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  Since the music was so loud, Piper shrugged, as if to say, What are you smiling for?

  Simone pulled Piper close and shouted in her ear, “There is a hot guy who’s been watching you.” She stepped back and nodded her head, her eyes wide.

  Immediately curious, Piper looked around but didn’t see anyone. Simone took her arm and spun her around just as the hot guy approached her. He wore dark jeans and a black V-neck tee that showed off a hint of a muscular chest. No wonder Simone had noticed him.

  Piper threw her arms around Nate’s neck and jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist. Nate made an oomph sound and caught her under her butt. Sober her would never have done something like that, fearing she’d be too heavy. But drunk Piper was super excited to see her friend.

  The song ended, and one of the band members said, “We’ll be back in about half an hour.”

  Piper hopped off of Nate and smoothed her skirt down. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here with my buddies.” Now that the band wasn’t playing, it was a lot easier for them to talk to each other. “They’re sitting over there.” Nate pointed to a table behind him. “Why don’t you come sit with us?”

  Somebody cleared their throat behind Piper.

  She stepped back, so Nate could see her friends. “Nate, these are my coworkers—Simone, Lainey, and Kayla. Do you have room for all of us?”

  “Sure.” Nate led them to a table where two guys sat.

  One was a handsome, pale redhead. The other guy was a good-looking black man. Piper had never met either of them before.

  Simone grabbed Piper’s arm and held her back from the group. “That’s Nate?”

  “Yeah…so?”

  “Damn, girl, you never said he was hot.”

  Piper looked to Nate and then back at Simone and shrugged. “Sorry.”

  “Please tell me he’s single.”

  “He is.” Something peculiar pulled tight at Piper’s chest. “But he doesn’t do girlfriends. He’s sort of a one-night kind of guy.” That was stretching the truth because she knew Nate had a couple of women he regularly had sex with.

  Simone fanned her face as she looked at Nate. “That’s too bad.”

  “Come on,” Piper said.

  “Do you know his friends?” Simone asked as they kept walking.

  “Never met either of them.”

  When they reached the table, Nate asked, “What were you two talking about?”

  “Girl stuff,” Piper said while Simone said, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  Everyone chuckled.

  Nate introduced them. “Piper, Simone, these are my friends Ty”—Nate gestured to the black guy first—“and Ethan.” Nate pointed to the redheaded guy. “Ty, Ethan, this is Simone, and my friend Piper.”

  Piper’s ears had perked up when she heard Ty’s name. “You’re Nate’s friend from France, aren’t you?” she asked him.

  Ty picked up her right hand and placed a kiss on it. “Chère Piper, j’ai beaucoup entendu parlé de vous. Nate a parle beaucoup. Mais il ne m’a jamais à quel point vous êtes ravissante. J’aimerais vous emmener chez mois; cependant, je pense que Nate me couperez les couilles puisqu’il est déjà sous votre charme, mais il ne le sait pas encore.”

  The collective sound of female sighs surrounded the table. Even Piper’s. There was just something about the romantic languages.

  “What did you just say?” Piper asked him in awe.

  Ty dropped her hand. “That I’ve heard a lot about you.” His English had a Midwestern accent, which made sense since Nate had told her Ty had been living in the United States since he was little. “But Nate has never said how beautiful you are.”

  Piper blushed as she saw Nate scowl out of the corner of her eye.

  “Me next,” Lainey said. “And make it dirty.”

  Ty laughed and grabbed Lainey’s hand. While he said something in French to her friend, Piper turned to Nate.

  “You okay?”

  Nate furrowed his brows. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

  “Because you don’t look happy. Did something happen at dinner tonight?”

  “Oh, no, that went okay.”

  “Oh, good.” She pushed her hip into him. “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight.”

  “It was a last-minute thing. Ty texted me, and my sister helped me leave early.”

  “And that’s why dinner went okay. Because you got to leave?” she joked.

  Nate grinned. “Pretty much.”

  “So, how do you all know each other?” Kayla asked the guys.

  “We work together,” Ethan answered.

  “Are you all engineers?” Piper asked.

  Ty shook his head. “Nope. I’m a programmer, and Ethan’s a planner.”

  “Huh,” Kayla said.

  “I know,” Ty said. “Everyone thinks Ethan should be a programmer since he looks like a nerd.”

  Ethan gave Ty the finger, and everyone laughed.

  Ty leaned forward and pretended to whisper. “He’s sensitive about the red hair. I tell him all the time that he should adopt Nate’s hairstyle, but he doesn’t listen,” Ty teased his friend.

  Kayla slid closer to Ethan. “I disagree.” She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. “I love red hair on guys.”

  Ty glanced at Nate and raised his eyebrows with a smile.

  Piper looked at Simone and Lainey, and the three grinned at one another. Kayla had been unhappy with her single life lately, and Piper was sure the other two were thinking the same thing she was, which was, Go, Kayla.

  Nate grinned back. “Hey, don’t be fooled,” he said as he swiped his hand over his bald head. “Not everyone can pull this off.”

  Piper had to agree. She had never been attracted to bald guys before Nate.

  She frowned. That didn’t come out right.

  She meant, she’d never thought bald guys were attractive before she met Nate.

  Being attracted to someone wasn’t the same as finding someone attractive. She thought her three coworkers were attractive, but she wasn’t attracted to them.

  And I’m not attracted to Nate.

  She looked over at her best guy friend as he threw his head back and laughed. The golden skin on his neck and upper chest looked good enough to eat, and for a moment, she wondered what he tasted like.

  Am I?

  She groaned. “I need another drink.”

  Piper and Simone went to get another drink at the bar, and everyone else grabbed a stool to sit at the table. There weren’t enough to go around, so Nate chose to stand. When the two ladies came back, Piper took the seat next to him, which was what he’d wanted. He didn’t know what Ty had said to Piper, but Nate was sure it was something he wouldn’t like.

  Ty was an attractive man, going by the amount of female attention he received, but Nate didn’t think Piper was ready for someone like Ty, and it was Nate’s job to watch out for her.

  Lainey’s cell phone vibrated on the table. She picked it up and groaned.

  “What’s wrong?” Kayla asked.

  “Ugh. Mike has been texting me all evening. I told him I was out with the girls, but he keeps insisting he wants to see me tonight.”

  “Well, these guys are here now. Why don’t you invite him?”

  Lainey shrugged. “I don’t really want to.”

  “I thought you liked him. How long have you been seeing each other?”

  “For about three weeks. He is…” She paused, as if searching for the right word. “He is kinda meh.”

  “So, why haven’t you gotten rid of him yet?” Ty asked.

  “Because…do you know how hard it is to find a guy who is at least six feet tall, a decent human being, and good in bed? I will tell you. Since only about fifteen percent of guys are over six feet tall and a lot of guys couldn’t care less whether a woman got off, it’s really hard. There aren’t many of them out there. I’ll either ne
ed to start dating guys shorter than me or settle for blandness.”

  “Have you slept with him yet?” Simone asked.

  “Once.” Lainey wrinkled her nose. “It was okay. I’m hoping it was first-time jitters on his part, and the next time will be better. He at least put some effort into trying to make me feel good.”

  Nate was surprised by what he was hearing. “Life is too short to fuck someone who is bad in bed.”

  “Amen,” Ty said, and Ethan nodded his head in agreement.

  Piper took a sip of her drink and set it on the table. She put her hand on her hip. “That’s easy for you to say when men have an orgasm almost every time they have sex.” She pointed to herself and her friends. “Us women? We’re not so lucky.”

  “She’s right, you know,” Simone said. “Porn has given you men unrealistic expectations.”

  Nate raised an eyebrow. “No, life has given me real experiences.”

  “Ladies,” Ty said, “we aren’t stupid. We know that porn is fantasy. We know that women don’t have sex with the mailman or keep their high heels on while in bed.”

  Piper leaned in, a serious look on her face. “That’s good and all, but what about the orgasm part?”

  Ty shrugged. “What about it?”

  Piper laughed like she couldn’t believe Ty’s question. “That the woman hardly ever gets off, yet the man orgasms every time.”

  “And usually on the woman’s face or breasts,” Lainey added.

  Nate held up a hand. “Okay, yes, you have a point. But you have to remember that porn is targeted toward men, and that’s why the orgasms are unevenly matched.” It was his turn to point to his friends. “We all know that most women do not want us to come on their faces or boobs.”

  Ethan pointed a thumb at Nate. “He’s right. We know that. Like Ty said, we’re not stupid.”

  Piper met Nate’s eyes. “What did you mean by, most women?”

  Nate smirked and lifted his beer to his lips. He took a sip and set it on the table. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell, Piper.”

  There was something in her eyes. He’d never seen it before, but it almost looked like desire, and Nate suddenly had an image of Piper kneeling before him as he unloaded himself all over her perfect tits.

  He almost groaned out loud, and it was a good thing he was standing up with the table in front of him. He used his free hand to reach underneath and adjust his erection.

  She shook her head, as if she were in a daze, and held up her hand. She was addressing the whole group of them. “Regardless, did you know that only fifty to seventy percent of women orgasm during sex, whereas, like, ninety-five percent of men do? And seventy-five percent of women can’t climax from sex alone, and ten to fifteen percent haven’t had an orgasm ever.”

  Lainey practically slammed her glass on the table. “Are you serious? No orgasm? Like, ever?”

  Piper shrugged. “That’s what I read.”

  “Wow. Maybe Mike isn’t so bad after all,” Kayla said.

  Piper spread her arms out wide. “See? This is what I’m talking about.” She dropped her hands as a look of satisfaction settled on her face. “You guys are telling Lainey she needs to find someone new because he’s not great in bed, but Kayla is telling Lainey it could be worse. You men don’t realize how lucky you are.”

  Nate studied Piper while she looked at everyone as she drove her point home. He had to wonder if Jordan had given her the type of loving she deserved. Had her boyfriends before she met her husband been selfish lovers? He hated to see her so negative about sex because, if anyone was entitled to a good fucking, it was Piper.

  He pictured her on her back, dark hair spread out on white sheets as she clutched them in her fists, while she orgasmed the way a woman should. And his dick was the one that was giving it to her.

  Nate knew Piper had a point, but he was tired of talking about it. Besides his first few sexual encounters back when he had been a teenager, his partners didn’t have anything to complain about. Except for him not sticking around, but that was a separate complaint.

  Ty held up his hand and raised his eyebrows. “I get your point. I really do. But I’m going to go back to needing to find a man who takes care of you. There might be less of us out there, but we are out there.”

  Simone and Lainey leaned forward.

  “So, you’re saying you’re one of those guys?” Lainey asked.

  “Damn right I am.”

  Simone cocked her head to the side. “How do you know she wasn’t faking it?”

  Of course this topic would be brought up.

  Nate rolled his eyes. “Because men—at least men who know what they’re doing in bed—can tell.”

  Ty nodded, but the women looked doubtful.

  Nate sighed.

  “Look”—he held up two fingers—“when a woman is turned on, she gets wet and slick. Her face flushes, her nipples pucker and darken, and her pussy gets swollen. Then, as she starts to come, her pussy starts to contract.” He placed his other hand around his fingers to demonstrate. “It’s almost like little mini orgasms. Not only that, but her breathing also changes, and her eyes either become glazed or squeezed shut. And her arms”—he flailed his hands around him—“start to grab on to whatever they can find. Bedding, a piece of clothing, skin. They grab hold and don’t let go.” He had their attention, and he met each pair of eyes. “This stuff is all physiological and can’t be faked. In fact, most women don’t realize a lot of this is happening. Then, when she does come”—he held up his fingers with his other fist wrapped around them again—“she squeezes your dick so fucking tight, you feel like it’s going to be amputated.” He pointed a finger at them. “And that’s how you know a woman isn’t faking it. And, if she tries, you need a new woman. Nobody likes a liar.”

  Everyone stared at him in silence.

  “In conclusion, if your man isn’t getting you off, you need a new man.”

  The ladies didn’t agree with him, but at least they stopped arguing.

  “I’ll be right back,” he told them. He had spotted an old acquaintance, and he wanted to go say hi before they were drowned out by music.

  He was about five steps away when he heard one of the ladies say, “Holy shit. Now, I’m the one who needs another drink.”

  “Are my panties on fire? I feel like my panties are on fire,” Lainey said.

  Simone fanned a hand in front of her face. “I need a shower. Preferably a cold one.”

  “Piper, why did you never tell us how hot Nate was?” Kayla asked.

  Piper shrugged.

  After Nate had left the table, her friends had dragged her to the ladies’ room.

  “The way you talked about him, I pictured some homely nerd who kissed your ass because he was grateful you gave him some attention,” Simone said.

  Piper frowned. “Nate doesn’t kiss my ass.”

  Lainey raised a brow, but Simone kept talking, “First, we found out he was gorgeous, and then when he was describing what he could do to a woman’s body and his attention to detail…holy shit, I was ready to lie down on the floor and tell him to use me as a demonstration.”

  “Yeah,” Kayla said, staring off into space. “The way he said it too, like he was so matter-of-fact about the whole thing, you just know he knows what he’s doing in the bedroom.” She looked at Piper. “Does he have a girlfriend?”

  “No, he doesn’t do girlfriends. Besides, I thought you liked Ethan?”

  Kayla shrugged. “I do. But can he make me come like Nate would be able to?”

  Simone shook her head. “You might as well give it up. Piper already told me Nate doesn’t date. He’s a one-night-stand kind of guy. And Kayla, you are not a one-night-stand kind of girl.”

  “I might be for him.”

  Piper tried to laugh at Kayla’s joke, but she was starting to get irritated.

  Lainey stared into the mirror and touched up her lipstick. “Well, I definitely am
a one-night-stand kind of girl.”

  “What about Mike?” Piper asked.

  Lainey shrugged. “What about him? We’re not exclusive. Besides, you heard Nate. If Mike doesn’t get the job done, I need to find someone who does.”

  “So, does that mean you’re going to give him another chance?” Kayla asked.

  “I think so. I might just tell him to come here. Tonight can be his final test.” Lainey laughed.

  “I think you should, so then we can meet him,” Kayla said.

  “I agree,” Piper said.

  “Are you bitches ready to go back out there?” Simone asked. “It sounds like the band is back.”

  The four of them left the restroom, and on their way back to the table, Piper saw Nate talking with someone. She had planned to walk by, but he snagged an arm around her waist.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” he replied. “This is an old high school buddy, Conner. Conner, this is Piper.”

  Piper held out her hand. “Hello.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Conner said as he shook her hand.

  Nate motioned toward the band with his head. “We’re going to go dance. It was nice catching up with you, man.”

  “You, too. Tell Luke hi from me.”

  “Will do.”

  The two men bumped fists, and Nate steered Piper toward the dance floor.

  “You don’t have to dance with me, you know,” Piper told Nate.

  “Why? Are you really bad?”

  She scoffed. “No. I’m an awesome dancer.” She might be exaggerating a little. “But I’m probably a little rusty.”

  “You didn’t look rusty earlier.”

  Her face heated. She hadn’t realized he’d been watching her earlier until the song ended, and she might not have danced the way she had if she had known. “Thanks.” Although why she would be embarrassed about dancing in front of her friend, she didn’t know.

  The band welcomed the crowd back and then began to play Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years.” Nate pulled Piper close, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He smelled wonderful.

  It was weird, some of the things she missed about her husband or being in a relationship. Sometimes, it was the little things, like how good and different men smelled from women. She missed breathing in Jordan’s masculine scent.