If his little brother was this naive about strippers, then he had absolutely no business getting married. There were certain things a guy needed to know and Sam’s education had obviously fallen woefully short. “Have you ever been to a strip club?” Jake asked.

“Sure,” Sam mumbled, resting his head on the cold window. “But never one where the strippers were so nice. Do you think Emma would mind if I invited Tiffany to the wedding?”

“No,” Jake said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. And Mom would be thrilled to meet her, too. Maybe she could wear that little outfit that she danced in.”

“You know, she doesn’t want to be a stripper all her life,” Sam said. “She actually wants to be a professional cheerleader. Or a dancer in Vegas.”

“Please tell me it’s the liquor talking,” Jake murmured.

“Yeah, it’s the liquor talking,” Sam said. “But I’m moving my own lips.”

The next time Jake glanced over at Sam, he was asleep, his face smashed against the frosty window, his breath creating a tiny clear spot. Jake had to wonder about the sense of this plan that he and Caley had set in motion. When booze was mixed into the equation, there was every chance that things could go bad very quickly. Add a stripper to the mix and disaster was guaranteed. Were he and Caley really ready to deal with the fallout from this evening? Jake wondered. And would this be a true test of the commitment between Sam and Emma or just a blatant manipulation?

When he reached Tyler’s Roadhouse, Jake pulled into a far corner of the parking lot. But instead of waking Sam up, he decided to go inside and find Caley and call this whole thing off. They’d gone far enough and it was time to put this wedding back in Sam and Emma’s hands. He didn’t want to spend the rest of their week together thinking about Sam and Emma. He wanted to focus on Caley.

Jake quietly slipped out of the truck and locked the door behind him. Though it was cold out, Sam could survive for the five minutes it would take to grab Caley and Emma and convince them to go home.

Jake paid the cover charge at the door, then pushed through the crowd, squinting in the dark to locate the Lambert sisters. He immediately saw Emma on the dance floor, dressed in a shockingly sexy outfit of skintight jeans, a sheer blouse and some kind of underwear beneath it.

She was dancing with a scruffy-looking young man in a backward baseball cap, the two of them laughing and waving their arms along with a Bruce Springsteen song. Jake’s gaze continued to skim the crowd and he saw Caley standing near the edge of the dance floor. He cursed softly when he saw Jeff Winslow standing next to her.